Last days in Morocco

Sven got up early to take photos of the sunrise while we slept in and then enjoyed a lovely leisurely breakfast on the roof terrace, occasionally enjoying the bleet of a sheep from a neighboring terrace (waiting for their starring role in the big mutton festival tomorrow morning!). After this, we headed out to do a little shopping, visiting so many wood working shops that eventually there was a girl rebellion and we headed off to lunch. After lunch, Sven took the girls to the beach with Saad while I got a mediocre massage in an attempt to beat the bug that had plagued me for the past few days. In the evening we decided to walk to the harbor to watch the sunset (and the cats) and then on to dinner (one of the best of the trip) where we practically licked the couscous and tagine out of the dishes and the girls ran around the square hooting and hollering to loud techno music.

Afterwards we weren’t quite ready to be done with Morocco so we headed to the souk, which was like nothing we’d ever seen. The closest thing I’ve ever seen to it was Christmas Eve evening at Walmart, times 100. Everywhere we looked people ran/ fast walked to the souk, carrying large knives and shopping bags. The din at the souk was deafening. Knife sharpeners worked quickly, sparks flying as they sharpened the knives of those who were preparing to sacrifice a sheep the next morning (namely, everyone). Kids sold firestarter, women sold herbs, and everywhere it just seemed to be non-stop excitement and holiday frenzy. The energy was palpable and we felt like we were in the way of the party with our gawking so we eventually headed towards home (after stopping at a pastry shop).

Wednesday morning we left Essouiara right after breakfast in order to make our 1:00 Easy Jet flight back to Madrid. The 3 hour drive was quite uneventful, as most were at home preparing for the feast. In the last hour, though, things started getting going. We saw hundreds outside a mosque, all kneeled and praying. Outside of Marrakesh we saw fires starting and sheep heads roasting, and even a man with blood-stained pants cheerfully running across the road carrying a large knife, presumably to help butcher a neighbor’s sheep.

Cooking of the sheep heads...

Man covered in sheep blood carrying a large knife- running off to help butcher more sheep.

Essouira

Knife sharpeners at work at the souk!

"I love couscous!"

buying a painting

The wood carvers deep in conversation

walled ramparts

The view from our rooftop terrace- of the sheep staring mournfully at us next door.

Sunrise at the harbor.

Crepes!

Leaving Morocco

In our week in Morocco we had driven across its southern width and seen a lot… Everywhere we did go, though, we felt honesty, safety, kindness, always amidst the ruckus of a fast-moving society. It was definitely with sadness that we left back to Spain (which by contrast seemed extremely gentile and quite boring to be honest). But we got our lovely Peugot (leased) with a massive sun roof and drove an hour to Avila, Spain on our way to Portugal, a country that none of us have ever visited. Our plan for the next couple of weeks is to somehow slowly make our way back to Paris, where we have a rental for the first two weeks of December.

Essaouira

Essaouira (pronounced Asa-weera)- We’d heard heard about the beauty of this town from our Moroccan friend Sonya as well as other friends who had traveled here. Our guide book mentioned that this was the only place in Morocco to be even remotely described as ‘laid-back’. Part of this feeling is from its position as a ‘hippy’ destination (Jimi Hendrix came here in the 70s and subsequently a nearby village turned into a drug colony of sorts). Essaouira has an interesting history- for over a thousand years it was a powerful port, trading in purple mollusks (to make a dye that the Romans loved). The Portuguese established a major trading port here in the 1400s, but the town itself was not properly constructed until the 1700s when it was planned (the only officially ‘planned’ town in Morocco!) and constructed with the aide of a French architect (thus, the streets are logical and straight!). Anyways, looking at photos was making us excited to go there so we got up and out by 10 am to make the three hour drive from Marrakesh to the coast where we would stay for two nights.

Along the way we saw a few interesting things- hundreds of sheep, often stuffed in bike baskets or in carriages, or tied to the top of cars (see earlier posting), goats in trees eating argan nuts (apparently this does happen sometimes un-aided, but in this case it was someone who had tied his goats into the tree and when anyone stopped to take a picture he could demand money), and we stopped in an women’s Argan oil cooperative. The Argan oil cooperatives are a popular phenomenon in Morocco. Women are able to add a bit to their family’s income while being in a safe, all-female environment. Women are also able to make high-quality Argan products, as the oil is made by hand using stone tools and all profit is split between the women in the cooperative. We received a tour then at the end were treated to mint tea and bread to dip in oil and a honey/ oil/ ground nut combination that was delicious. We thoroughly enjoyed this stop as the women were wonderful to watch and visit with, and they were obviously happy to have little kids in to their workshop. And we left with a couple of bottles of the sweet nut dip so we were happy too.

For lunch we were able to make a visit to one of Essaouira’s sea-front seafood restaurants where we did the point, grunt and bar-b-que thing to get our food. It was messy and lovely. Afterwards we took a quick walk along the waterfront to marvel at the deep blues of the boats and to see the wooden-shipbuilding operation in full view. Fantastic!

Since the old town is pedestrian only we found a guy with a cart to carry the luggage to our riad (and he plopped the kids in there too). As we walked through the streets we noticed the same intense colors, sounds and energy of Marrakesh, but tempered with a more relaxed sea-side vibe. Nice. And our riad was fantastic! Gorgeous wooden-beamed ceilings, authentic iron-work and amazing tile work everywhere. The kids saw that they had a desk in their room and immediately got out their homework and ignored us for a while. Eventually we went out for a walk through the town, enjoyed yet another tagine with couscous, and Bella found a camel painting for her room.

Bella following Saad.

Goat in a tree
Reeling those tourists right in.....

Argan factory.

One of the famous toilets- not the kids' favorites.

Lunch!

Kids' room in the riad.

Our room.