A day by the Beach - Essaouira

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Day 5 - This was going to be another day with too many hours in the jeep, but we had been told that Marrakech to Essaouira (which means "beautiful picture", and is the modern name for Mogador) would be about 2.5 hours, and completely straight with no twists and turns and no ups and downs. In fact, that was correct, and we didn't really suffer on the way, except for my poor husband, who really got bad food poisoning the previous night.

We got off on the left foot, as I received a phone call at 8:00 in the morning. Who was it from? Can you guess? Yes, it was Iberia again - telling me that tomorrow's flight home from Marrakech to Barcelona had been cancelled, and they were putting us on a flight out of Marrakech via Madrid. That meant 5 less hours in Marrakech on our last day - so, forget the visits we had planned, forget the plans for a couple of hours at the Hamam, and forget the hot-air balloon (sorry for those of you who wanted to hear about it) !!! And now we needed to rush our leather order, to be ready by 12:00 instead of 17:00 !! It didn't help that I told Iberia that I didn't believe the flight was cancelled, and that when they had told me the previous time it was cancelled that it wasn't true, etc. etc. etc.
Our host, Jean Patrick, was amazingly helpful, and while we went off on our day trip, he made loads of phone calls, and even went to the airport to check whether the flight was really cancelled or not. But no luck - we couldn't find out what the situation was. In the end, we decided to get to the airport for the early flight, as we didn't want to be standed, and could not stay an extra night.

Anyway, we put that behind us, and decided to enjoy our day by the beach. Close by on the main road to Essaouira is a small "no-profit" organization where you can see how "Oragon" oil is made, and what it is used for. The smell of the grilled nuts is wonderful, and it's almost impossible not to buy something there - although the prices are MUCH more expensive than in Essaouira itself, and certainly in the Marrakech Souk (where we ended up paying about 1/4 !!). They say it goes to a good cause, and expensive in Morroco is far from expensive in other parts of the world, so no big deal.

The fishing town of Essaouira was a lovely change from the hustle and bustle of Marrakech - it's much more laid back, and you can see that in the people's clothing - they are nowhere near as covered as in Marrakech. We enjoyed a 3 hour walking tour with a guide, around the town, which included visiting some of the Jewish areas, including the last operating synagogue - once upon a time about 40%!o(MISSING)f the townspeople were Jewish, not there are 4 people (or 4 families). The tour also included (how not?) going into some of the "marqueterie" (sorry for butchering the word) woodwork shops, so that we could see (and buy !) the work that is done in this area. There were some amazing pieces, which we just couldn't leave behind - don't forget to bargain here too! We ended our trip with more shopping in the local Souk - on a wide open thoroughfare, with the sun shining on us, followed by a delicious fish grill-out right next to the beach.

Tip #3 - at the fish grills in Essaouira, there is an official price list, put up by the town council. It is just at the entrance to the fish stalls, and is on a large metal sign. If you miss it, the vendors will try to get away with doubling or trebling the official price. So, insist on the official price, and watch them weigh each fish.

All in all, this day trip was really enjoyable, and an absolute must if you have a day free in Marrakeh.

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