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Sun, surf and sand. Lot's of sand. Lot's of camels too.

Morocco Jun '99

Nickjenkins
2003-11-20 12:54:37

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Carpets, jewellery, other shoes, camels, you name it – it all could be had for a pair of Western style adventure sandals.

The relaxed life style in Essaouira probably comes from its proximity to the sea. While Marrakech was baking in 45° C, Essaouira was a lovely but windy 28° C. The sea also offers the best attractions of Essaouira, seafood and windsurfing.

Essaouira boasts what is reputed to be Morocco’s finest restaurant (I doubt it) in the seafood Restataurant du Port, Chez Sam’s. We dined their one night on Sea Bass taken from the mornings catch on the wharves no more than 5m away. There are also a host of restaurants slightly less salubrious than Chez Sam’s and a fantastic outdoor barbecue market where you can get fish, prawns, calamari and clams caught that day and cooked in front of you. The market costs somewhere between 20dh and 60dh for a meal (£1-4) including salad and bread (the same meal in London would cost me in excess of £40).

Our favourite haunt in Essaouira though was the Café Taros above the main square. The café was quiet, served good coffee and featured a smarmy, wise cracking waiter who’s only response when I inquired if he could tell me what the desert du jour was, was "Oui!".

We spent four nights in Essaouira before we once again split up and went our separate ways. I was sadly going home and back to work, most of them were staying in Essaouira and Gareth, with only a little effort, had been persuaded to go off to Fes, Meknes and Volubilis with the two American girls.

The main thing Morocco taught me though was how small the world really is. We met various odd people there, including a small brown child who accosted us in the street and demanded to know which suburb of London we came from – it turned out he went to school in Walthamstow, but the oddest was definitely the rastafarian. This skinny brown gentleman snuck up on us in the main square of Essaouira and joined in the conversation. After a while I noticed he was talking with a fairly broad but weird Australian/Moroccan accent and asked him where he picked up the Aussie accent.

"I’m an Australian mate" he replied.

"Yeah right – where are you from ?"

Turns out he was from Perth. He spent two years living in Northbridge, playing football for the Perth Glory and surfing in Margaret River. He ended up in Essaouira for a kite surfing competition.

Now, I’m back at work in smoggy London, riding the packed tube to work and eating frozen dinners. But it’s not all bad, no-one has tried to sell me a carpet in the last 72 hours.

My travels