Next Stop Asilah
Shedding What’s Shabby at a Moroccan Port
Asilah had become rundown, but an annual arts festival has helped revive and clean up the town.
IT was a crisp Sunday afternoon, and the narrow terrace of Casa Garcia, a small seafood restaurant in the Moroccan port town of Asilah, exuded a rarefied air. Fashionable Moroccans in big designer sunglasses feasted on grilled fish, while a party of British women exchanged air kisses. All around, waiters in white jackets and skinny black bow ties weaved between the white-tableclothed tables, serving bottles of chilled white wine and luscious bowls of fresh cla
While such scenes of glamour have burnished Asilah’s reputation as a stylish playground for North Africa’s elite, it wasn’t long ago that this ancient fortified port, about 30 miles south of Tangier along the balmy Atlantic Ocean, suffered from obscurity.
Moroccan guidebooks written before the late 1970s only mentioned Asilah in passing, usually as a curiosity. But in the last few years, Asilah’s medina has become a clandestine getaway for Moroccan and European jet-setters who hide behind the thick carved doors of their exotic holiday homes, lounging on electric-blue roof terraces with a book in one hand and a cocktail in the other.
Much of the turnaround can be traced to 1978, when two local friends — Mohammed Benaissa, a photographer and diplomat, and Mohammed Melehi, an artist and curator — came up with the idea of inviting artists to paint murals on the town’s peeling walls. That grew into a summer-long arts festival, with flamenco concerts, design exhibitions and poetry readings, that attracts artists and fans from throughout the Middle East and the West.
The festival, the International Cultural Moussem of Asilah, is today among North Africa’s biggest cultural gatherings, drawing more than 100,000 people as diverse as Berber artists, Saudi Arabian royalty and Japanese collectors. For two months starting in July, Asilah is like Park City during the Sundance Film Festival: a small town suddenly swarming with a sophisticated mix of artists and world travelers looking to mingle and celebrate. Hotels as far as Tangier are booked solid months in advance, as are the Islamic and Andalusian courtyard homes in the medina. They came this year to hear the Syrian vocalist Waed Bouhassoun and a rare performance by female Sufi chanters from the mountainous region near Chefchaouen and to meet artists like the Moroccan painter Farid Belkahia and the Japanese painter Mizue Sawano.
Not bad for a shared dream of two childhood friends from Asilah. Before the festival, the town’s walls were crumbling and the medina was plagued by garbage and indifference. Now, Asilah is considered among the cleanest cities in Morocco.
The brilliant white medina was even honored with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1989. Restored gems include the Palace of Culture, a fortlike building with green windows, a dazzling performance hall and opulent suites where visiting artists are put up during the festival. And adding to the town’s new look are the colorful murals, splattered on nearly every corner and replenished each year by a new wave of festival artists.
But Asilah’s charms aren’t confined to the festival. When I arrived last May, the town felt like a sailboat calmly adrift. Battered blue-and-white fishing boats bobbed off a pier. A donkey cart clattered along a freshly swept alleys, followed by groups of Spanish tourists and Moroccan teenagers in head scarves singing a playful Arabic chant.
In the mornings, the sounds of waves drifted over the restored 15th-century ramparts, mixing with the rhythmic tones of streets being swept and the scent of freshly baked bread. By late morning, the action moved toward the wide golden beaches. On a warm Friday, a small group of boys played soccer on the packed sand. Nearby a clutch of young girls squealed as they played and threw one another into the cold water. Otherwise, the beaches were empty and seemed to stretch all the way to Tangier.
Those looking for even more solitude can travel a half-mile down the shoreline. One afternoon I asked a local guide to drive me to Paradise Beach, a cliff-lined cove about 30 minutes away along a bumpy dirt track. We arrived at sundown, just as the light became the color of honey and the sun’s fading colors bled into the horizon. My guide pointed out that during the festival, the beach is covered with tents and food shacks. Now, there were only three people.
