Hotel Sahara Essaouira

... then sat and Mohammad cooked for us a tradition Morrocan feast, we had soup again for starters with lentals and chick peas in it then he brought out some salad of tomatoes and peppers covered in olive oil and lemon, some bread and a big tagine of beef with olives and peas and green beans it was an amazing meal and both Ian and I stuffed our faces full. We are off tomorrow to fez on the train and it takes 7 hours so we need to get some rest.

... nuances of the U.S. military's fleet of 27+ satellites (a.k.a. Global Positioning System) that gratuitously allows folks all over the World to happily seek Tupperware in the woods (i.e. geocaching) - or in this case, the dry wasteland of the nearby sand dunes. Indeed, as I repeatedly shouted "Faites-moi confiance - SURPRISE!", he clearly thought I was nuts. Nonetheless (for 150 Dh) he prudently kept mum and dutifully ...

... able to canter along the beach and through the waves with her horse – totally awesome, I want to do that some day – I AM going to do that some day! I was having a fantastic time, but part of me was extremely disappointed at having to be led. It was amazing riding along that beach – really beautiful, ******* the legs and bottom, but breathtaking just the same. We make our way back through the sand dunes to the ranch – the entire time we are riding around ...

... A popular old Russian song by Alla Pugachova, the light suddenly went down low for a couple of seconds and the show was over... It looked like synthesizer of a band member was burnt by electricity failure=( It was so pity...

So, as far as we ended our drinks, we went back through the night city, which looked wonderful at night... Then again we spent some time by the pool with some wine=)

... camel ride.  Barrett didn't love it, but it was a pretty cool experience (i love camels).  No spitting; the camels were pretty used to the experience, and they seemed to get nice treatment. We also stopped at a woman's cooperative where they make argonne oil from hand (one woman cracks the nuts, one shucks them, one grinds them, one pounds out the oil -- was amazing). We stayed the night in Safi.  I don't have much to say about this place but though it's beautiful to see ...

... lovely room in Moroccan style. I felt like I'd never want to leave again. My first stop was Il Mare. A restaurant right behind the city walls but high enough to look over them. Ten days before Christmas, I was sitting outside on the roof terrace, enjoying a good lunch with a view of the ocean. It was blue skies all over and just pleasant. Was it really 3 days since I was walking through the snow...

... fairly large sized Dory fish that Nadia selected, a good choice. Sorry Nemo, we ate Dory! Walking home, the streets were filled with people. We are told that the 27th night of Ramadan is a special night when everybody prays all night together in mosques or at home. People take food to the mosques so they can eat together and not have to leave. They finish at 4:30am. Nobody knows exactly when the last day of Ramadan is because they wait to see what the moon is doing ...

... sommes dirigés vers le centre de Casablanca dans le but d'une visite éclair de la Grande Mosquée Hassan II et de la vieille Medina. Une fois de retour sur la route, nous avons poursuivi pour décider de s'arrêter à El Jadida. Dans ce « Deauville marocain » classé au patrimoine mondial de l'Unesco, nous avons visité la cité portugaise (anciennement nommée Mogador), et pris un déjeuner copieux de crevettes ...

... minutes, listening to a discussion about the US house and senate races on the radio-- in French. Finally, the woman the driver'd been waiting for appeared, got in, and off we went to the gare routiere, where the same man from yesterday found us and led us to the correct bus. Then he asked for 10 dirhams each for putting our bags on it. For lack of any other option, we paid up. Because we'd jumped in a taxi and then been whisked straight onto the bus, we hadn't ...

... with strangers ... There is traditional Berber food to be had too down dodgey back alleys. The tagine of chicken, olives and preserved lemon was the best I've had in Morocco (actually anywhere). David had bastilla, a celebratory pie, made from shredded pigeon cooked with cinnamon, currants and pinenuts, wrapped in bric (hand-made Moroccan filo) and liberally dusted with icing sugar. Over very good pasta another night we drank (very non-traditional ...