Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
A city built to face the sea.
An introduction to the walled port city around the Skala du Port, from its sea gate to its stone ramparts.
On this page
Read the city from its walls
The Medina of Essaouira is a World Heritage site. Planned in the 1760s, the city is defined by its fortified walls, with the port and its batteries set against the Atlantic.
A city guide can give context without turning a neighbourhood into a backdrop. Notice how a gate links the town to the harbour, how a battery covers the approach from the sea, or how stone weathers in the salt air. Respect homes, working businesses and the fishing port.
Stone, bronze and timber
Weathered stone walls, bronze cannons on their carriages and the blue fishing boats below give the harbour its character.
Begin with a material and ask how it was made, repaired and maintained. A photograph alone cannot tell you who cut a stone, cast a cannon or built a boat, or the conditions in which they worked.
A Skala chapter
The Skala du Port shows how the new city met the sea: a long platform for cannons, joined to the sea gate and set at a right angle to cover both the quay and the approach from the islands.
Look at the meeting of the two: a working harbour, and a battery built to protect it.
Make room for context
Pair this city reading with the Skala du Port’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places, commissions their restoration or represents their makers.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
