A wee bit of history
The 2018 world retreat of Le Wagon is happening in the laid-back little port of ancient Mogador, the coastal fortress builth in the 16th century by the Portuguese, that’s become a cultural hub for creatives, the surfers, the travelers and history lovers… the perfect meeting point for such a cosmopolitan crowd that will be bringing nothing less than 79 people from 16 cities and 11 countries!
In the 19th century, Essaouira used to be Morocco’s biggest port, named “Port of Timbuktu” where goods like gold and spices came from Subsaharan Africa to be shipped to Europe and the Americas. To keep up the spirit, we, Le Wagon’s community will be sharing a whole bunch of golden tips so as to remain the hard-earned #1 coding school worldwide and thrive further.
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Keep these items closely at hand: a windbreaker 🧥, some sunscreen ☀️ and your swimsuit 👙
Swiri magics
While roaming around, you will be able to enjoy the Swiri architecture, with the fairy-tale battlements the color of honey and the bustling white-and-blue medina. The medina (literally “city” in Arabic) is a UNESCO world heritage stage, that provides a particularly relaxing atmosphere where you can mingle with the henna artists and artisans and browse their Berber baskets, colorful fabrics and other then thousands handicrafts.
Essaouira has unveiled the ateliers of its craftsmen located in the Sqala fortress, the 18th-century sea bastion that runs along the northern cliffs, where Orson Wells filmed most of Othello in 1949 and where Astapor scenes from Game of Thrones were shot. All year-long, the town hosts an array of music festivals, from the exuberant jazz and world music Alizés festival to the gypsy flamenco Atlantic festival or the Gnaoua Music Festival, also called the Woodstock of Morocco.
Even outside of festival time, you’ll hear Essaouira’s hypnotic pulses of gnaoua bands roaming around the city. Played on traditional instruments – bass drums, iron castanets and the lute-like guimbri – the mesmerizing rhythms of the Gnaoua were first developed by slaves brought to Morocco from sub-Saharan Africa.This tradition is well kept and passed-on from one Maâlem (literally “initiated” in Arabic) to another.
