Atlas Essaouira

From the High Atlas mountains of Morocco to the vast Sahara desert of Mauritania; from the impoverished semi desert of the Sahel in Burkina Faso and Mali to the palm fringed tropical coastlines of Ghana... then onto the coastline of the Gulf of Guinea to ...

... Park / Imlil Walk to Aroumd Hotel: a mountain home stay (gite) Wed, 7 Oct: Hike in the High Atlas Mountains Minibus to Essaouira Hotel: a riad (2 nights) Fri, 9 Oct: Public bus from Essaouira to Marakech Hotel: Hotel Corail (2 nights) - ...

Seven American women and one young Turkish travel agent drive all over Morocco, from the Rift Mountains, to the Middle Atlas Mountains, to the High Atlas Mountains--and to the edge of the Sahara and the Atlantic Ocean, as well. The blog outlines some of ...

... , I was laughing a bit, but once we had to board and argue with luggage collectors I'd stopped laughing. The three hour journey to Essaouira was hell. Before we departed, a whole team of beggars boarded the bus and one of them was still on the bus when ...

... art galleries, wood workshops, fisherman and coloured boats all enclosed by ancient walls. My first impressions of Essaouira were very refreshing - definitely a charming, laid back artist's colony with cobblestone streets and massive stone ramparts ...

... pretty and the long, sandy beach with it's crashing waves is a favourite with surfers. Despite it's popularity with tourists, Essaouira still maintains a sense of conservatism. There are more veiled women here than in other cities and the streets don't ...

A long nap later and we arrived on Morocco's windy Atlantic shoreline. Essaouira is a fishing village that grew up, smoked some weed, and became a beach haven for French hippies and Morocco's artist community. Our two nights in this quintessential sandy ...

... and luxurious.  Maybe when we're crossing the Sahara our feelings will change.  Continued... few days later Essaouira turned out to be a lovely little seaside fishing village with a cross of ultra modern buildings and old world ...

... got a French architect to built a city in the middle of the sand and wind in 1764.  Renaming it Essaouira (meaning well desinged), the sultan was pleased with the combined Moroccan and European influences it produced. Timbuktu and Europe trade ...

... then we saw the sea. The sun was well on the way to setting out in the Atlantic as we stopped at a mirador above Essaouira. A grand panorama of the town, its harbour and off-shore islands. Sunset over E as we descended to the seafront & the ...

... 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!!! ...

... in the morning, we jumped into another taxi and we went to Agadir, only to jump into another taxi as we were going to Essaouira. Essaouira being an important town on the hippie trail as Jimi Hendrix had stayed here and it was the premier place to surf. ...

hiya, am in essaouira on the beach and have just bought lovely green shoes. yesterday we spent the night at a gite in the high atlas and it was freezing. the trek up was difficult because of the ice and everyone was very good and took it in turns to hold ...

... and Rashid excitedly pointed out all the sights of his home town. We then began the final leg to the beach side town of Essaouira. We stopped at 6pm for Rashid to have breakfast, and then finally arrived at our destination at 8pm. We had pre booked ...

... . i will definitely be donating some money and supplies when i have a job again. on the way to ait benahado, we stopped by atlas studios where movies like the \mummy and kingdom of heaven were filmed. it was a waste of abouty 7 dollars. the sets ...

... I get seven hours of sleep, which is almost unheard of during the progress of a tour. We have a free morning to enjoy charming Essaouira, but the beach is a little chilly for swimming. The wind is high, and you almost need a sweater or jacket to be warm ...

... catch the bus at 3PM, so I had time to make my way around the Medina one last time.  After buying a few mementos from Essaouira, I headed back to the hostel to meet up with  The first leg of the trip was the bus ride back to Marrakech. ...

... top, from where you could see the Atlantic on one side, and the medina on the other. The pristine sense of life in Essaouira has to be imbibed slowly, with a quiet coffee, looking out over the ocean. Whether it's the fishermen picking through their catch ...