Essaouira, Morocco

Essaouira is fantastic. A surfer paradise come summer and a step down from the madness of Marrakech.  The people down there were friendly and the old harbour is a pleasure to mill around.  I have travelled through Morocco a few times now, and it never fails to deliver:  the amazing Ait Benhaddou, the film set town of Ouazazarte or driving up across the Atlas mountains to get there. Aït Benhaddou is an ighrem (fortified village in English,  ksar in Arabic), along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech. Most locals, attracted by the tourist trade, live in rather more ugly modern dwellings in a village on the other side of the river, although there are a few families still living in the ancient site. Inside the walls of the ksar are half a dozen Kasbahs or merchants houses and Aït Benhaddou is…