Essaouira

We needed to see some water. Back over the Altas and east of Marrakesh is Essaouira, a fortess city and ancient port on the Altantic. Lots of tourists and a nice walled town albeit a little malodorous - there is an omnipresent aroma of cat's piss which detracted from the ambience somewhat.

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Hendrix allegedly stayed here in the sixties and there are still hippies hanging about with rastos untrimmed waiting for his return. The Hendrix hotel is not one I would recommend to mum.

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We got a little apartment on the wall with a view of the Atlantic breaking on the coastine. It was nice to smell the sea again.

Essaouira is a artsy place and has developed a reputation for being an enclave for Moroccan and European artists. There also some exceptional furniture designers and cabinetmakers and we saw many beautiful pieces of furniture in the little workshops that dot the fortress wall. We ended up buying a painting that we both liked a lot just so have something to bring home.

We wandered about the port, drank coffee and ate croissants, visited the beach, looked at some of the art galleries, got pulled up by the police... twice...

There was a lot of bakery-gazing by Amber and Angus. Archie and I had a fresh seafood barbeque by the port. We spend lots of time playing on the beach with the boys, they were very happy to be in the water again. There were the usual guys trying to flog camel rides or food. 'No thanks, we don't want a hash brownie at the moment we are watching our kids in the surf' !!

The sunsets were spectacular, we just sat on the wall near the fishmarket and watched the hundreds of gulls feeding on the scraps from the fish cleaners.
We just needed to get out of the car and wander for a few days.

It was very relaxing.