By Pedro Orihuela
ESSAOUIRA: WIND, LIGHT AND SAND Essaouira, or Mogador as it was known during the days of the French Protectorate, is situated on a small rocky platform that juts into the sea like a peninsula. It stands under the watchful gaze of the socalled Purple Isles, a name given to them by the Phoenicians who discovered this enclave when searching for sea snails of the murex genus, from which purple dye was obtained. They established a type of factory on these small islands situated opposite the city. This gives us some idea of its importance as far back as the 7th century B.C.
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