Riad de la Mer 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.

Marrakech, Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz, Morocco traceybelle

... us on. Eventually dismounting at Ground Zero (a decidedly g-forsaken tumble of thorny scrub that no Lonely Planet guidebook would dare to include among the "Gottasees in Morocco") Mohammad gallantly (albeit still dubiously) helped hunt amid the parched thicket til... we finally found the geoprize (an overturned rusty can concealing a trinket-filled tub of Tupperware) - yippeee!

Other Essaouria highlights:

Essaouira, Morocco globalgirl

... him how to work the reigns – he’s left to his own devices. We file out of the ranch and into the sand dunes – its not long before John looks completely natural and like he’s been doing it for years, he wasn’t brave enough to go any faster than a walk on his horse (Nassib), but I felt really pleased for him cause every time I looked at him he was grinning from ear to ear!! Alex is already an accomplished rider and has been for many years so she ...

... taken aback, and ended up letting him chat with me. His name was Aziz. He told me about the music and its history (from Sudan, I think it was?). And when some crazy guy tried to dance with me, he chased him off. After the music was over he convinced me to have a coffee with him. Then a few of his friends came along, and this is how Christine ended up having coffee with a bunch of Rastafarians from Rabat...

Everyone seemed to want a picture of him ...

... covered with goats eating it. So strange show=) Look it;)

We had a lot of day free ahead of us so after a little dinner at the hotel I decided to go to our former hotel, Agadir Beach Club with newly found friends=) We sat here listening by beautiful singer, she was performing great, known by everyone, oldies songs, I talked with some french pair sitting next to us=) And when she was ...

... the middle ages and no cars or motorcycles are allowed in the medina. Even if you have a shop or move into a house, there is no exception, so everything gets transported by wheelcarts. It is a friendly city where you can peacefully stroll through the streets without constantly being hassled by vendors. I checked into Riad Baladin, a wonderfully restored old house with a central courtyard and ...

... a bit then back to the bed for a nice soap down - it was kind of the same as in Turkey - I was sliding all over the bench!). Again back to the hot room then the final thing was an oil rub -- it was excellent and i recommend! We paid and then went our separate ways - I managed to hunt down one of those crepe and honey places. More wandering round then at 7.30 we meet up so we could go for cheap beers ...

We left Marrakech today and made a second attempt to get to Essaouira. We thought it would be unlikely that the bridge had been repaired after last weeks heavy rainfall, so we took another route, via Safi, which added another few hours driving onto our journey, but at least we didn't ...

... on the town's beach are making good use of it. Given that neither of us kite or wind surf, we think we may have picked a dud place to stop for the night. But a trip to the port by the medina reveals a charming, if well touristed, ex Portuguese fishing village. We are content to chill out for a day or two, sampling the catch of the day in any of the small stalls along the waterfront. May 18th - Rest Day, Essaouira A rest day that does exactly what it says on the tin - bugger all!!! Lovely.

... Imsouane, which supposedly had a surfer youth hostel and... boy did it ever!!! It was AMAZING... The route to the sea from so high above was a great little skinny dirt road hugging the cliffs and winding steeply down and down, as the setting sun streaked the sky bright red and orangey purple and the air was warm and salty. We passed through a tiny village prior to arriving in Imsouane down below, where an over eager young ...