Le Littoral Hotel Essaouira

Nous voilą parti
pour Safi, route superbe en bord de cote. Arrive labas nous avons
rencontre un ami d Aziz qui nous a aide a vendre notre remorque,
apres des petits coeurs grilles. Les marocains sont dur en affaires
je vous passe les details mais ca vallait le coup d etre vecu. Nous
voilą parti pour Essaouira. Arrivee labas Nous avons pose le
Essaouira, Morocco quatrequart

... boats (all blue), unload their catch to waiting locals who are all covered in long cloaks like colourful Darth Vaders. Fishermen lay out their nets (also blue) on the wharf to mend. Back in the medina (old town) we discover the food market. There are fresh peaches, nectarines, stawberries and dates. We buy little flat loaves of bread for lunch. Everyone speaks French and Terry's French is useful. We finish the day eating fish in a cafe watching the sun go down over the Atlantic.

Hoi! Om eens een lang rood lijntje op ons kaartje te krijgen, zijn we snel even naar Marokko gegaan. Na de megahit van Bensleg ft Hanzwol met het liedje 'Le Tiroir Dynamique' waren we verplicht om naar Marokko af te zakken. De tekst gaat immers over een dynamische schuif..iets wat in ...

Sorry for the delay in keeping you up to date on our travels.  We haven't had much stable internet connection here in Africe so our post will be short and sweet. Here we are in Essouira, a fun beach city couple hours West of Marrakesh.  We stopped by on our way back up to Casablanca.  

Rise and shine its time to leave Marrakech. Up, packed and out of campground by 8am. Headed straight to supermarket for cook group shop and supply refill for those who needed it, unfortunately shop didn't open till 9 so we sat around the carpark for 40 min. In the fear of being meatless we invested in some cans of what we call pringle chicken... basically a pringle container stuffed with processed meat... mmmmm delicious. The ...

... by a ghost in Marrakech when we stayed at the old riad in the medina. Spooky. Essaouira is a small fishing town on the Atlantic Sea and despite common misconception, Jimi Hendrix's song "Castles Made of Sand" was written two years before he visited the castles of Essaouira. Hotels and cafes still try to cash in on the fact that Hendrix stayed in Essaouira. The town was a major hippie hangout in the 70's. There are only a few hippies around now but the hash is ...

... tourism and cramming Arabic into my mind? Exploring Essaouira, of course. It's a beautiful town, right on the Atlantic coast, right on the beach. The medina is of a manageable enough size that you don't get lost after you've explored it enough times, and the people are incredibly friendly. Everywhere I go I'm offered tea. I've been horseback riding along the beach, an amazing experience, and I've ridden bicycles down the ...

We took a tourist coach over from Marrakech - a touch pricier than the local option, but we got there with A/C, and no stops to pick up random goat herders along the way. Essaouira (Ess-O-Where-A) is fairly un-tainted by the tourism industry, although we can certainly imagine that changing. This place is picturesque! A fishing village right on the coast, you've got your fishing vessels, old Spanish forts, pink-walled Medina ...

... people, noise, sizzling food stalls, and crowds of people watching musicians, storytellers...we felt quite conspicuous as we tried to navigate through all this with our packs and guidebook! Found a cheap hotel right off the square and headed out to soak up some more of hubbub going on. We found out that it was the end of Ramadan, hence all the people and celebratory atmosphere. We wandered around looking at the various stalls, watched some of the entertainment, made ...

... 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 ...