Essaouira

Yesterday we drove 7 hours from Skoura, an inland part of Morocco, passing through Marrakesh and heading southwest to the Atlantic coast. The phrase “all roads lead to Marrakesh” comes to mind, as almost anywhere we’ve gone, we had to pass through or near Marrakesh.

Essaouira almost feels like a different country in some ways. It is an “old town” encompassed within the walls of a Medina, as part of Marrakesh was. No cars are allowed inside, so we parked outside the walls, paid a man 80 dirhams (about $10) to guard our car for 2 nights, and paid another man 30 dirhams to load all our luggage into a cart and guide us to our hotel, Villa Garance.   The Villa is on a narrow alley, about 6 feet wide, with buildings 4-5 stories tall on both sides, all side-by-side buildings sharing exterior walls. We have rooms on the second floor, and afternoon tea and breakfast are served on the rooftop terrace above the 4th floor. People with mobility issues could not get by here easily at all, as the stairways are narrow, winding, with steps of irregular height and width, no elevators. But all is otherwise modern with large bedrooms, small salons and private baths, with breakfast included in the price. Our hotel owners are two French sisters  who, like most people here, speak many languages, including English.

Matt and Cathryn shared the driving from Skoura to Essaouira, though Cathryn insisted on driving the first half of the day so she wouldn’t have to do the portion through Marrakesh. Matt doesn’t enjoy the city driving either, but he tolerates the stress of it better and remains decisive and calm even through stressful conditions.

Today we had a lovely breakfast on the rooftop terrace, then Mackenzie and Matt headed out on their own, as did we, to tour the town, port and beach.  We wandered through the souk (market) which is quite different from the Marrakesh souk, walked on the wall near the Port, toured the Port and saw fishermen bringing in their catch of the day, then walked a mile or so down the sandy beach.

This part of the country feels much more Westernized. There are still many women in robes and head scarves, but almost all men are in Western attire, and many women as well.  There are people on the beach in bikinis (not something that would have been acceptable in the rest of the country), couples holding hands, and lots of women in short skirts, sleeveless or tank tops, and even some shorts (tourists). French is the prevailing language here, not Arabic or Berber as in other parts of the country.  Bob studied French two years in high school, and we’re all appreciative and amused that he is our language expert here, as he claims not to have an “ear” for foreign languages, though he is teaching us various words and phrases. 

We had dinner at a beach-side restaurant, and with seafood soup, lobster entree, creme caramel, and two bottles of wine we spent only $200 – far less than a similar dinner at home would be.  By far our most expensive dinner. Nice to have something besides tagine or couscous.