Touristic sites (....)

Boulaouane is a village located 65 km southeast of El Jadida, near the Oum Er-Rbia river. After the fall of the Saadians and the rise of the new Alaouite dynasty, Doukkala was still experiencing total instability. Moulay Ismail, tried to submit it totally but in vain. For this, he started by building different Kasbahs across Morocco. That of Boulaouane, in Doukkala, was intended to control the territory and also the trade routes. It was built around 1710 and was, for a long time, the relay of the Alaouite sovereigns between Rabat and Marrakech. The Kasbah dominates the Doukkala plain and offers visitors a splendid panoramic view of the meanders of Oued Oum Er-Rabia.

The Kasbah is classified as a historical monument and is accessible by the RN1 for 14 km, then the RR316, and finally the RR314. Originally, the kasbah included a royal residence, a mosque of which only the ruins remain of the Kouba of Sidi Mansara, a high square courtyard and warehouses. The building is in the shape of a rectangle dotted with seven bastions. It remains to be mentioned that this place experienced the Portuguese presence, for a certain period, before Sultan Moulay Ismail seized it to install troops responsible for controlling the tribes.

Located 70 km south of El Jadida, the Kasbah of Oualidia was used for surveillance of the Doukkala coasts. Its founder is the Saadian sultan El Oualid Ben Zidane, who erected, in 1634, the kasbah to prevent access to the port laid out in the harbour.

During his famous journey around the middle of the 5th century BC., the Carthaginian admiral Hannon, after his visit to El Jadida (Portus Rusibis), perhaps to Moulay Abdellah (ex. Tit), stopped at Oualidia where he consecrated a sanctuary dedicated to the God of the sea "Poseidon". Moreover, Hannon founded seven colonies along the Moroccan coast. According to him, Cape Soloeis (near Oualidia), now completely bare, was at that time totally covered with trees and located near a lagoon surrounded by thickets of reeds where elephants lived.

About a century after the passage of Hanno, the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax (Greek document, mid IVth century BC, listing ports and coastal landmarks) mentions the existence of an altar decorated with sculptures where the cult of Poseidon was celebrated.

With a magnificent bay, an eight-kilometer lagoon and deserted beaches, Oualidia is one of the pearls of the Kingdom. Renowned for its oyster production and seafood, this magical site is also a paradise for water sports and especially surfing.