Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou, Morocco

Morocco-2, originally uploaded by Abhishek's Received Postcards.

Aït Benhaddou is a 'fortified city', or ksar, along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech in present-day Morocco. It is situated in Souss-Massa-Draâ on a hill along the Ouarzazate River and has some beautiful examples of kasbahs, which unfortunately sustain damages during each rainstorm. Most of the town's inhabitants now live in a more modern village at the other side of the river; however, ten families still live within the ksar.

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Medina of Essaouira, Morocco

Morocco-1, originally uploaded by Abhishek's Received Postcards.

Essaouira is an isolated city / wilaya in the western Moroccan economic region of Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz (#11), on the Atlantic coast.
The Medina of Essaouira (formerly "Mogador") is a UNESCO World Heritage Listed city, as an example of a late 18th century fortified town, as transferred to North Africa.

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Portuguese City of Mazagan/El Jadida, Morocco

Morocco-3, originally uploaded by Abhishek's Received Postcards.

El Jadida is a port city on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, in the province of El Jadida. From the sea, El Jadida has a very un-Moorish appearance; it has massive Portuguese walls of hewn stone.
El Jadida, previously known as Mazagan, was seized in 1502 by the Portuguese, and they controlled this city until 1769, when they abandoned Mazagão. Its inhabitants were evacuated to Brazil, where they founded new settlement Nova Mazagão (now in Amapá). El Jadida was then taken over by Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah.
The Portuguese Fortified City of Mazagan was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, on the basis of its status as an "outstanding example of the interchange of influences between European and Moroccan cultures" and as an "early example of the realisation of the Renaissance ideals integrated with Portuguese construction technology".

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Medina of Marrakesh, Morocco

Morocco-4, originally uploaded by Abhishek's Received Postcards.

Marrakech or Marrakesh, known as the "Red City", is an important and former imperial city in Morocco. It has a population of 1,070,838 (as of 2004), and is the capital of the mid-southwestern economic region of Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz, near the foothills of the snow-capped Atlas Mountains.

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