Hotel Riad Nakhla Essaouira

... few days to have a wash as they dont have any shower facilities in their houses. I was going to go but apparently it is really hot and I was a bit worried about fainting as I still dont feel 100% after the acident. So Ian went off with Mohammad on his own and I hung around reading and trying to get our washing dry which was hanging on the line on the roof terrace. Ian got back smoking a morrocan cigarette and acting now like a true ...

... chow down on a dizzying array of "fruits de la mer" - grilled fresh from the sea, and snap photo upon colorful photo of the brilliant blue boats, seagulls, market treats, etc.<br><br>Oh yes, and also... time for a little geocaching of course! Not 1 but 2 geocaches here in Essaouira (of a total of 34 in all of Morocco). The first of the two caches required a timely scamper across a river (at low tide) along with... as it ...

... 8211; Sahara &#8211; was a bit temperamental and in truth he actually frightened me a bit by shaking his head around and flicking his tail about &#8211; he seemed agitated and I think he sensed that I was a bit nervous of him, so he took full advantage of that &#8211; which meant that I ended up being led round, which wasn&#8217;t quite the same. <br><br>Johnboy on the other hand was a complete natural &#8211; he looked decidedly unsure when &#8211; after two minutes of ...

... workshop where local masters make different and and extraordinary things using the tree Thuja. Diiferent small souvenirs, tables, boxes, cupboards, hangers, toys... All that can be found here, such beauty things...<br><br>Then we had some free time to walk around the city and shops by ourselves, and then we met again to go to Agadir again.<br><br>While on the road, we saw local trees Argan ...

If we thought yesterday was a whirlwind...   yikes! We went and explored 3 cities with our tour.  Essaouria, Safi and El Jadida. We really *really loved Essaouria.  It's considered the home of gnaoua (or gnawa) music.  actually, it's a pretty big music spot in general. It's a coastal town - the west coast of Morocco, and coincidentally looks a lot like northern Cali.  Hendrix was supposedly here a lot in the 60s (though it's a wives tale that he wrote "Castles made of sand ...

... The road to Essaouira is partly along the coast where some huge waves attract surfers, but at 17 degrees water temperature at this time of the year, it appears somewhat pale compared to Hawaii. So I guess they come here if Daddy's cheque didn't arrive in time for the flight to Honolulu. Essaouira is a town with a great atmosphere. It is right next to the coast, a walled city that looks unchanged ...

... There were hundreds of little blue wooden boats and fishing trawlers and lots of fishermen and their wives selling the catch of the day which included lots of sardines and eels. Fish were being cut up all over the place and the remains thrown away for the seagulls and cats to eat. There were nets and fishing paraphenalia everywhere as well as young fishermen lazing around on wooden boxes. Hash and fishing is the life for these lads. We ate at one of the tiny fresh ...

... and Spadon steacks. Essaouira is obviously a world famous destination for win-and kitesurfers. Well, it has a nice medina and is windy indeed (though less when I was there than what I saw down south). We arrived at night and I made contact with a guy called Moubarak as we were looking for housing. He introduced us to someone who could have rented us a whole Riad, but instead we decided to go to a hotel ...

... the bus, reflecting on this, and waching more of nothing going by. I taught Andrew how to play MASH-- turns out he has a terrfic future ahead of him, and he's marrying Kate Winslet. While I'll end up living in the middle of nowhere, with 10 kids, married to George W. Bush. So for me, the future is bleak. Once we were back in Marrakech, it was kind of like returning home-- I was familiar enough with the city to feel comfortable there. We checked back into ...

... leopard shark, red cod, king crab, shrimps and octopus from the market stalls. Then you take it back to the fishermen who, having cleaned their boats, will clean your fish ... and that's what the seagulls and an army of mistrusting, skittish cats come for. The air is tangy with salt, sweat and icky bits, seagulls wheel cawing and screaming, more than a few feathers and some fur flies. Tourists lap it up - the daily ritual of a town leading the life ...