What is it about a beach town that makes all your stress just melt away? The sun? The sand? The sea? I don't know, but whatever it is, Essouira has it and I felt totally relaxed as soon as we pulled in. Clearly I am not the only one to feel this way, as Essouira has been occupied since prehistoric times. First came the Berbers, then came the Romans, the Jews, the Portuguese, the French, and finally, the tourists, each leaving their own indelible mark on the city, whether in architecture, doorways, food offerings, or tourist tat. And I think each of the groups must have brought a supply of cats, because there are certainly plenty of them roaming the medina.
With its strong winds and crazy waves, Essouira is a surf destination for some. We just wanted to see a little sunlight after gray Moscow. It was close to 80 degrees in late October, which was just about perfect. We had a gorgeous fish dinner at a restaurant near the pier, wandered around the medina, and just generally relaxed.
This was the first night staying in a place picked by our guides, and we weren't quite sure what to expect as we twisted and turned our way through the labyrinth-like medina. We were pleasantly surprised with a lovely old riad, Riad Mimouna. And even more surprised when we got to our room and saw the beautiful sea view right outside our windows. The riad must be sitting right on top of the sea wall as it truly sounded like the building was going to come crashing down when high tide came in the middle of the night! But I enjoyed getting up early and watching the sun coming up over the sea.
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| Riads are usually aranged around a central open area and feature lots of tilework,and beautiful marble |
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| View outside the bedroom (and bathroom!) window. |
It was a relaxing pace after the frenzy of Marrakech.
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