Essaouira

All up we spent nearly a week here in Essaouira.  I wish I could say that we filled our days with activities but we really didn’t.  Do not get me wrong I kind of like Essaouira and nearing the end of our trip it was nice to sit back, eat, drink, people watch and laze away the days on the beach or strolling through the markets.  I’m not really sure how we managed to fill the days but fill them we did and they certainly slipped by.

So here are a few bits and pieces from our time in Essaouira.

Being shat on by a seagull is good luck.  Right?

Walking along, as you do, minding our own business we were heading into the fish market and port.  We were walking past baskets containing all manner of seafood the fishermen were calling out and trying to entice us into buying their fish, others were industriously mending fishing nets, all manner of boats both small and large were bobbing away in the harbour and seagulls with their raucous cries were wheeling above. 

We were walking through slowly absorbing all this when Lilian and Lou exclaimed.  Esther and I were a little in front and looked back to see Lilian looking down at her now white splattered shirt.  Lilian looked up at us all and stopped to get a tissue to try and clean her shirt.

The award for dumb comment of the day goes to Lil who while trying to clean herself up said:

“Being shat on by a seagull is good luck…..... right?”

It certainly gave us all some amusement for the day.

Moral of the story.  Try your hardest to get shat on by a seagull because according to Lil it is good luck!

The Mystery of the Well Fed Cats

Walking around Essaouira I started to notice that the cats, that seemed to be everywhere looked very well fed and quite satisfied with themselves as only cats seem to be able to manage.

We ended up at the harbour once more and decided to have lunch at the fish stalls.  The stalls are great, just a row of tents with wooden tables, benches, a display of all manner of seafood different types of fish, prawns, lobster,  crab and a BBQ at the back sending out enticing aromas as the seafood was cooked up by the industrious staff.  The staff call out to you as you pass by trying to entice people to eat at their tent.  Now their really isn’t much difference in the various tents, the fish on sale is mostly the same and whatever they manage to catch that day, the menus are the same and so are the prices.  So went to a different tent every time we went there.

Having decided on a stall to eat at and picking out what prawns and fish we wanted we settled down on a bench to wait for our food content to people watch.

Now how is this about the cats you ask?

Well while we were waiting a cat walked carefully across the tent and ducked under the fish counter while the staff were busy trying to entice others into their stall.  We watched somewhat amused as the cat darted out at a run across the courtyard leaping elegantly over hedges with a large fish firmly clenched in its jaws, with a staff member who noticed the small four legged thief in hot pursuit!

Another cat, using the distraction caused by the first four legged thief crawled under the fish counter made its selection then quickly, quietly slipped out the back with its prize.

Now I am not a beach person but as said I liked Essaouira.  If you are tossing up whether to go or not then if you have the time I would suggest going.

What Else?

‘So what else did you do?’  Well I told you already we honestly did not do much of anything.  In the evenings we went down to a cafe on the beach.

We ate:

We sat on the beach:

We walked around in the markets, um you know, people watched, um, just generally did stuff!