Children of the World

We did a day trip to Asilah, a town 30 km south of Tangier which was created by the Phoenecians in approximately 1500 BC. Conquered in turn by the Portuguese in the 15th century, then the Spanish and then taken by the Moroccan leader, Moulay Ismail, in 1692, it was used as a base for piracy during the 19th and 20th centuries.

A local mayor regenerated the town in the late 1970s by instituting an annual art festival during August, when artists cover many of the walls with colourful murals. This year, the murals were fewer in number, and I'm sure many of them were created by local rather than international artists.

This wall, which forms the boundary to the school, displays murals which might have been created by the school children.

The proprietor of the Kasaba restaurant opposite the kasbah welcomed us inside for coffee on our arrival and dissuaded us from venturing out when we had finished. We could see the rain sweeping in over the Atlantic. Discretion is the better part of valour so we enjoyed a chicken tagine while the deluge passed over.

I was saddened to see so much gratuitous graffiti inscribed on the walls overlooking the Jamaa Ben Ayad and Bab Krikiya by Moroccan tourists.