Morocco: Essaouira

Now we make a bee-line to the coast.

The scenery again is plain. I quite like the photo above with it's black signs marking the landscape like tombstones. We stay at a great little place Nigel has found on the Internet called La Maison du Vent in Essaouira. It is filled with all sorts of art. It is an eclectic and interesting place to stay and we are grateful to be left alone after Marakesh. The painting above is in our room and we both wonder if anyone would notice if we took it with us.

Another piece in one of the hallways.

We climb up to the rooftop and open the locked door at the top of the winding staircase. We understand why it is locked when we step out onto the roof. Being so close to the ocean the strong coastal wind, called the alizee, is fierce and almost impossible to enjoy, but has made it Morocco's best-known wind-surfing centre. We scan the rooftops and notice everything is white. In fact, it is blinding in the bright, hot sun.

I peer out our bedroom window to the scene outside.

We make our way down the winding staircase to explore the small city.

The one thing we notice immediately is all the vacationers. Not foreign tourists, but Moroccans on vacation. It is nice to be somewhere where there is no one pinpointing you as a buyer and trying to get you to buy a carpet or some sort of leather goods.

It has a beautiful 18th century port which we poke around in. Its charm lies in the fact that tourism has not totally taken over the town. The port remains a hive of activity with fishermen and boat builders getting on with daily life much as it has been for centuries.

There is a chilled out artsy atmosphere. It has, in fact, a growing reputation and artists musicians, craftsmen, and film makers have all fallen for its charms. You can buy fish freshly caught from the fishermen in the port and take it to a great little place that will cook it up for you. Now that is a great business idea. Essaouira's wide sandy beaches are filled with people and are great places for walking and people watching. The town enjoyed a brief hippy fling in the late 60's and early 70's after a much talked about visit by Jimi Hendrix. Sure enough we see all sorts of dread-locked youth, both foreign and Moroccan. That evening in the main square (beside the delicious ice-cream parlour) there is a huge stage and an all night concert with mostly reggae music being performed. I actually find a contemporary art gallery and start to get an idea of what the art scene is like in Morocco. We happen to be in the city the weekend of a large cultural event (hence the all night stage) which offers a large exhibition of Moroccan artists that we stumble across by chance on one of our wanders.

Essaouira has the feel of a Mediterranean resort. The mellow atmosphere, narrow winding streets, and white houses with heavy old wooden doors makes it a great place to relax after the rest of our journey.

Essaouira's walled medina has also been added to UNESCO's World Heritage list in 2001. Its well-preserved, late 18th century fortified layout is a prime example of European military architecture in North Africa. Its fortified walls, turrets, and colonnades hide a maze of narrow streets lined with white-washed houses, workshops, art galleries and riads. The thick city walls are a great place to perch your self up on to get an amazing view of the port. The ramparts were famously used in the opening scene of Orson Welles' Othello (1952)for a panoramic shot where Iago is suspended in a cage above the rocks and sea. Other films made here include Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven (2005) and Oliver Stone's Alexander (2004).

Yes, we definitely like Essaouira.