Quirks of Morocco: We are brushing our teeth with bottled water. I feel like I am camping.
When someone says "Merhaba" or "Bonjour" it does not mean "Hello." what they are saying is, "What can I sell you?"
If you look at someone in passing, they want you to pay $200dhs for the privilege of having eyes.
It is easier to buy a bottle of wine and have a drink in your room, than to find wine at a restaurant or cafe.
We left the riad and walked through town over to the wall, facing the sea. Along the perimeter of the city, there is a section where it looks like the houses were bombed out. The lot is strewn with rubble, but over against the wall several people had their laundry out to dry. It led us into an area that I am sure no tourists would go, kind of the slums, so to speak. But it was interesting.
Before we could get to the ramparts, we heard a cry. "Hey, America!" It was one of the desert tribesmen we talked to yesterday. Friendly, not too pushy in sales, he knows a girl in the US. We greeted him, declined the offer of hot tea, and went up on the wall to look at the cannons and fortifications.
The short history of Essaouira is: Phoenicians started the city back before the year zero. Portugal built the fortifications about 1700, France built the city after that, and by 1764 a Sultan took it over. In 1912 it became French again until 1956 when it again became Moroccan.
Slam, bam! Thank you, Essaouira.
After walking in the wall, we passed out through the gate and walked through some of the neighborhoods right around the old, tourist area.
We took a break for Schweppes Citron and Gaz Eau, minérale before heading out to the beach.
Sitting at the cafe, a kid comes around, trying to sell a silver-framed, five by three foot mirror. Seriously. I don't know about you, but I always am looking for a mirror when I go out for a drink, and number two, packing it into my carry on would be no big deal. Anyway, when the kid comes around holding the mirror, I look in it, comb my finger through my hair, pretend to pick something out of my teeth, then smile and say, "Merci!"
He shrugs and moves to the next table.
On the beach there was a pretty good soccer game going on, kids playing better than any of my teams, and they are barefoot or in sandals. We headed down the beach, just strolling along, checking out what the available options were. We like to sit on the beds, under umbrellas, like in Italy, but here there were three options and they were all old and tired. So, after the two kilometer walk, we chose option four: we sat and had mineral waters in the share at a little cafe. We both agreed that one of our favorite things is watching in a cafe. In this case, it was watching the camels along the beach, and commenting on the surfers.
After we cooled off, we headed back to the room to find it was already 17:00. Time for a glass of wine and bread, and a break to read.
They make this very colorful thread here, rainbow colors and more, anything you can imagine. They do it by unwinding colored threads and weaving them together. So, you walk down the street that leads to our riad, and there is a thread tied to a hook in the wall, or perhaps to the bar of a window, or a sign bracket or wherever, and the thread runs the whole length of the street back, back back to a guy who is slowly spooling it. So one, you have to watch out to not get tangled up in these threads, but two, the points where they are attached then cut off are a beautiful kaleidoscope of color.
We returned to Caravane Cafe for dinner again, and we were not disappointed. We went through the menu and ordered on thing at a time this time around, and the three dishes we split were all fantastic. We had a good red wine that did not go with the food at all, but at this point the meal was all about the foods, not the wine, so we didn't care. Gail had Mayi Greng, pasta, chicken and vegetables sauteed in a Balinese way with a spicy pepper sauce. I had Mafe From Bamako, beef stewed in a peanut sauce. Rather than dessert, I had Beef Bourguignon. All three meals were fantastic, and the restaurant was really quiet and relaxing.
All in all it has been a good stay here, but tomorrow we head to Agadir for one night, then pick up a rental car to move on down the coast and into the desert.