- CATS! CATS! CATS! We can’t even venture to guess how many felines live here. They are loved and adored – pets to all. Everyone feeds them, gives them water, and plays with them. They sleep wherever they desire (until someone purchases the basket in a souq they may be sleeping in or the chair in the restaurant is needed to be occupied by a customer).
- TAXIS! TAXIS! TAXIS! You never have to worry about not finding a cheap taxi to take you across town. They are everywhere on main streets.
- The town has a beach vibe and brings lots of surfers to the area. It is known as the windy city in Africa – winds were around 20 mph while we were here. One day we counted 44 kite surfers all enjoying the waves at the same time. Great place to learn how to surf!
- The town is a melting pot of Berber (indigenous), Muslim, French, and African influences, which explains the dominant languages spoken here: Berber, Arabic, and French. Love the French influence of crepes and chocolate mousse!
- There are no stop lights in this town of approximately 77,000. They successfully use roundabouts for their main intersections. You have to be very careful crossing the streets here to ensure you are seen and not ran over.
- Lots of Dacia cars, which are manufactured in what is now known as Romania. The original car maker has been purchased by Renault.
- Many call the area “Muslim light”. Other than the tourist restaurants we haven’t even seen alcohol. We have read there are liquor stores for tourists.
- Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day – at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and evening. The call to prayer times are based on the position of the sun and change slightly from day to day.
- The locals are so helpful and kind. A blind woman and her companion came to a restaurant we were at and the restaurant gave her a bottle of water. We were shipping something to the United States and the security guard at the post office came over to help us with the box. We needed tape and he found some and taped the box for us. A college student sat next to Mike at the music festival and since the speaker was talking in French, he shared details about the event, pointed out the mayor, told him about the national news station that was filming. Older men typically would not make eye contact with me or look at me. Teenage boys were interactive. When Mike and I went for a run and I was ahead of Mike, a teenage boy motioned excitement to me that I was in the lead. A few minutes later when I was running behind Mike, two teenage boys cheered me on to catch him.
- Many men wear the traditional dress of burnous. Men only wear shorts when working out or at the beach. Many women wear abaya and hijab or head coverings.
- Local children roam and play freely in the Medina, by the beach, and in the park.
- We heard lots of laughter from locals.
- Locals have a love affair with Jimi Hendrix. His face is on t-shirts, there are cafes with his name. He visited Essaouira for 11 days during the summer of 1969 before performing at Woodstock. The local lore is that he wrote Castles Made of Sand here, but the song was released two years prior. He died 14 months after visiting here.
- Can buy fresh fish at the port and take it to one of the many restaurants to have them cook it for you.
- Vendors and restaurants don’t pressure you to buy something (I will miss this in other cities).
- The tiny gym we went to work out at was packed with equipment. There is no check-in process or computer on site, everyone knows everyone. I was the only woman working out both times we were there. The locker room was upstairs and open air – two toilets (no paper), one sink (no soap), and six shower stalls.
- Essaouira is featured as Slaver’s Bay, Astapor in Game of Thrones.
- The town is getting ready for the summer tourists coming to the beach to escape the heat. Brick streets are being dug up and the bricks re-laid evenly.
- I could spend all day meandering the quaint Medina and beach path.
2 responses to “Essaouira Observations”
Hello from the dark side
Someone commented on a previous post that you all should write a book of your travels. I totally agree. With the text and photos, it’s like we are right there with you; although I would not have been at the spa or bath or massage place with you. (I can’t remember exactly what it was, but Michael lost his nose LOL!!!) I probably would have been sipping mint tea somewhere. <3