The Picture Perfect Essaouira

Friday 10 January 2025

Essaouira is a very popular spot with the tourists. It has clean cats, a big beach and more of a ‘modern vibe’ than some other places. We started the morning with a tour of the medina and port area.

Fishing is big in Saouira.  The big boats go out at midnight to catch the little fish, the sardines that are the bait. The little boats go out before sunrise to catch the big fish. The small boats take about four fishermen, and it is a hard life. Falling fish stocks mean they have to travel further to catch the 50kg limit per boat.

The boats must be painted blue or the owner is fined. This stemmed from an old falicy that flies didn’t like blue, but science has recently exposed that flies are colour blind.

Saouira is also a historical naval defence city, so towers, and cannnons and thick stone walls are part of the decor.

We wandered through the markets and learnt about some of the customs that are strange to us. In the meat market, one testicle is left hanging from the side of beef to prove that it is male.

Cows are raised for breedings and so are only slaughtered when they are old and the meat is tough. The males are utilized when they are young and the meat is tender.

Rubbed raw – hammam style

For our free afternoon, we visited a local hammam for a scrub and massage. For $40 each, we were sloshed and plummed for an hour. I had the 30-minute scrub first, then the beating.

I thought we only had seven layers of skin, but I was wrong. I also now know where all those car cleaning kits that dads and uncles get given for christmas go. 

The photos below don’t really show the little rooms, but if you squint your eyes, you might get a feel for this very female retreat.

Hotel Saouira

We retreated to our hotel room afterwards to make the most of the relaxing feeling and caught up on our correspondence. We had quite a luxurious room with two double beds and a sitting area. The wall heater even doubled as a clothes drier!

Our room fronted onto a main street in the medina (through the arched window). We could hear the selling and buying til late at night. This photo was taken early morning so the street was quieter than usual.

Dinner was more fallafel and chicken wraps.