Morocco - Essaoiura

21Apr15-25Apr15

Marrakech to Essaouria 2:35hr

Feeling in need of a bit of peace and quite and some good internet connection too, we headed to the Essaouria on Morocco's coast to spend the next four nights.
Driving through the argan forest we suspected that the short spiny trees we could see in all directions were probably the famed argan trees. Here in the argan forest stretching from Essaouria to the south of Agadir these trees grow the 'best' in the world. "Berber Gold" appears to be everywhere here, but the government tries to control it somewhat to maintain it's quality, supply and hence price. With this industry has come the opportunity to support rural women, so I eagerly stop at a co-operative, assuming it is a genuine one, to buy. After demonstrations we exit from the store with much more than intended, multiple bottles of argan oil (I worked hard to escape leaving without the 'pushed' $$$ 1 litre bottle), soaps, lotions and amlou or "Berber Nutella", a paste made from toasted almonds, argan oil and honey from the region.
We don't travel too much further before we locate our accommodations, the Sofitel Essaouria Mogador Golf & Spa.  Not quite sure how a gated entry works in Morocco, we blunder our entry. We are in unaccustomed luxury, quite a disconnected experience in Morocco.
We enter the vast, modern and artistic foyer. We try to checkin but are politely asked to take a seat. A staff member approached us, we weren't sure why but after some fumbled communications realize that this is the method of check in, relaxed as we sit in the highly designed chairs and are fed fancy biscuits and mint tea. The children frolic everywhere and take an inappropriate number of biscuits, more than one, but the man has a big smile on his face.
Multiple hands grabbed our bags and lead us to our room, actually two rooms to accommodate us all. Most of the time five just doesn't fit in!

We ordered room service dinner, the first and probably only time on this trip.
We ate this overlooking  the pools and a massive golf coastal golf course. I still haven't quite figured out the logic of situating this huge golf course in the coastal wind , named alizee or taros in Berber. Essaouria has been named the "Wind City of Africa". While it boasts a scenic stretch of beach, it is impossible to sit on it without sand blowing on your face. Sun, sand and beach tourists head south to agadir, saving Essaouria from the tourism takeover. Instead it has become popular with the windsurfing scene.

We spent a day 'chilling' as the boys say.  Just a bit of pool swimming and scoping out the expansive grounds of the golf course while failing to locate the nearby coast.
I located the kid's club and enthusiastically signed the boys up for a Moroccan cooking class. In my head I fantasized the boys managing to feed me something rather tasty in the future, I picture the lovely couscous that has been described on the enrolment form. Maybe the boys will even learn to roll the semolina and flour into couscous from scratch, how amazing.

Sadly disappointed by the reality, the boys returned with stories a lot different then what I had envisaged.
"I was told where to place the carrot on top of the already cooked couscous. Then they moved it anyway." Ollie said. Even so, I was quite impressed that they stuck it out. Sadly they will not be preparing couscous from scratch or from any kind for me at home.

On a postive note, the daycare did attract a bit of 'separation' time for Lachlan. He seemed more than happy to be left there for a couple of two hour sessions to just paint, play ball with the donkey who kept trying to come inside, and eat.
Yep, it was a mighty fine afternoon tea spread that they provided.  Probably all the leftover pastries and cakes from the morning buffet that we partook of only once. It was one of the best I've had, as many coffees of any type that you wished to order, beautiful fruits, anything cooked, pretty much anything you could think you would want and more.

The temptations of 'designer' shaped furniture
proves too much.

Another league of daycare.

Views out over pool, golf course and coast.

In search of the coast we never found.

We drove to the fishing harbour, 3 kms from the hotel.
As we entered Essaouria's promenade we were distracted by young men waving keys at us. "What are they doing" Chris asked me. I felt a little smug because I knew why, I had just read about this such incidence. They were 'key touts', waving keys to apartments for rent in Essaouria.

Closer to the Medina we noticed the camels on the beach and their advertised trips. I felt they would be pushing it to convince us on this after our awesome camel experience in the Sahara.

Out of the car the seagulls scream and soar above us as we make our way through a little of the port. I look back into the face of the wind at the fortified ramparts and the blue and white washed medina walls, it reminds me of something. The light here is beautiful, it is a photographers paradise. I point and click away with my tiny whippy snappy nikon, hoping to capture something. 

We wander through the central action of the fishing port, past the traditional wooden fishing boats, past the mounds of fishing nets and the stalls of fresh seafood. The damp air smells heavily of fish, we turn and head back towards the medina. 

At the entrance of the medina the boys stop for crepes, all quite unsurprisingly French given Essaouria was designed by the Frenchman who designed 'Saint-Malo', Brittany's most famous port town.  We view a few art galleries, the artists of Essaouria known for their naive, colourful painting style. The open description of  'naive' art seemed a little too accurate for the likes of Chris and I. We purchase a couple of Moroccan woven fabric pillowcases as gifts, vivid horizontal bands of colour. There are numerous thuya woodworking co-operatives, we visit one. The thuya wood smell is very Moroccan, the woodwork is beautiful, some of it inlaid with intricate patterns or shaped into perfect spheres, much of it polished to a magpie enticing shine. We then decide to call it quits with the boys growing restlessness. Maybe the wind, reputed to do so, was simply driving us all crazy.

The Medina of Essaouria, a UNESCO world heritage site from 2001.

Swirling seagulls and an orange juice.

We return the next day to partake of the recommended fishing harbour lunch. We order the fresh charcoal-grilled sardines, it seems to be the thing considering Morocco is the sardine capital of the world. We cover ourselves by ordering omelet  vegetable tagine and pasta too. "How do you eat these" I say to the waiter who places the plate of sardines down. He demonstrates with a little too much involvement. Scrapping off the flesh from the sardines' bones with his blackened fingernails,  "like that", he says. "OK" I nod, we all pause a little amused and a little startled. Eventually Chris and Ollie get stuck into them, the rest of us opted out. The cats pace the sea cliff wall beside our  table, eagerly awaiting to thief a taste. The boys respond positively, fighting at turns to 'discreetly' toss the sardine remains to them.

No takers for this windy beach.

Time for the adventure of the ramparts. We access them from Skala , climbing up a small tower for a scenic view out to sea and to the Île de Mogador and then downwards again for a run and frolic over a collection of European brass cannons from the 18th-19th centuries. Further towards the medina you can see the medina's labyrinth of streets. Orson Welles bought some fame to these ramparts using them for the opening scene of 'Othello'.

Ile de Mogador

I returned the following afternoon for a couple of hours on my own, catching the complimenatry shuttle bus from the hotel. 
Wandering through the medina was absolute pleasure for me. I loved simply taking the time to meander in and out of lanes and souks, up and down the ramparts again, to observe locals at their food market, to have conversations with shop owners, to negotiate some purchases.
I came away with babouches(leather slippers), thuya wood boxes and local silver jewelery. 
As I return to the foyer of the hotel it seemed that I was not 'expected' to carry my light shopping bag. I follow behind my helper to my room feeling rather spoilt.

Thuya Co-operative.

It was easy to sneek away for the final night's dinner at one of the Hotel's restaurants. The kids seemed more than happy with room service and movies.

Dinner was a completely detached Moroccan experience. Us and only two other couples in the whole restaurant. And the cuisine at L'Ateliers Aux Aromes, it was French gastronomic cuisine - Incroyable!!

Sofitel Foyer

Leaving Essaouria.