Hotel Smara Essaouira

... 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.<br><br>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) ;)<br><br> 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 ...

... us horse riding &#8211; that&#8217;s good enough for us, so we ask him to ring his friend who offers to pick us up from the riad at 10:30. He&#8217;s bang on time and we follow him through town to where he has parked his van and he drives us out to his ranch. The horses are in good condition and obviously looked after really well, so I&#8217;m happy with the situation. The horses get saddled up, we&#8217;re given hard hats (just in case) and then we get up on horseback! My ...

... 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 ...

... up outside the medina walls, said our goodbyes to Abdul the driver, then lugged our bags a short distance to our hotel (Riad ?). After unpacking, Mike and I headed out to explore the markets. We wandered around for ages, just looking (bought some dates and dried apricots), then stopped at a local cafe for pizza and fresh orange juice. So many seagulls everywhere - boy they made a noise. Back to our hotel for an early night.

... 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 ...

... and filling up water containers from the fountains around town in preparation for break the Ramadan fast. We wandered through a very interesting market street where all kinds of thing were for sale like pigs feet, fruits, spices, meats, animal skins and live chickens, turkeys, ducks and rabbits sold alongside faux branded belts, costume jewellery and Barbie backpacks. We checked out the port area where here was some intense fish market action happening in the ...

After tiding up the truck, putting some oil in the engine, we went straight to a public beach to swim in the sea and take a pleasant shower. We then headed to downtown Casablanca, where we visited the Great Mosque Hassan II and the old Medina. Once back on the road, we kept on driving till we decided to stop at El Jadida (formerly known as Mogador), and visited the old Portuguese fort after eating saulted ...

... anything I could do, though the ticket taker conceded that because our bags were small, we only needed to pay 5 dirhams each. Which was very frustrating. I was getting tired of feeling like I was being taken advantage of. But once I sat down on the bus, I had to reflect. What are 5 dirhams to me? 80 cents. And this is how this guy is making a living. While it doesn't seem fair to me, I've got to remember not to sweat the small stuff. So I spent some time ...

... heirloom itself. In the late afternoon the seagulls start an exodus down to the port. The walled moorings are grid-locked with azure wooden dinghies bringing home whatever came up in the nets today. Larger trawlers bring in the sardines. Sometimes you see a woman crouched over her husband's catch selling independently to hard haggling, knowledgeable fishwives. More often you buy your congor eel, moray, sea bass, bream, stingray, scampi, sea urchins ...