Essaouira

Since arriving in Morocco, T and I have made it a habit to ask people what their favorite places are to visit here.

By far, Essaouira has been the most mentioned city. And last weekend, T and I finally got to go there (with our friends Brian and Sara).

Essaouira (pronounced something like ES-U-WIR-UH) is a popular but peaceful coastal resort town quite a distance south of Ifrane. The only crummy part of our trip was the getting there and getting back.

Brian and Sara, ready in their djellabas for some Morocco travel.

To get there, we took a night bus from Ifrane to Marrakesh. The bus left Ifrane at 9:30 in the evening and arrived in Marrakesh around 4:30 the next morning. the bus was crowded and a bit smelly. We went through mountains. We had one bathroom break. It was not my favorite trip ever. In Marrakesh, we had to spent four hours at the bus station. That was followed by another three-hour bus ride that got us into Essaouira around noon.

It was worth the wait.

This is a view from outside the Medina walls. Wasn't it nice of this cat to pose for me?

The Skala, where tourists go to, uh, well, to be at the Skala, I guess.

One evening, we sat on the rooftop terrace of a café, drinking mint tea as we watched the sunset. I can't think of a more perfect way to spend an evening.

I love Moroccan fishing boats, which were rather plentiful at the port.

Birds having a snack at a hanut in the Medina

Just as everyone told us we would, we found Essaouira to be a very laid-back town. In fact, there isn't much to do there besides walk around the Medina, look at the ocean, and eat. And those were the things we wanted to do anyway.

Speaking of eating, there is, for some reason, a small collection of vegan/vegetarian restaurants in Essaouira. We sampled a few of them. (At one of the restaurants, we saw a group of Europeans with what looked like a wine bottle wrapped in cloth. I asked them if it was wine, since I didn't see it on the menu, and they indicated that, no – wink, wink – it wasn't wine. So I ordered a bottle of not wine, too. It also came discreetly wrapped in cloth, and just to be safe, the waiter sat it on the floor under our table. I'm so bad.)

In case you're wondering, the original Earth Café is in Marrakesh.

 People aren't the only creatures that eat well in Essaouira. The fish-fed Medina cats are plentiful and relatively healthy looking.

I was not the only person taking a picture of these cats. Look how beautifully lined up they are!

We had to end our Essaouira vacation very early on Sunday morning, when we took a bus back to Marrakesh, and from there it was a seven hour train ride to Meknes, followed by a one-hour grand taxi ride back to Ifrane. I think it was worth it, but it may be a while before I want to make such a long trip again.