Essaouira and Marrakech

On arriving at Essaouira, which is by the sea, we immediately noticed the smell of the sea and the sound of gulls.

In the late 1700's the Medina at Essaouira was planned before it was built, so instead of being a labyrinth it has a grid pattern to the street layout so it was easy to get around.  By comparison with the other Medina we have seen the streets are wide; cars are not allowed in but you do have to watch out for cyclists, motorbikes and men with handcarts.

 Gas delivery 

Our hotel at Essaouira was inside the Medina so we left our minivan outside the walls and had a short walk to where we were staying.  Our bags were brought in on handcarts.  

             Loading our bags for transport to our hotel

Essaouira is known for woodwork and silverwork.  We visited a workshop where they make beautiful inlaid furniture and visited a workshop where silver filigree work was done.  Both of these were co-operatives so items were made by a number of craftspeople and sold there on their behalf.

Beautiful woodwork 

Filigree  work

The Medina at Essaouira was touristy compared to the other places we have been.  Where we were, generally the shops were selling goods for tourists to buy instead of it being a market place for the locals. Shop after shop selling leather bags; earthenware plates and bowls; clothing etc. We found the shop owners quite pushy, glance their way and they tried to sell you something.

I'm not sure if you can buy the tagine at the bottom of the display

They work hard to make their goods stand out.  Here he is carefully placing olives for display.

Street stall

We ventured down to the port area where there is an old Portuguese fort.  

The fort , we climbed to the top.

Invaders beware 

At the top of the fort 

Doing what tourists do

Same view without a tourist in the way

The fishing fleet is based near here, the small boats catch the big fish on long lines and the big boats net for sardines.  We went to the fish market to see what was for sale.  There was a large variety of fish and shellfish much of it strange to our eyes.

The small boats 

Fish for sale

We had fish and chips Essaouira style.   First we chose our fish from the display of the previous night's catch (well or tour leader made the choice) then it was grilled on hot coals out the back of the restaurant. We sampled prawns, sea bass, red snapper and sardine.

The fish selection

The chef

Essaouira has a long sandy golden beach and on our wander along it we came across a soccer match.  The street side adjacent to the beach was largely undeveloped with only a couple of restaurants and places offering surfboard and windsurfumg hire.  Diggers were working and it looked like the area maybe developed soon.  

Soccer on the beach

Our last stop on our trip was Marrakech where we arrived at about dinnertime.  After a quick shower at our hotel we were taken to big square ‘Place Jemaa El-Fnaa’.  This is a huge square on the edge of the Medina and every night it comes alive with locals and tourists.  Around the outside were fruit juice stalls along with many street food stalls.  In the centre were dancing-boys (it would be against custom for girls to provide this entertainment), story-tellers (telling their tales in Berber or Arabic, to an audience of locals), magicians, and peddlers of traditional medicines.

The square before it got really busy

We had our dinner in the square, a selection of street food chosen by our tour guide (9 different dishes) before wandering off to survey the scene infront of us.  It was a hubbub of noise, the sound of musical instruments, drums, chants and people in general.

Our group at the food stall

The next day we went back to see the square in daylight.  The food stalls were closed but the orange juice sellers were still there.  In the centre of the square there were men with chained Barbary apes and a few snake charmers.  There were women offering to paint henna designs on your hand.

We ventured for a short way into the souk, a traditional North African market catering for both locals and tourists but as we weren't wanting to buy anything we soon got tired of being pressured into going to the shops to look at the goods.

We walked back to our hotel via the mosque and a lovely park and treated ourselves to a gelato along the way.

The mosque

Neatly manicured park

We have thoroughly enjoyed our Morocco trip.  We have found the people polite and welcoming.  We have seen a great variety of scenery from the Medina of the cities to the small villages.  We have climbed in the hills to visit a Nomad camp and also had a taste of the Sahara.

There is opportunity for the country to develop it's agriculture. Some dams have been built for both electricity generation and irrigation and in places there is a good supply of water underground.  With a bit of capital and the application of water crops will grow.

The food has been good and we have had lots of it.  We have had many tagines, all of them very nice. Tagines for lunch and dinner, at times a 3 course set menu of soup or salad followed by a tagine then fresh fruit.  Usually there is an appetiser of bread and olives.

We leave Morocco with a better understanding of the country and the culture.  It is a wonderful place to visit.

My next post will be from southern Spain.