But while Asilah is a place to ponder and read a good book in the off-season, it’s also not a bad place to shop. Unlike the souks of Marrakesh and Fez, where one goes dizzy from the sheer volume of things for sale, Asilah only has a dozen handicraft shops, but each is smartly edited and somewhat unusual.
One could spend hours alone in Alkamra, a veritable Ali Baba cave filled with treasures that its owner, Mohammed Aziz Acharoui, gathers from throughout North Africa. Recent items included fierce wooden facemasks, primitive still-life paintings on glass and a necklace with golf ball-size chunks of fire-orange coral and turquoise.
Mr. Acharoui also has two huge storerooms just outside the medina, where he keeps large objects like bronze fountains for a coterie of international designers and collectors.
Back in the medina, Bazar Atlas has an excellent selection of old Berber carpets and Tamegroute ceramics from the Atlas Mountains. One regular clients is Françoise Dorget, a designer who owns Caravane in Paris, which carries Moroccan-inspired furnishings. Ms. Dorget first came to Asilah 20 years ago and was struck by what she called the “Paul Klee-like jumble of geometric forms.”
She continues to visit often — and not just to shop. Working with local artisans, Ms. Dorget has transformed several old buildings in the medina into chic holiday homes. But despite Asilah’s rising cache, there are surprisingly no hotels within the medina. Mr. Benaissa, the mayor since 1983, has restricted development inside the ancient walls. But that is changing.
The town recently gave Tomás Alía, a Madrid designer, permission to open the first hotel inside the medina. Scheduled for December, the Dar el Amal will have seven luxury suites, a rooftop terrace with ocean views and groovy modern Moroccan interiors.
Mr. Alía said he’ll give a glamorous party to celebrate the opening, complete with an international guest list, Andalusian music and djellabas. But after that he’ll keep the vibe low-key. Like Asilah itself, he’d prefer that the Dar el Amal be kept a well-guarded secret.
GETTING OFF THE MARRAKESH EXPRESS
GETTING THERE
From the United States, fly into Tangier and then drive the 30 miles to Asilah. Royal Air Maroc flies from Kennedy Airport in New York to Tangier, with a plane change in Casablanca, for $1,700 round trip travel in mid-August, according to a recent online search.
WHERE TO STAY
Until the Dar el Amal hotel opens in December, staying inside the medina means renting a house. There are more than 30 vacation houses listed on Homelidays (http://www.homelidays.com/), an online rental agency based in Paris. Recent offerings included Dar Malak (No. 45628), a three-bedroom house that faces the sea, with housekeeper and chef, for 600 to 900 euros a week, or about $920 to $1,380 at $1.53 to the euro. A four-bedroom house (No. 74511) with sea views and large terraces was 800 to 1,600 euros a week, depending on the season.
For an affordable hotel outside the medina, try the seven-room Hotel Patio de la Luna (Plaza Zelaka 12; 212-39-416-074; http://www.patiodelaluna.com/). The backpacker-friendly spot has a tiny courtyard and simple tiled rooms starting at 450 dirhams, about $55 at 7.96 dirhams to the dollar.
WHERE TO EAT
Two of the best restaurants in Asilah are outside the medina and specialize in seafood: Casa Garcia (Rue Moulay Hassan Ben el Mehdi 51; 212-39-417-465) and Casa Pepe (Plaza Zelaka 8; 212- 39-417-395).
WHERE TO SHOP
Bazar Atlas (Rue Tijara 25; 212-39-417-864) sells old Berber carpets, textiles and ceramics from the village of Tamegroute.
Sparkly and colorful modern Moroccan slippers line the walls at Tienda de Velas Bellas (Calle Sid M Barek).
Alkamra (Rue de Commerce 10-12; 212-39-416-288) sells one-of-a-kind antiques, including coral necklaces and still-life paintings.
The Aplanos Art Gallery (Rue Tijara 89; 212-39-417-486; http://www.aplanosart.blogspot.com/) carries a mix of old maps and artwork on paper.
The Hakim gallery (Sidi Benaissa 14; 212-61-799-535) features drawings by local artists.
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