To Marrakesh

We drove back from Essaouira to Marrakesh this morning (Sunday 27th), arriving in time for lunch served at the divine Jardin Majorelle.  About an hour out of Essaouira we were amused to see this sight (pic below) on the side of the road.  The local goat farmers have noticed that tourists are intrigued by seeing their goats feeding off the leaves of the argan trees, so one enterprising fellow has taught his goats to set themselves up in this well placed tree, near to the highway, so they can look like supermodels when the tourists stop to take pictures. Of course a small fee is required to take a picture!  It's a very lucrative business judging by the number of cars that stopped at this tree.

Rob is feeling quite a bit better today though not a lot of energy to spare. I was pleased to get a picture of him up and about today - especially against the Majorelle blue walls of the former residence of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge at their former home, the Jardin Majorelle.

The garden provides great lessons in working with a dry, arid climate..there are lots of palms and cactus, some hardy ferns and loads of succulents.

We said goodbye to Rachid and Mohommed, our wonderful guide and driver from Morocco Expert Tours (and we were very sad to say goodbye too!) at our Riad Ksar Anika.

Maxie, Rod and I braved a late afternoon walk to the famous Square Jemaa El Fna and saw first hand the snake charmers, musicians, henna artists, scam artists and food sellers that make this square famous. We only walked part way around a section of its perimeter, so as not to lose our bearings on our first day in Marrakesh - we will do more tomorrow.

Back in the peace and quiet of our beautiful, classy riad we were served dinner in the pavilion overlooking the courtyard pool, probably the most beautiful setting of any of the riads we have stayed in thus far!

Essaouira

A local guide showed us around the medina of this old port city this morning (Saturday 26th). It's always great to hear the historical context from an articulate, knowledgeable local person and get the layout of the place.  The medina's layout is more planned than most and houses about 16,000 people. It would probably only take a few days to get to know your way around here.

We follow the ancient medina/sea wall around from our riad and reach the old French built skala (fortress) outpost pretty quickly. Essaouira's safe port access from Africa to the Atlantic Ocean has made it a significant prize for many invaders and occupiers over the centuries....including the Romans, the Portuguese, and the French.  This part of the medina's wall is very heavily fortified....

 These cannons were made in Barcelona in the 1700s.....

We wander down the streets and lane ways of the medina and then eventually out to the picturesque old port area.

The fishing boats are all moored today. It's the second day of Eid and things are very quiet everywhere we go (like Boxing Day at home(?). The port cats must be wondering why there are no fishy bits for them today 

Our guide left us around lunchtime after introducing us to a very attractive and extensive jewellery market. We found a local place for a seafood lunch before making it back to the Riad around 3.00pm. Rob is still not well so he'd spent most of the day sleeping and taking it easy. Jennie was also not feeling too well by now so we had a pretty quiet rest of the day. Maxie, Rod and I had some fun doing a bit more shopping and mixing with the very friendly locals and ending off the day with mint tea on the rooftop terrace of our riad. We also enjoyed a walk down the medina after to the old port area one last time - quite a fun thing to do in the evening as there were hundreds of locals out shopping and socialising too.

Ouarzazat to Essaouira

We enjoyed our stay in the very stylish Riad Bouchedor in Ouarzazat on Thursday night with its very caring and attentive staff. Rob is improved this morning (Friday 25th) and we're all ready for the long drive ahead of us.

We spend the first few hours of the drive in the high Atlas Mountains on roads that curve and wind through spectacular landscapes of subtle colour and arid vegetation

 .....and lush fertile valleys.

We eventually cross the Tizi n'tichka Pass (2260metres) and stop at one of the many argan oil "feminine co-operatives" dotting the highway. No wonder it is such an expensive product (Moroccan Oil) as its  extraction is very labour intensive and it would be hard to implement large scale farming operations in harvesting the nuts.

Once we're over the Tizi n'tichka Pass the landscape changes and we can see that farming is much more intensive. In winter this country is covered in snow.

We take a lunch stop on the drive through the more opulent parts of new Marrakesh. Not much is open today on the second day of Eid and the Italian cafe we stop at is slow to serve us (but food is good). It's a good 2 and half hour drive then through flat, poor looking country to Essaouira. As we get closer to the Atlantic Coast we see more olive and argan tree groves and we note the strong ocean breezes and cooler temperatures.

It is always exciting to arrive at our riad accommodation on this trip and there are lots of "wows" as we arrive at Riad Mimouna last night. It's located in the Essaouira Medina (so it involves a walk through the laneways of the old city to get here), but it has the most spectacular location right beside the sea. This is the view from one of our windows...

I love the sound of the sea....and it's just as well as even with our windows closed it is a very distinctive sound in the rooms of this beautiful Riad.

We enjoy a late, delicious dinner in the Riad's dining room high up on the roof terrace. We eat some of the local seafood in a range of dishes that are beautifully prepared.  Rob doesn't join us; he's not eating much yet.