It is about 3 years since we were last in Essaouira so it was a bit of a culture shock. The town is essentially a resort although there is also a traditional fishing port. It is in complete contrast to Agadir appealing more to the "independant traveller" rather than the all inclusive package tour market. It relies heavily on its tenuous connections to Jimi Hendrix and the hippies of the early seventies. The medina is heavily, although not entirely, europeanised, with the majority of the moroccan population living in the new town but working in tourist related trades. There is a large market in alternative neo-hippy clothing and surfer culture, although really it is a bit far north for the later , the hard-core beaches are around Tamazgrout. The annual musuc festival means it is an excellent place to buy CDs of african music but the music and clothing stalls also show a dedicated following for Bob Marley from young men in dreadlocks which is slightly weird because he must have been dead before they were born and I am probably the only person present who saw him in concert, but then the whole town is a timewarp to my youth. There is a flourishing if somewhat "head" based artistic community and vegan restaurant relics of the past, run of course by ex-pats. There are luxurious hotels along the front which is more of a luxury med resort, we stayed in the then Sofitel the first time we visited and the view of the sunset from the balcony was stunning, but the accomodation in the medina is in restored riads done up to offer visitors the "real" morocco although they about as real as the average english country house hotel or beamed cottage B&B is to england. We stayed in such a riad and Ali Baba and the knitter were impressed.
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