I’d booked a place on the overnight train from Tangier to Marrakesh, where I’d then be taking a bus to Essaouira for a few days. I’d thought that I’d booked a sleeper train, but apparently that was lost in translation when ordering the ticket, and instead I ended up in a regular first class seat. It was more comfortable than a second class seat like I’d taken several times before, but it was very difficult to sleep on the train since there was no way to stretch out or lay down. The train was supposed to arrive in Marrakesh at 7am, where I’d have two hours until my 9am bus to Essaouira. I thought that would be plenty of time, but the train ended up being a full three hours late, so I ended up missing my bus. Since the bus and train companies were connected to one another I tried to explain to the bus driver that I had missed my bus because my train connection was so late, but it still wasn’t clear if I’d be able to get on the next bus. I was in luck and there was a free seat so I was able to jump on the next bus to Essaouira. The ride was about 3 hours long, and I arrived between 1pm and 2pm.
I was staying at Riad Chakir Mogador, which ended up being one of the less nice places I stayed on the trip, but it got the job done. I got off the bus and was swarmed by men with large metal carts offering to wheel my luggage to my hotel for me. I decided it was too much and started to walk off with a warning from one of them that it was a long walk. I was tired, it was hot, and my bag was heavy, so I gave in and let one of them take my bag and guide me to the hotel. This actually turned out to be a great idea as it was in fact a very long walk.
After checking in I walked down to the Citadel (Skala du Port) and fishing port. It was very windy, and one of the few times in Morocco where I was very cold. There were a lot of seagulls and blue boats around, and after snapping some photos I went over to a juice stand to get a cup of what I thought would be lemonade, but which turned out to be just a cup of straight lemon juice. I kept trying to ask the vendor for sugar but he didn’t seem to understand what I was asking for and after a few polite swallows I finally just put the glass down and ran off while he was negotiating with another customer.
01 | Seagull in Essaouira
02 | Boats
03 | Boats at the Skala Du Port
04 | Boats at the Skala Du Port
Eventually I made my way to the fish market to get some lunch. The fish market has a lot of vendors selling freshly caught seafood where you can pick out what you want to eat and they’ll cook it for you. I picked out a small fish and a few shrimp, and the seller kept telling me to pick more, but knowing that I wouldn’t be able to eat any more I decided to stop with just that. The food was good, but I didn’t think it quite lived up to the hype. Still, I’d recommend it as a unique thing to do in Essaouira.
After eating, I followed the city walls around to the ramparts of the city. I stopped at Place Moulay Hassan, a large public square on the way there. After checking out the ramparts I wandered around the souks for a while and had an unpleasant exchange with a seller who yelled at me for not being chatty enough with him. Rather than argue with him, I decided it was best to just walk away.
05 | Souks
06 | Cannons on the city walls
07 | City walls
08 | Spices for sale
I walked down to the beach for a while, which was incredibly cold, before going back to my hotel. I got dinner at Gnawa Blues, which was supposed to have Moroccan blues music beginning at 7pm, but when I got there around 7:30pm I was the only person there and there was no sign of music. I ate anyway and then headed towards the hotel.
On the way there a Moroccan guy around my age came up to me and asked me to come over for tea. Having tea at people’s houses is somewhat common in Morocco, but if you’re a woman, it would only really be common for another woman to extend the invitation. I declined and walked away, but ran into him about 15 minutes later as I was getting a crepe from a street vendor, and he insisted that by not having tea with him and his house and I was being rude to his culture. I told him and I would never go to a stranger’s house in my own city after meeting them on the street, and I definitely wouldn’t be doing it another country, and he continued to persist. I told him no again and he walked away annoyed. I ate my crepe and then went back to my hotel for the night.
The next day I woke up and wandered around the souks for a while again. I found a really great tie-dyed scarf that was around 10–12 feet long that I fell in love with and ended up being one of my favorite purchases of the trip. My bus for Marrakesh left around noon, so I gathered my things from the hotel and went to the bus stop around 11:30.
I’d been told that Essaouira was a very laid back city where everyone was very nice, but I didn’t enjoy it all that much. The shops were nice and it was good to see a different side of Morocco, but I found the men here to be more aggressive that in most other areas and, as a result, I felt like I spent most of my time there with my guard up. It was also surprisingly cold and windy there, especially compared to the extreme heat of the rest of the country despite the fact that it was October.
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