Essaouira

Somehow I missed publishing this blog entry so it is out of order.

Breakfast was at 8 am and we would go on at tour at 9 am.

The breakfast room. It was pretty good by Moroccan standards and each got a glass of superb freshly squeezed orange juice.

Our guide Hassan turned up at 9 am and led us off to see some of Essaouira.

Not all doors are blue. The Romans settled here and extracted blue dye from the local shells. The blue colour now is popular throughout the city.

Another COOP selling Argan products.

Some of us gazed at these French pastries.

And these looked inviting as well.

Cats abound in Morocco.

We went to see one of the towers near the port harbour.

There are blue painted boats everywhere. These smaller boat are used to catch the larger fish while the larger boats catch smaller fish with nets. With the strong wind and dangerous seas, the fleet stayed in port.

Old cannon.

Jim showing off his curve.

The waves were impressive.

Plenty of splash. These were probably 50 feet high.

The island in the distance is supposed to have inspired Jimmy Hendrix to write 'Castles made of sand' when he visited Essaouira. More about it here.

Note the waterfall created by the waves crashing onto the rocks. That cliff is quite high.

To the left are dolphins indicating safety. To the right are dragons indicating danger.

The small boats use outboard engines which are removed when in port, cleaned, dried and stored behind the doors in the wall.

More about this gate here. It has symbols of Islam, Christianity and Judaism carved into the portal.

No, I did not follow his example.

More cats. On this windy and coolish day, they just huddled.

The sea-gulls are quite large here.

Not many tourists around early on an unpleasant day.

Inside a fancy hotel known as a Riad in this area.

Prices at a typical restaurant with 10 to US $1. Note that alcohol is not on the menu at most restaurants. Some restaurants do serve alcohol. Beer is about $3 - $4 and wine is about $20 or more for a bottle. Click on the image and a larger version will load.

Since cars cannot fit down the narrow lanes, heavy goods are carried by cart.

The traditional Berber instrument we had heard at the restaurant the night before.

The woman was filling bottles of water at the fountain. I have been drinking bottled water since I arrived in Egypt.

We were taken to a shop that specializes in making objects made from a special wood called Thuya that grows in the area.

They do a lot of inlays. The workmanship was impressive.

Part of a Thuya tree.

Our guide on the right explaining how it is used.

Now that is a seat. Somebody from Wollongong had bought something to be shipped.

Loads of stuff for sale.

These chairs were beautiful though I suspect they would be uncomfortable.

Now that is one really wrecked woofer in that loudspeaker. It was still blasting away however.

I think these were used for grinding grain.

This area was once used to house camels used by traders visiting the city.

The outdoor cafes were not doing a roaring trade. It was windy all day.

The local mosque. Note the doorway edges are angled to direct the cool sea air into the mosque. 

At one o'clock I went to the Haman for a bath and massage. Unfortunately because the other male in the party was sick, they did not want to open up the men's section for the bath but I did get a superb massage. The woman discovered sore muscles that I never knew I had.

Later in the afternoon after a shower and drinking plenty of water I went for a stroll and returned to one of the views of the sea.

The waves were even larger than in the morning.

So quite a satisfactory day. I would like to return here in better weather.