10 - 11 October 2014

We headed to the supermarket and the bakery across the road to pick up some tasty goodies for breakfast and set off for the bus station. Half an hour later we were already on our way back to Marrakech after scoring the last two seats on the back row.


After a dusty and windy (!) road through the mountains and lots of car sick passengers we arrived at the bus station in Marrakech. As soon as we'd hopped off one bus, a tout grabbed us by the arm and got us straight onto the bus to Essaouira... again the last two seats! This journey was less traumatic as the road was straights and flat and we arrived in Essaouira at around 5pm. We found a nice hotel at the seaside, a typical blue and white joint just inside the medina walls overlooking the sea and enjoyed an Atlantic sunset from the balcony.



We headed out of the medina towards the port for dinner where we planted ourselves at one of the many fish grill stalls. We shared a plate of fresh snapper, sea bream and calamare before heading back into the medina for an ice cream treat.


We started the next morning with a welcome lie-in and headed to cafe L'Horloge to treat ourselves to a Moroccan pancake breakfast, accompanied by honey, jam and amlou (a Morrocan delicacy which is a mix of aragan oil, ground almonds and honey).

We spent the rest of the morning wandering through the streets of the medina, filled with little boutiques, cafes and eateries. In the cobbled alleyways we discovered Essaouira's typical architecture. Crumbling white-washed buildings with lovely old big wooden doors and roof terraces with ornate steelwork - all a little worse for wear, thanks to the corrosive sea breeze.




In the afternoon we headed to the beach, where we took advantage of the midday sun to read our books and chillax. We wandered back to town via the port, where we enjoyed the sunset amidst local fishermen selling their catch of the day, sea crew fixing their boats and seaguls fighting for the scraps. We found a delicious tajine in a little eatery and headed back to our seaside hotel.