Riad Chakir Mogador Essaouira

... beaches with flocks of kite surfers decorating the skies and seas. A truly enchanting site.

Pete, Sarah, Phil, Craig and I ventured into town together but we soon segregated leaving Sarah and me to drink our Moroccan tea and do a little shopping in peace. The boys weren’t particularly keen on watching us venture into ...

... gifts for people in the Souk its just really hard saw loads of things for people but try and haggle is annoying I just want to pay a price and it seems silly haggling for like 7 quid nearly bought you a bag Alex but the man was doing my head in so will have to try and find you something else ha ha.

Had some more mint tea in the square and then back to the Riad as Ian is going to the Hamam this is a place where all the locals go ...

Ah Essaouira - a most idyllic seaside town along the Atlantic coast, about 3 hrs. southwest of Marrakech, and a fine spot to wind down after my many adventures across Morocco. (it's also a prime example of the Moroccans apparent fetish for vowels) ;)

Such a lovely time I've had here - more than 3 days to meander along the waterfront with nothing more pressing to do than sample freshly squeezed O.J. from a seaside ...

... two hours. When we arrived, it was such beautiful! We walked to the defensive fortress built right on the cliffs, there are many cannons which looks ahead on the ocean. The waves are crushing on the cliffs under the fortress... And the wind of course! It knocks you down as if you were a puppet... Incredible feelings... Then we went to the deep part of the fortress, to the town itself. We visited ...

... and decided to stay perched on our rocks and let them navigate around us. Got back to the gite and relaxed for a while before the others arrived back. Had a great lunch out on the terrace - soup, pasta, lentils, salad. Wrapped my sleeping bag around me to stay warm. Packed up and headed down the mountain again, AJ and Sandra on mules, the rest of us hiking. Back in the bus again after collecting our bags from the cafe for ...

... of Arabia, and lots of people would travel back home to their families, so they put an old rattling bus back on the road and it came just at the right time. There was one seat left and it was next to a middle aged woman in a long dress so I wasn't too sure if it would be ok for me to sit there or would I get thrown out of the bus after only 50 meters, but I guess I was tolerable to the community ...

... small arts and crafts businesses, notably cabinet making and wood-carving (using roots of the Tetraclinis tree), both of which have been practised in Essaouira for centuries. There was also many fancy pants doorknockers that regular readers know i have a fetish for. So far i have tried unsuccessfully three times to bargain for antique Fatima hand door knockers here. The town is quite small so if you get lost in the medina you can just walk straight in any direction ...

Yep, windy is right enough. Nicer than Agadir though, even though it is just as touristy really. There seems to be more to it than just the beach, there're the walls and the forts, and the kite- and wind-surfers on the beach are like a sideshow. There are basketball courts and football and volleyball pitches for Lewis to entertain himself with, and lots of shops and stalls for me to ...

The road out of the walled in beach town of Essouira passes up and through a National Park high up on a plateau, which is covered in Argon tree orchards and thusly populated by those furry, tree climbing Argon goats. The road was very heavily travelled by speeding busses and blue taxis chock full of people and stuff loaded atop, who were ruthless honkers and rude drivers at first... but by the end of the day the drivers ...

... the softest leather in the world are offered to don and sincere invitations to share in the ritual of brewing and drinking mint tea abound. A unique market treasure is thuya, a fragrant wood carved by local artisans into everything from treasure boxes and salad bowls to camels and checkerboards. Sporting a striking blue and white color scheme, the town of Essaouira is protected by two huge forts, or skalas at either end. Along the ...