Riad Baladin Essaouira

... man after his bath with the locals. Apparently you go into a big room and they put local soap all over him and scub he said that a layer of skin came off and then they put big buckets of hot water all over him to make him clean. As I could not go Mohammad brought me back some local clay that you mix with water and put on your hair to make it really clean and nice so will have a girly night when we get home and we can try it out.<br><br ...

... out, a bit of a swim out to the "Castle in the Sand" (a natural stone relic immortalized in a tune by Jimmi Hendrix in the 60's who used to hang out - no doubt in a tie-dyed T-shirt - nearby).<br><br> Prudently turning away from such georecklessness (nay possibly a watery geocide!), my guide Mohammad instead turned our trusty "chevals" inland at my direction, as I waved my GPSr and vainly tried to explain (in French!) the ...

... and John is looking at me in total and utter surprise, it amuses him, he says he never thought he&#8217;d see the day &#8211; well, me neither &#8211; I have to say it, I even shocked myself!!! This is what I love about travel &#8211; you are in unusual surroundings, embracing different cultures and it just felt wrong to refuse it &#8211; who would&#8217;ve known it, that it would take a trip to North Africa to cure my phobia about eating fish!<br><br>The price for the meal ...

... 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...<br><br>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=)<br>

... the city formerly known as Mogador) this rare gem of a hotel<br>offers more than one could ask for within the medina walls.<br>Featuring 35 luxurious African, English, Portugese and Oriental themed rooms and suites, this<br>grandeur Morroccan house turned five star hotel holds true to the cluster of cultures that have touched the surrounding land. The hotel is appealing to both the business traveler ...

... as with the other towns we had been, which was a nice break.  We could stroll through and look for any last minute souvenirs without being hassled.  We strolled along the fishing port and watched the sunsets.  We stayed in a beautiful riad that had a ceiling terrace with views of the coast, called Riad de la Mer, which was recommended by other travelers we met. Finally, after about a week of cool rainy weather we were rewarded by beautiful blue skies, sun, and ...

... 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...

... the coastal sea breezes. We got a couple of hours on the beach before whipping up a pasta salad for lunch and piling into the truck to drive up the coast to Essaouira. We overstayed our beach time a little bit and ended up getting into the campsite a little later than planned. Essaouira is one of the windiest spots on the Moroccan coastline and is home to much windsurfing and kitesurfing, and i think some of our tents wanted to give it a go too as they ...

... I would be only a skeleton walking around Essaouira, should I emerge alive. Steve says at some places, they actually show you the ball of skin, which is usually the size of an orange, and tell you that this is what came off your body. Thankfully, this upmarket place maybe considered some such things to be unnecessary. Anyway, after removing a layer of my epidermis - or at least what felt like it - they covered us with a black soapy-paste which I am told is made of ...

... so we spent a lot of time following 'helpful' kids who showed us where to go - and gave away all our chewing gum in the process! We got talked into a 'tour' en-route of the tannery - a bad move, as it was quite disgusting - the place reeked of offal, pigeon poo (which they use to soften the leather) and I don't know what else but it almost made you retch...our 'guide'(aka some guy off the street who could speak a couple of words of english) raced us around the pools ...