Finally ... some chilling out time

Essaouira Medina
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We headed off again, this time for Morocco.  Left Sue’s about 1430 and made our way back to Heathrow (déjà vu).  Our flight had been changed to a somewhat mismatched flight, leg 1 went to Casablanca, Morocco.  Then to Marrakech, arriving about 1230.  But we were still 160kms from Essaouira.  The drive took nearly 3 hours, including the presence.  As if we weren’t tired enough, a huge fog descended and made visibility about 5 ft.  Not what we felt like at 2.30am!  Got to Essaouira at 0330 (or 0430 London time).  Thanks to 24hr room service, we could have some dinner and crash.

Essaouira Port
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After a nice big sleep we awoke to 27 degrees and sunshine, so that helped!  We were right on the beachfront and the hotel had a great pool so just chilled out today.  We were thinking that this is about the 1^st time we've actually stopped since about April.  It’s great to recharge our batteries.

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We hadn't realised that we'd arrived in the middle of Ramadan.  The Muslims don't eat during daylight hours during the month of Ramadan, only eating at 7pm, 12am and 4.30am.  Let's just say the staff got a little grumpier as the day wore on and were not surprisingly very happy after 7pm.  It was great to see/hear the calls to prayer, which happen at 1.45pm and 3.45pm.  Someone goes up a large tower and calls/sings over the town to announce the call to prayer. 

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Having been to Egypt, the Muslim culture is a lot more traditional here - especially being a Westerner in a Muslim country, as the religion is so different from what we're used to.  We ventured into the Medina, which is the old town contained by a large wall.  Essaouira has a population of approximately 60,000 and most of them - dogs, cats, and camels included - all live in an area of about 2 square kms.  Pleasant ... especially the smell.  Your senses get completely inundated as there are so many people (and animals) bustling around (not to mention the odd motorbike, scooter, and donkey cart).  All of the shop keepers yell at you trying to get your attention while beggars are targeting you for money.  Not quite the tranquillity of the beachfront.  Interestingly, in Essaouira most people speak French (which we speak better than Islamic). 

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After eating everything deep fried and soaked in oil in the States, the food was wonderful, lots of nice fresh fruit and amazingly flavoured tagines and fish dishes.  We enjoyed it immensely (and probably lost lots of weight as a result).

View of Essaouira Medina (entrance into old town)
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After the experience of getting here, we decided that catching a bus to Marrakech and staying the night before our (very early) flight was going to be the best option.