RAMPARTS AND BIG GATE

You enter the city through Bab El Kasbah, the city's main gate. This majestic gateway features large ochre adobe arches. You enter via a long alley surrounded on both sides by ochre ramparts, with alternating watchtowers, palm trees and bougainvillea providing a fresh, harmonious backdrop. On the right, you walk along the section of Saadian walls surrounding the kasbah; on the other side, ^18th-century walls encircle the rest of the town. In all, the walls are almost 8 km long and feature 5 monumental gates. You'll think you're back in the Middle Ages, or in a movie set. It's easy to imagine Cherifian warriors bivouacking in the surrounding mountains to lay siege to the Roudani barricaded behind their walls. Take a tour of the ramparts by car, bike or horse-drawn carriage, if you're worried about damaging your vehicle on the track, which isn't always good. In places, combined with the gullies of the wadi that runs alongside the northern walls, pockets of abundant vegetation contrast extraordinarily well with the blinding reflections of the ramparts. But it's at sunset that the ramparts reveal their full beauty, when twilight accentuates their ochre color. The interior of the walls in the evening can make for a romantic stroll. The gateway to the ramparts remains a must-see, but the climb up the steps leads only to a small terrace offering a view of the Kasbah.