Essaouira — two special places

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Ginger

As we wandered, we stumbled into a really cute little square, the Place Chrib Atay. It looked like it would be a good place for a fine vegetarian meal, but we were committed to fresh grilled fish at one of the stalls in Place Moulay Hassan. Or maybe a good place to paint a canvas of shops and facades, but we weren’t there long enough for that. It was, however, a good place for a few photographs, and here they are.

In the heart of the old medina, at the intersection of the two main thoroughfares, lies the Souk Jdid, the main fresh produce and meat market of the town. It’s laid out so that whichever direction you approach it from, you must enter through a gate. It’s pure theatre of city planning–and it works.

Through the gate we went, and into the broad street beyond. With its arched colonnades and bounded by a gate at either end of the block, this could have been the finest street in this city of fine streets.

Inside the souk were the usual assortment of meat and produce vendors, with perhaps a special emphasis on fish–as you would expect.

We only had an hour or two to wander Essaouira’s streets before eating a quick lunch at one of the fish stalls and meeting our ride to Casablanca. We made the most we could of the time, but I’m sure we missed a lot. I regret this. Though it’s small enough to get a good sense of its character in this short time, I learned that Essaouira would be a good place to linger for several days. A place to explore every little street. A place to enjoy the beach and the food and the art and the shops and the texture and patterns of everyday life. A place to come back to.

And we do hope to come back to Morocco some day.

The streets of Essaouira

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Ginger

The medina of Essaouira is different yet again from either Fes or Marrakech. For one thing, it’s probably smaller. And for another, Essaouira is a center for artists, and so there are a lot of shops–especially in areas where tourists are likely to go–that sell art. And other items for tourists. And there are a lot of areas in the medina where tourists are likely to go. Also, it is entirely pedestrian. No automobiles, no motorbikes, no donkey carts.

Also, in a weird way, it’s kind of like Washington D.C., only with less traffic and narrower streets. That is to say, in the late eighteenth century a European planner was brought in, who laid out a grid of major straight streets around which the less-planned minor streets evolved. In fact, the very name “Essaouira,” according to one source, means “well designed.” The plan of Washington DC was done by the French architect Pierre L’Enfant in 1791. The plan of Essaouira was done by the French architect Theodore Cornut in 1764.

And the combination of the planned and the random, the European and the Moroccan, is completely charming.

Narrow streets provide shade and surprises.

Two major streets define ninety-degree axes that demarcate the city. These are broad and vibrant pedestrian thoroughfares lined with shops and hotels.

In the next post, we’ll look at a couple of special spaces in this lovely town.

Essaouira — the fortifications

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Ginger

We walked north and west from the Place Moulay Hassan, and soon–it was unmistakable–we were walking along the inside of the town’s eighteenth century walls. In particular, we were walking along the Skala Nord, between the two marked gates on the adjacent map. (This map, the best I could find online, is from the Web site of Riad Baladin.)

We passed through a gate and entered an area where the shops seemed to spring from the walls.

Indeed, as stretch of unopened shops clearly showed, they were, in fact, housed within the wall. I wonder what filled these arches when the walls were used as fortifications. Cannon ball storage? Barracks?

It was, it turns out, easy to reach the top of the wall, parts of which were still adorned with cannons.

Beyond lay a view of the modern city, and of an ocean that bore no resemblance whatsoever to the pleasant swimming beach near the fishing port.

Essaouira — Place Moulay Hassan

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Ginger

We entered the walled city through the Bab el Minza into the Place Moulay Hassan. This is an open space, deeper than it is broad, the near side of which housed food vendors. It was a little early yet for lunch, but the juice vendors certainly looked tempting.

Just beyond was a little park bordered on two sides by stalls of fish vendors who in an hour or so would be competing for lunchtime customers of their fresh grilled fish.

The fish certainly looked wonderful.

“We’ll be back,” we promised.

“Remember me! I am number eleven!”

We agreed, and then headed into the town. The far end of the plaza provided a welcoming entrance, and then narrowed into a broad, pleasant street–a gentle introduction to lively Essaouira.

Later, we returned to the fish vendors’ stalls for lunch, as promised. After negotiation, we had the best, freshest grilled fish lunch anywhere ever, with chips and salad, for about $5, and it was big enough for both of us.

Essaouira on the spur of the moment

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Ginger

“Let’s go to Essaouira,” Dan said to me on our second day in Marrakech. We had only one more day and then we planned to catch a train back to Casablanca. The train takes about three hours, and we’d have to pack and check out and get to the station and all that, so we’d blocked out a day for the trip, with some comfortable loose time on either end.

“But there’s so much we still haven’t seen in Marrakech!” I protested.

“We can do it on the way to Casablanca.”

“But the train doesn’t go to Essaouira.”

“Let’s hire a car and driver. Then we can do it.” And he pointed out that it’s only a relatively short drive to Essaouira, and then–how pleasant!–we could meander up the coast roads from Essaouira to Casablanca, a distance approximately the same as that from Marrakech to Casablanca. It looked like a good idea.

Appearances notwithstanding, it turned out that Essaouira is not on the way to Casablanca, that the coast road was not something a person could meander up in just a few hours. The only reasonable way from Essaouira to Casablanca is to return almost to Marrakech and pick up the highway. No one, but no one, plans to drive from Marrakech to Essaouira, tour Essaouira in any kind of reasonable fashion, and then make it from Essaouira to Casablanca in just one day. But what did we know?

I called Youssef at Morocco Expert Tours, the company that had arranged our excellent desert tour, and explained what we wanted. Nothing much. Just to find a car and a driver at the last minute during the busiest season of the year to go off on a long all-day half-crazy drive. And Youssef, bless his helpful heart said, “Let me see what I can do.”

And sure enough, he found Hamid, an easygoing driver for us, and a car. And in addition to his willingness to take on our daunting task, Hamid also shared our sense of humor and laughed at our jokes!

You may remember the photograph of the goats in the argan tree with which I started the Morocco part of this blog.

That was on the way from Marrakech to Essaouira.

And now for a word about Essaouira, with more details to follow in subsequent posts. The city is a delightful blend of many elements: eighteenth century fortifications embracing a quintessentially Moroccan city with a history that goes back to the Phoenicians. Wide beaches and surf pounding on treacherous rocks. A vibrant fishing port and a thriving tourist industry. It almost doesn’t seem these pieces could fit together, but…they do.

We had only (I forget) two or three hours between when Hamid dropped us off and when we’d agreed to meet again. So after enjoying the sight (but not the experience) of the beach…

…and noting with interest a wind farm across the bay…

we came to the port area of the old city.

We passed a boat yard…

and a vibrant and lively fishing port.

And then we entered the medina of the old city through the Bab al Minzah gate.

G. S. Kenney Author

Thousands of words, millions of words' worth of pictures

Tag Archives: Essaouira

Essaouira — two special places

The streets of Essaouira

Essaouira — the fortifications

Essaouira — Place Moulay Hassan

Essaouira on the spur of the moment

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