Ramparts and Skala du Port

What they are

The walls of Essaouira were raised with the city, from 1760, to defend the port that Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah wanted to open to trade with Europe. There are two bastions to visit, and they are two different visits:

• The Skala de la Ville, north of the medina: a long platform above the rocks with a row of old cannons pointing at the sea. It is free to enter.
• The Skala du Port, next to the harbour: a fortress with two wings of about 200 m each that meet at a right angle. One faces the harbour basin and the other the islands, above the old stores for soldiers, ammunition and water. Stones from the Castelo Real, the fort the Portuguese built here in 1506, were reused to raise it. It is paid and run by the Ministry of Culture.

What you see

From the Skala du Port you see on one side the blue boats of the fishing port and on the other the white medina and the islands of Mogador. Those islands have been a nature reserve since 1980 and are home to about 700 pairs of Eleonora's falcon, which breed there from April to October: with binoculars you will see them fly. Climb to the top of the fortress for the widest view.

The Skala de la Ville is the stroll: you walk on the bastion, among cannons, with the surf breaking on the rocks below. It faces west, so at sunset the sun drops right in front. Underneath, in the vaults of the bastion, are the thuya-wood workshops.

Hours and price

The Skala du Port costs 60 DH for foreign adults and 30 DH for foreign children aged 7 to 13; 30 and 10 DH for Moroccans and residents, who enter free on Fridays. The Ministry of Culture sells the ticket on its ticketing website and gives general hours of 9:00 to 17:00; confirm the closing time at the door, because that figure is the website's in general and not always the monument's.

The Skala de la Ville is free and open during the day.

Allow half an hour for each.

Getting there

Both are on foot from anywhere in the medina. The Skala du Port is reached from Place Moulay Hassan, walking towards the harbour. The Skala de la Ville is reached from inside the medina, north of the square, through the thuya workshop area.

With children and precautions

Children love the cannons, but do not let them climb on them or lean over the wall: below there are rocks and sea. With a pushchair you can reach the platform of the Skala de la Ville; at the Skala du Port there are stairs. The wind blows hard almost always, especially from June to August: hold on to hats and glasses.

Astapor, the red city

The official Moroccan tourism website says it plainly: these walls trace the outline of Astapor, the red city of Game of Thrones. What you walk on is the same bastion, with the cannons pointing at the Atlantic. There is no route or anything signposted from the series: the wall and the Skala recognise themselves.