Ours is the highest terrace in this part of town because our building was a watchtower for the Gendarmerie Forestiere. These days you are more likely to see seagulls than marauding bandits from this spectacular vantage point, but it is a great place to watch the sunset and stare out over the medina rooftops

Ps: Dog model’s own

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The first edition of the Marrakech Art Fair will be held from 8 to 11 October 2010 (with a preview on 8 October) at the Es Saadi Palace.

Forty international art galleries are pleased to invite professionals and passionate art collectors to present their recent discoveries during a 4-day event.

Modern art and contemporary art will be high on the agenda. Works of art and creations from the 20th and 21st centuries.

Check out the coolest new address in Essaouira: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Essaouira/Dar-91-Essaouira/138803832582?v=photos

Dar 91 is available between 2 and 10 September, and Next Door is available between 13 and 22 September.

Click here to see the photo album on our Facebook page – ‘like’ the main page there and you’ll get to see new photo albums as we add them…eventually we suppose we’ll get to the point where there isn’t a building site behind the photographer!

Weather – with at least 320 days of sun, it is HOT, with BLUE SKIES all the way.

The amazing sunsets giving every night a spectacle of colours, either PINK, ORANGE or DEEP BLUE…don’t forget your camera!

Lovely fresh fish and an ever changing supply of fresh fruit and vegetables…let’s EAT EAT EAT

It’s a shopping paradise, with fairer prices than in many other Moroccan tourist destinations, and less need to barter. So you can SHOP TILL YOU DROP      

Essaouira is like a window onto a simpler past long lost in Western Europe. ENJOY IT!

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This Sunday (25 April) is the finale of the Regraga pilgrimage, with a fantasia at Had’Dra.

The Regraga originate from the Chiadma region to the north of Essaouira, and their ancestors are said to have made the Hajj to Mecca, received the blessing of the Prophet and introduced the Quran to Morocco. Every year they and a host of pilgrims go on a marathon 38-day tour of shrines across the region, erecting holy tents and bestowing ‘baraka’ on the crowds who follow them.

About 30 days ago they came to Essaouira, bringing with them a new energy to the town as the locals’ friends and families descended from the countryside to celebrate this popular annual festival, filling up the houses and streets with hustle and bustle. The parade progressed down the main street to the beat of drums, with the pilgrims throwing water and blessings. It’s fascinating to watch the Moroccans being cornered by the pilgrims, demanding dirhams in exchange for a blessing, and an interesting custom is that unmarried women who stroke the white horse which forms part of the cortege, will apparently increase their chances of finding a husband.

The locals say that with the Regraga comes a wind that makes the wheat dance and other crops grow – and as is so often the case here, they managed to find time for serious shopping at a market to the north end of town, which went on long into the night and, given the lack of street lighting in that area, proved that Moroccans can even shop in total darkness.

Highlights will include a performance of Carmina Burana; songs from Falla, Bizet and Debussy, and an operatic evening including arias from operas by Mozart, Donizetti and Offenbach. Read more.