A Visit to Essaouira

I’m here at Essaouira by the beach and spending my last two days in Morocco before I start traveling home. This will be the last post of my trip because from now on i will just be on the on mundane journey home via London.

Essaouira is located on the windy Atlantic coast, about two hours southwest of Marrakesh. This vibrant city has a long history of colonisation. The Portuguese were responsible for the construction of the massive stone walls that still surround the old town and it is one of the reasons why it is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

With its long beach, sheltered harbor and friendly people, Essaouria is much calmer than the other hectic cities that I have visited in Morocco.

Essaouira has been a port town for quite some time. There is, apparently, evidence of prehistoric settlements going back as far as the 5th century BC when the first known settlement was established. Like a lot of the coastline of Morocco, this area has passed through Phoenician, Carthaginian and Roman control.

After the Romans left Morocco a tribal king established a factory that processed a purple dye prized for its richness of color. The dye was taken from the Murex, a type of sea snail indigenous to the Purples Islands, just off the beach of Essaouira.

It wasn’t until the Portuguese built the fortress in 1506, with its ramparts and stone walls, that the modern layout of the city started to take form. Along with a few other cities in Morocco, Essaouira was a fortified Portuguese stronghold. The Portuguese eventually lost control of the city and, like Salé, Rabat and Asilah to the north, it became a pirate city until the 18th century.

I have a new  driver, Racheed, to take me to Essaouira and back. He has less English than the two drivers on the main part of my photo tour but we got by with a little French and some sign language.

The drive to Essaouira was largely through desert country with a one large town, Chichaoua, roughly halfway betweem Marrakech and here. It turned out tio be a good spot to stop for coffee at a roadside cafe.

Along the way, the desert was punctuated by small areas of irrigation, including this one where people were picking peas.

Near our destination we came across a scattered forest of Argan Trees. I don’t know much about Argan oil, but in Morocco, it is widely used as a basis for beauty products as well as in cooking. The tree only grows in a very dry climate. It has a greenish-yellow fruit that is hard and oval-shaped. The pulp of the fruit is bitter and unpleasant to eat but inside the pit of each fruit there are two or three almond-like seeds. It takes about 100 kilos of these seeds to make just 1 litre of the oil.

A little further on, we stopped at a little factory run by a women’s cooperative to see how the Argan oil was produced. In the first step, one woman cracked the nuts open with a rock, and these were then passed to other women who used hand turned grinders to extract the oil which ran from the grinding mill into a bowl. It looked to be a very labor-intensive process.

In Essaouira, I am staying in a very nice four star hotel, contrary to Jill’s perception. She called me early this morning and woke me up to inquire about my safety in what she assumed was a small and old Riad. To the contrary, this place is very modern and comfortable. It even has a bar that sells alcohol, which is unusual in Morocco.

I enjoyed watching last night’s spectacular sunset while I had a beer.

This morning, I had a late start with breakfast at 9:30 am. The omelette chef did a wonderful job of making a mixed omelette for me. I’ll make sure that I have another one tomorrow!

This hotel looks over the beach and has a private section reserved just for guests. I started my photography day by walking along the beach to the left to where there were a large number of camels or horses available for rides. I guess that if you own a camel, you might as well try to make some money from it!

In fact, we had found a number of camels at a view point before we entered the city yesterday. The owner took a few photos of me and Rachhed whcich required the normal obligatory payment of 5 Dirrhums. (about $A 70 cents).

After watching the camels and horses for a while this morning. I walked along the total length of the beach for a distance of probably 2 kilometers to the old town and the port. These areas of the town are very historic and fascinating. The harbor seemed busy and there were quite a number of fisherman selling the catch.

I then spent some time walking through the Medina, which, like those of other towns is full of little alleyways and interesting views. Every door screamed out “Photograph  Me!”

Eventually, I stopped at a café for a cup of mint tea as I was tired and needed a rest. Fortunately, the owner didn’t see me for over 25 minutes so I had a long rest and a good break before ordering and drinking my tea.

Essaouira is renowned for being windy and today was no exception. By midday, the wind had become very strong and sand was blowing off the beach, causing quite a bit of discomfort. After another hour, I decided that I had seen enough and retreated back along the beach to my hotel.

I was happy to find my air-conditioned room where I’m spending the rest of the afternoon writing this blog. Tomorrow, I will travel back to Marrakesh with my driver, Racheed, for an overnight stop before leaving for London on an afternoon flight.