Landmark · Diabat
Diabat, le village et le Bordj El Berod
Bordj El Berod, Borj Al-Baroud in the culture ministry’s inventory, is a ruined 18th-century fort on the beach at Diabat. It stands 1.4 km from the village as the crow flies, facing Mogador island. Legend says Jimi Hendrix wrote “Castles Made of Sand” here, yet the song came out before his 1969 visit.
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The ruin: one small fort, three spellings
The ruin stands on the beach just south of the mouth of the Oued Ksob. It is 1.4 km from the centre of Diabat as the crow flies, by our calculation. Mogador island lies 1.3 km to the north-west. The tower’s outline is roughly 40 m by 45 m.
Its name has three spellings: Bordj El Berod, Borj Al Baroud, the one in the ministry’s inventory, and Bordj el Baroud. The Arabic, برج البارود, means “the powder tower”.
The culture ministry’s heritage inventory calls it “Borj Al-Baroud (Fortin)”, a small fort, and dates it to the 18th century without naming a builder. Yet the “Portuguese fort” nickname gets passed around, even on online maps. No official source we have read links it to Portugal.
Its inventory record is number 07/0012. The inventory site, idpc.ma, did not respond on 17 October 2026, so we read the record in its archived copy of 17 August 2019. The ministry’s published list of protected sites names five in Essaouira, and the Bordj is not one of them. Our advice: come for the setting more than the building. The beach and the islands opposite are most of the visit.
Jimi Hendrix: what is documented and what is legend
According to an AFP report from September 2020, Jimi Hendrix stopped briefly in Essaouira in summer 1969, and nothing documents the stay. His biographer Caesar Glebbeek says he slept in a four-star hotel in town and never went to Diabat. Villagers interviewed by the agency insist they saw him there.
The song does not fit the dates. “Castles Made of Sand” is on the album Axis: Bold as Love, which the official Hendrix site dates to 10 January 1968. That is a year and a half before summer 1969.
AFP ties the legend instead to the Dar Sultan palace, or Dar Soltane, an 18th-century residence of Sultan Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah. The palace has been on the national heritage register since October 2020, according to the press. A ruined palace, marked as “Sultan Rachids Palace”, stands 600 m north-west of the village. No official source we have read places Dar Soltane, so nothing says the two are the same.
In the village, a Jimi Hendrix Hotel & Restaurant carries his name. Its own website, online on 17 October 2026, gives its address as 35 Main Street, Diabat, but the page dates from 2016, so we cannot say it still opens. Our advice: enjoy the legend as a story, not as fact. A name over the door is no proof that he ever came.
Planning the visit: how long, when, what to avoid
To get there, our Diabat village page covers the road, the taxi and crossing the river. Allow half a day for the ruin, the village and the dunes. No mapped path comes within 600 m of the tower. The last stretch is on sand, at the southern end of the long town beach.
The dunes behind the beach are part of Ramsar site no. 1469, which runs as far as Cap Sim. Its January 2025 information sheet lists taking sand, pebbles and firewood among the threats. Our advice: take nothing home, not even a pebble, and do not climb on the walls.
The ruin is open-air, with no published hours. The sun sets at 17:40 on 21 December and 19:47 on 21 June. We prefer late afternoon for the low light on the tower, with time to get back before dark. For the town’s own towers and ramparts, see Essaouira’s landmarks and historic sites.
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Frequently asked questions
Did Jimi Hendrix really go to Diabat?
Nothing proves it. His biographer Caesar Glebbeek says he never went there during his short stop in Essaouira in summer 1969. Villagers interviewed by AFP in 2020 say they saw him.
Was “Castles Made of Sand” written in Diabat?
No. The song came out on Axis: Bold as Love, released on 10 January 1968 according to the official Hendrix site. That is more than a year before his trip to Morocco in summer 1969.
Is the fort at Diabat Portuguese?
Nothing shows that it is. The culture ministry’s inventory dates it to the 18th century, and no official source we have read links it to Portugal.
Do you have to pay to see Bordj El Berod?
No price is published: in Essaouira, the culture ministry’s ticketing portal sells entry to the Skala du Port only. The ruin is open-air on the beach, so go in daylight, before sunset.
What can you see in Diabat in half a day?
The fort on the beach facing Mogador island, then the village, where a hotel and restaurant carries Hendrix’s name on a website dated 2016. Finish with a walk in the protected dunes, and head back before dark.
Where are the Dar Sultan palace ruins?
No official source we have read places them. A ruined palace stands 600 m north-west of the village centre, but nothing identifies it as Dar Soltane. The 18th-century palace has been on the national heritage register since October 2020.