Our visit to Essaouira began with a stop at a grocery store, and most importantly our first visit to a Moroccan liquor store. Alcohol consumption is not illegal, but it cannot be sold within 150 meters of a Mosque, and purchases for home consumption are through government run liquor stores. Alcohol of all kinds is much more expensive than anywhere in Europe we have visited.
Essaouira has a great deal, all taxis in the city have a fixed price of 8 dirham (a little less than a dollar) within the city limits. So we left François in the parking lot and flagged down a cab to the Medina.
Essaouira has been a haven for European free spirits since the 1970’s. There are a great deal of French retirees in the area so the food is a mixture of French and Moroccan cuisine. It also has a vibrant art scene with a number of galleries.
The souk areas are nice and much more laid back than Marrakech. Ton did a bunch of window shopping, but in the end we didn’t buy anything. Maybe the high pressure technique used in Marrakech is more effective in closing sales.
We walked down to the fortress walls which were originally built by the Portuguese who founded the city. They were impressive and had a great collection of antique cannons in place.
Essaouira is a great seaside town, and we can see the attraction for wandering souls. As it is both exotic and solid. It was for us the most “European” feeling of the towns we have visited here, but it is still African at its core. It is a nice combination and if we had a beach bum gene we probably would have staid a couple of more days.
While we enjoyed the town we decided to head back to Marrakech as we are going to tackle the Atlas Mountains tomorrow and the road over the mountains has a bit of a reputation. When we got to the campground in Marrakech two English couples we have been chatting with confirmed that the road over the mountains was “interesting but doable”.
