Essaouira: "Everything I was I carry with me, everything I will be lies waiting on the road ahead"

The next day we woke up early to take an excursion to the coastal town of Essaouira.

The drive was full with small towns along the way and oddly enough a goat-tree.  

For those of you who ever wondered where goats come from, here’s your answer.   

Within minutes of arriving at our destination, we realized that our goal for the day would be to avoid getting pooped on by the hundreds of seagulls flying around the harbor.  It was like a war zone, we dodged left and right avoiding the bird bombs being dropped form the sky.  Pepe made friends with one of the birds so maybe that persuaded the birds to miss us.  

The harbor was packed with brightly painted blue wooden boats and fisherman tending to their day’s catch. 

I’m not sure exactly what types of fish they were catching but I did see some long, eel-like creatures with a catfish-like head for sale in the medina.  

 

We walked around the harbor, making our way into the medina, albeit much smaller than the one in Marrakech, it was just as full of hasslelers and difficult to navigate the labyrinth of stores. Another thing I've really taken too is all the neat doors in this country.  I stopped to get a picture of this blue door and felt I needed to snag a selfie with the street vendor right next to it. Fortunately for me, he also had some beautiful Berber jewelry laid out.  I may or may not have gotten a few pieces.  

We did happen upon a surf store along the way in which we immediately felt that we had been transported back home. After that we had an immediate desire for some Zac Brown Band and  “put our toes in the water, ass in the sand, not a worry in the world a casablanca beer in my hand, life is good today, life is good today”.  

The rest of the afternoon was spent at a place right on the beach called Sogebi Carte, enjoying some local Moroccan beer and food.  What a nice getaway from the chaos of the city and we enjoyed watching people kitesurfing and windsurfing in the water nearby.  We had a small street band come by and play us a song during our lunch.

As we headed back to get picked up, Pepe found a friend who had stole away a fresh meal, as well as a camallo.  Ray had to hold me back from stowing this away in my suitcase. 

What a beautiful little town we stumbled upon!

a wee bit windy!

The words of my husband, "I like flags!" (from our last european adventures).  Oddly enough, he isn't taking pictures of them this time.  I find myself trying to catch them perfectly in the wind!