From One Extreme to Another

We recently moved from Marrakech......the wildest medina in Morocco......to Essaouira where there is a laid back atmosphere in a beach and fishing village on the Atlantic coast. It is quite a contrast, and one that we don't have a problem with as we finish off our 3 weeks of travel in this country. Marrakech is famous for it's Jemaa el Fna main square where during the day you will see snake charmers with their cobras and captive monkeys for your entertainment.......if you see it that way. In the evening the performers change to musicians, dancers (male) and story tellers, with the square becoming even more crowded. At least a hundred food stalls with seating appear out of nowhere into the centre of the square and a party atmosphere emerges (without any alcohol). It is quite a spectacle. The souks (market areas) within the medina are also crazy busy with every vendor letting you know they have the best prices on their wares. It was fun for a few days but it was also a nice change to arrive in Essaouira with it's long and wide sandy beach, fishermen going about their daily routine, and a smaller medina where the shopkeepers were not nearly as aggressive (relatively speaking). The temperature has been lovely here.....mid-20's and sunny but it has also been windy so we haven't spent any time lounging on the beach with the blowing sand. Our riad however has a lovely terrace outside of our room with walls blocking the wind and a nice place to retreat to. Our biggest stress point here has been to make it in time to a fabulous restaurant we have discovered......Restaurant Adwak, second only to Cafe Corner in Marrakech.....where a line-up begins before the restaurant opens at 7 pm and the patrons at the back of the line-up do not get into the small restaurant until late in the evening. Since this is basically our last stop in Morocco we have made a few purchases to bring back home. The main item was a Moroccan carpet (runner) which required time in many shops and a great deal of bargaining before arriving at a price that was acceptable to both parties (a national spot in this country).

Before Marrakech and Essaouira, we spent 3 days in Casablanca......home of the famous Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman movie.........which was entirely filmed in Hollywood! We did have a nice lunch at Rick's Cafe, an upscale restaurant featured in the movie.......and built years after the movie became famous! There were two main highlights for us. The first was having our Swiss daughter and her partner join us for 4 days, and our tour of the Hassan II Mosque, one of only 2 mosques in Morocco that non-Muslims are able to enter. It was a treat to find out what goes on inside the walls and a group guide did a good job of explaining both the magnificent mosque and the religious rituals. The other oddity that occurred while were in Casablanca was that the Moroccan government made a snap decision 48 hours before the clocks were scheduled to be turned back, to not observe Daylight Savings Time, after doing so in previous years. It led to all kinds of confusion on the actual time when pre-programmed time changes happened anyways (including Google) and airlines had to send out messages about flight changes to reflect the proper time. There would have been many people, especially travellers that missed the news, who got messed up with their bus, train and airplane schedules.

Tomorrow we will take a bus from Essaouira further south along the coast to Agadir where we will spend a single night before flying from there to the Canary Islands. Time to start practicing our Spanish again.........and how to consume alcohol!

The Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. It doesn't appear to have many visitors but there were more than 200 hundred of us waiting for prayers to finish so that our 3 pm tour was allowed to start.

The purification area in the basement where worshipers cleans themselves before going upstairs to pray. The fountains were turned off for the gringo tour.

The courtyard of the Dar Si Saad Museum in Marrakech which featured Moroccan artistry especially their mosaics and carpets.

View of a spice shop from a terrace in the medina.

Intricate design inside the Saadian Tombs where a famous Sultan and some of his elite friends were buried.

The El Baddi Palace which is still in remarkable shape having been built in the late 1500's.

A corner of the active Jamaa el Fna square in Marrakech which undergoes an amazing transformation at night.

A pleased haggler who bargained for a long time to get her tassles down to $19 from a starting point of $100.

The Ramparts in Essaouira. The only thing they are protecting right now is the lovely sand beach on the opposite side of the point from the strong Atlantic waves coming in.

The multitude of fishing boats at the harbour, with the serious ocean boats grouped at the far end of the port.