Asilah

A forty kilometers south of Tangiers, the small town of Asilah offers a peaceful within its fortified walls of the fifteenth century halt. Top wide ocher walls, flanked by two bastions, you can admire the sea, the medina and the streets lined with white houses. Haven for many artists, the facades of the city also serve as support for murals. Raissouli Palace, built at the beginning of the century, has been converted into a cultural center. In August, the city also hosts a music festival.

Medina and ramparts

Portuguese ramparts that encircle the old town contrast with the whiteness of the houses. Asilah has retained no traces of the Kasbah built by Al-Qasim Ibn Idris Mousa Ibn Abi Al-Afiya the ninth and tenth centuries. In addition, it has a huge fortifications work initiated under the direction of Diogo Boitaca, senior military architect of the Portuguese crown in the sixteenth century. A very imposing rampart, parallelogram, circle the medina and extends over an area of ​​7 hectares. It is pierced by five gates dating from different periods, two of which are of Portuguese origin: Bab al-Homer (Porta da Vila) and Bab al-Bahr (Porta da Ribeira).

Bastions and towers 

Among the bastions and the most spectacular towers representing a Portuguese site are the (Borj al-Bahr) Coraca and Torre de Menagem (Borj al-Kamra). The first, built between 1508 and 1516, ahead of the sea and was used to monitor the arrival and departure of supplies and reinforcements. The second main tower of the wall, marked by its boisterous medina of Asilah. Built in 1509 and reproduced on a famous engraving of Asilah in the sixteenth century, the Torre de Menagem was covered with a gabled roof and lined with watchtowers at the four corners. These architectural features refer to the style of the Portuguese military architect. This in turn ensured a public and ceremonial than military, conveying the image of power. It is a vestige of the castle from the Portuguese governor who took over the site of the palace of the Governor of medieval Moroccan Asilah.

Palace Raïssouli 

Built in the early twentieth century by a famous bandit (Moulay Ahmed Raïssouli) is a two-storey building that has become a cultural center. One enters through a door in the eastern wall.