Essaouira
As far back as the seventh century BC, Phoenician sailors
discovered this part of the Moroccan coast and it's believed that the Carthaginians
and Romans followed in their footsteps. The evidence is in the Tyrian purple
dyes that came from the murex shells found on the Purpura islands (the Iles
Purpuraires, in French) which are just in the bay off Essaouira. It is amazing
that you can still buy this natural dye in the markets in Essaouira and also in
Marrakech. One of these islands is also a sanctuary for the Eleonora's Falcon
that come there to breed from East Africa, especially Madagascar, where it spends
the winter. We have seen many of the
same falcons in Greece.
The walled city originally had the name Mogador and you see
this name used for several restaurants and accommodations names. In 1765 it
became a commercial port. Sultan Mohammed bin Abdulla wanted a modern port to
handle trade with Europe, and he engaged the French architect, Theodore Cornut,
a military fortifications specialist, to draw up the plans for the city. This
is the only medina in Morocco ever built on a plan, rather than just growing naturally, and the name “Essaouira”
means “well-designed”. It is a
well-designed medina especially in that the main arteries are wider than most
in Morocco, and you can squeeze by the carossas and donkeys without too much
trouble. The ramparts exist still on three sides, and you can walk on one of
them and enjoy the old canons facing the sea approaches, the sound of the waves
crashing on the rocks, and of course the wind. Essaouira is known as a windy
city, with many kite-boarding and surfing activities taking place in the bay.
The winds blow down the medina alleys and the temperature drops considerably at
night.
Corner wall view from our restaurant |
Wall looking out toward isles where Eleonora's Falcons breed |
Leslie was on a mission to get her sabra carpets made into
cushion covers and she had brought them to Essaouira to try and make that
happen. Marie, the owner of Villa Garance where we were staying for the next 3
days, was helpful in introducing us to her cushion tailor, who agreed to sew up
Leslie’s three carpets into cushions for $20 total. She also advised where to
get our laundry done. In Morocco you are looking for a “Pressier.”
With that project underway and expected to be finished in
less than 24 hours, we started wandering the medina streets and looking for a
nice place with a view for lunch. We sat in a shady spot watching the waves
crash on the rocks, the many sea gulls, and the tourists walking on the
ramparts. The afternoon was spent walking around the medina streets, and we
returned to the same restaurant area (2 had excellent views) but this time we
started on the rooftop bar area so that we could get a glass of wine. The wine
was actually from the Essaouira area and not Meknes, which surprised us, and
the white wine was surprisingly floral without being sweet. The wind had
definitely come up, temperatures had dropped and we were happy to have a vest
and shawl to help us try and keep warm. We ate dinner in the restaurant but
while the view was excellent, the food was mediocre.
The following day, Thursday, was the start of the annual gnaoua
music festival, and we had been warned that our Villa Garance would be full,
and that it would be difficult to walk in the streets. The festival grounds are
in two locations, one just near us in the medina area, and the other out on a
broad tourist beach about a mile away.
The opening parade started around 5 pm so we made sure to be by one of
the major ending Babs (gates to the medina) so we could watch. All the musicians danced and played their way
down the main street and it was a very popular event. We were lucky to get a
few snapshots.
Procession of colorful musicians |
After that we walked
through the carpet area, which was of interest and we bought yet another Sabra
carpet the same colors as the other 3 but this was a bigger carpet and was
purchased for $160 – much cheaper than our previous purchases. (Someone is
dollar cost averaging down her investment in carpets.) The bargaining process
is so necessary and all the tricks of not showing interest, walking out etc.!
With the new carpet we headed back to the cushion maker so that he could make 3
floor cushions with trim all around for $20. Mohamed was interested that Leslie
was going to do some hand stitching with the sabra silk that he offered to buy
it and show her how to work with it.
Street display of carpets |
The Friday morning we walked along the ramparts where it was
possible to do so, came through the various Babs (gates), and toured the old
fishing port on the edge of the fortifications, photographing the town from
outside, and the many sea gulls.
Sea Gulls everywhere tamely wait for netted fish |
There are various Spanish and Portuguese
cannons still pointing out to sea from the 5 bastions. The Skala of the Kasbah
had wonderful views of the walled city, fisherman’s boats and the very active
fishing port with the crescent moon sand beach flowing beyond. In the 1950s the
film “Othello” with Orson Wells was filmed there, and most recently parts of
Series 3 of “The Game of Thrones”, where it is the mythical city, Astapor.
Fishing fleet |
Through Harbor Window |
Later in the evening we went out to listen to the music from
gnaoua music festival, which is a synthesis of Arab and black sub-Saharan
African music and is supposed to be healing for various ailments. We had dressed
in literally almost all the layers of clothes we had, long shirts, sweaters,
scarves and rain coats. We ended up wrapping the scarves around our heads to
keep them warm. The wind was chilly off
the ocean and sitting there listening to the music and watching the crowds from
our balcony seats, it was so cold it was hard to believe we had just been
roasting in the desert. It was interesting to see the conservatively dressed
women dancing freely to the music, usually in a group of other women. The young
men would form lines and dance throughout the group or around some of the
women.
Gnaoua musicians play outdoors |
Families were there with babies, holding them in their arms and moving
to the beat to the child would hear and feel the rhythm. The festival was over 3 nights and was going
to go on till the wee hours so we headed back to our Villa before midnight. We
actually think that we felt the music’s rhythms beating through our bodies more
in the small gnaoua school in the desert than here in the outdoor concert area.
Saturday morning we had a leisurely breakfast on the roof
top of the Villa with the sea gulls and then went exploring the streets of the
medina. Essaouira has so many artisans working in wood, leather, metal and wool
and it is a joy to just wander in to the workshops and be allowed to observe
what is going on. We saw some Thuja (Tetraclinis Articulata) wood, which only comes from this area, being used in
many products, including beautiful inlays. This town is the center of the wood working area for Morocco. An artisan we had not seen before was a shoe maker using
raffia to make the top covering for the shoes. Raffia is a flexible substance
that is made from the leaves of palm trees. It is soft like string, and has an
almost papery feel to it.
Thuja wood inlaid with bone and other materials |
One of the interesting architectural details of the houses
are all the different doors. It is interesting that this town has houses
showing both Christian (rose with four petals) and Jewish ownership (star of
David) carved in sandstone on the portals of the door. The portal of a Muslim
house can be denoted by snakes at the top and an eye lower down.
Doors are all different |
While some interactions with merchants were marked by good
feelings, there were a couple of instances where a merchant would obviously try
to cheat us, and waste time bargaining over trivia even when we had made a good
purchase from him in the past. This was not normal for the Middle East, and definitely left a bad taste. The bargaining and toutery here was, however, not
as bad as in Fez, and overall we felt that Essaouira was likely the best place
in Morocco for people like us to live.
However, in view of the general hot climate, it is not ideal for a
summer retreat, and there are not likely enough expat connections unless you
speak French, who are the predominant expat nationality here.
Next morning we packed up, said goodbye to our hosts, and
our bags were again transported to the gates by cart, where they were loaded
into our car for our trip back to Marrakesh, and a day later, to the airport
for our flight to Casablanca and on to Rome. This marked the end of our first
trip to Morocco.