Agadir, Morocco

Flanked by a strip of fertilizer factories, a vast grain silo and sardine-canning plants, SAFI is not the prettiest of Moroccan towns. It does, however, provide a glimpse of an active, modern and working community and the old Medina in its centre, walled and turreted by the Portuguese, holds a certain interest. The city – it merits the name with a population of over 300,000 – also has a strong industrial-artisan tradition, with a whole quarter devoted to pottery workshops. These have a virtual monopoly on the green, heavily glazed roof tiles used on palaces and mosques, as well as providing Morocco's main pottery exports, in the form of bowls, plates and garden pots.

The main interest in Safi is in its Medina, the adjoining Dar El Bahar fort, and the Colline des Potiers, the potters' quarter on the hill northeast of the Medina. Further out, on the Oualidia road, is the main industrial quarter and the new port.

South of Safi, the coast is heavily polluted and industrialized, and for a beach escape you'll want to head north. Local buses #10 and #15 run to Lalla Fatna and Cap Beddouza from the Place de l'Indépendance. In summer there are also local buses to Souira Kedima.