May 14-18 Essaouira and back to Marrakech

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

Leslie went by her tailor to pick up her cushions and Mohammed showed her how to use the sabra thread he had gotten for her (8 skeins and a needle for $5). We opted not to attend the music festival that evening as the wind was blowing an even colder temperature that the night before.

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.