This Travelling Life

Morocco 2023: Part 5 : Day trip to Essouria

Wednesday 22 February 2023

It's a 2.5 hour drive to Essouria from Marrakesh.

Most of the way the landscape is arid and desolate with a few dusty towns to pass through.

We stopped for coffee at one of the roadside coffee vans, full expresso maker in the back and with a big solar panel on the roof.

Closer to the coast are olive and argan oil farms. Essouria is a windy beach town and fishing port.

Tourists come to the harbour to eat freshly caught fish. A bag of sardines cost 1 USD and they charged 2 USD to cook it on the coals for us at this stall; including bread and olives.

We wandered around the old medina which is quite touristy.

Essouria is on the Atlantic Coast and has rather a European feel to it. The beach was quite inhospitable being winter but there were lots of kite surfers out in the afternoon.

We went out to dinner at a local restaurant near our resort. It's really odd for us not having wine with dinner especially at a more formal place. The live music, probably covers of Morrocan pop hits, was let's just say, rather loud.

Morocco 2023: Part 4 : More Marrakesh

Tuesday 21 February 2023

Today was the day to explore the old Medina in Marrakesh.

Souk Semmarine is very touristy, just hundreds of stalls selling souvenirs and only things tourists want to buy. But it is still fun wandering the narrow lanes and we all did a bit of shopping.

We stopped for coffees and snacks at a cafe with a view over Bab Ftouh.

Just like in a treasure hunt, we found Riad Jima, hidden behind an almost unmarked door. It's a quirky gallery space, tea room and shop by Moroccan pop artist Hassan Hajjaj.

Later in the afternoon we visited the 16th century Saadien Tombs and 12th century Koutoubia Mosque.

Sky Mabrouka up on the 4th floor, serves alcohol and is a great sundowner spot with views over the city.

At night loads of food stalls set up on Jamaa El Fna, and we stopped off at one for crispy "braaied" lamb chops.

Home by 9pm, it's another early night then.

Morocco 2023 : Part 3 : Day trip up the Ourika Valley

Monday 20 February 2023

There is a huge Berber market every Monday in the town of Tnine near Ourika. It's about an hour's drive outside Marrakesh. It's probably the most crazy, interesting, authentic market we've ever seen. Vegetables, spices, fresh meat, livestock, clothing, tagine stalls, barbers, tools, second hand cell phones and bicycles and more and more. And only men. No women anywhere. No other tourists either.

They don't like you taking photos and those who agree to have their picture taken want a tip. We did manage to get a few snaps.

Two barbers enticed us to their chairs and got Stephen to pose for a haircut and then a tooth extraction. They even had someone's old tooth as a prop. We all had a really good laugh together and they got a dollar each out of us.

The road up the Ourika Valley is lined with pottery and carpet stalls but there were very few tourists.

Nearer Sti Fadma there are lots of tagine restaurants along the river. This is a popular weekend outing for Marrakeshis. It was quite cold and windy out so we chose an indoor restaurant; the one with all the tourist cars outside. We enjoyed the tagine set lunch.