One of our favorite places to visit in our tours is the fortified fishing village of Asilah .A Spanish colonial outpost 25 miles down the coast from Tangier that is often passed over by guidebooks. This may be the reason its cobalt blue ,painted window frames, emerald carved doors, fruit stands selling fresh orange juice, and donkey-drawn carts clattering down sun-dappled alleys still feel so blessedly removed from Morocco’s tourist-filled cities. It’s also what for years has drawn artists and adventurous travelers, who have quietly turned the town of approximately 29,000 people into a cultural haven.But Asilah’s charms go beyond the festival: Several sublime beaches lie at the foot of the village’s fifteenth-century ramparts, and in the souk inside the Andalusian-style medina, vendors sell Berber rugs, vintage textiles, and hand-painted furniture, all of it authentic and well priced. You could spend hours sorting through the treasures—from carpets to Tamegroute ceramics from the Atlas Mountains ,hunting for antiques and paintings or trying on colorful silk slippers and leather sandals in hole-in-the-wall shops.
