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Morocco’s Other Coast Emerges as a Destination | The New York Times
The New York Times finds a lot to love about Morocco’s lesser-known coastal attractions:
On a sandy curb, one dune away from the crashing Atlantic surf, a wiry vendor in a blue plastic chair with baskets of razor clams and oysters at his feet scissored open a spiky purple sea urchin, balancing a cardboard strip on his lap as a cutting board. He made a great show of washing a stainless steel spoon, which my husband and I shared to scoop out the creamy orange shellfish within.
Four of these small urchins cost the equivalent of a dollar and were the bright culinary surprise of coastal Morocco, a country better known for slow-cooked stews. More than its desert and mountainous interior, Morocco’s west coast, a blustery stretch of North Africa, testifies to its colonial past and trading heritage in a series of historic forts and emerging ports along miles of deserted beaches.
Morocco’s northern Mediterranean coast might be the country’s more established shoreline, where a Ritz-Carlton resort is currently under construction, and which is friendlier to swimmers, compared with the wave-bashed west coast. But along some 200 miles of windswept Atlantic beach south of Casablanca, seaside meadows sprout billboards touting planned resorts and vacation home communities, suggesting that Morocco’s second coast is poised to boom. Already a string of stylish, mostly boutique hotels have opened there, giving travelers reasons to stop and stay…[FULL STORY]