Moroccan Road trip - Part 3 - The Coastal Plains and Essouira

CuriousOyster
Steve & Trish Brown
Wed 17 Sep 2008 13:07
The next stage of our trip took us from the High Atlas across the fertile plains to the south west and on to the coast near Agadir. From there we travelled north along the coast past miles and miles of deserted sandly beaches.
coast
The road took us inland through more farmland that was filled with Argane trees, the fruits used to produce an oil used that seems to be used for everything from cooking to aromatic massages! Wherever there are Argane trees there are climbing goats.
more goats
This herd was tended by two small boys who appeared from nowhere as soon as we stopped to take the photo. They asked for change with a big cheeky grin but complained when I tried to take their photo, relenting when I offered some coins in return.
boys
I had been careful throughout our time here in Morocco never to take anyones photo as it was apparent from the outset that the people did not want to be photographed and objected even when we were taking wide angle shots of scenery, souks, etc.
This was a great pity as Moroccan's come from wide and varied backgrounds, from indiginous Berbers, Jews from Asia that arrived in the 3rd century BC, Arabs that came bringing the Muslim religion in the 8th century AD and people from the Iberian Peninsula that arrived to escape persecution and the Spanish Inquisition. This mix of peoples has created a wide range of features and skin tones and together with the different ways of life in the RIF and Atlas mountains, the fertile valleys, coastal plains and the Sahara desert offers some amazing photographic opportunities. But I could not bring myself to impose on them and sadly missed many great shots.
Our next stopover was the coastal port of Essouira and like Fes and Marrakech we wanted to stay within the medina in an old Riad. However, unlike Fes and Marrakech we chose a Riad in the very heart of the Souks and as it is still Ramadan and everyone seems to stay up all night talking, arguing, laughing and generally making a bloody great din, we found sleep hard to come by.
Souk
Essouira is a very old historic port now a busy fishing harbour. It has had a fascinating past and was once the home of pirates that roamed the Atlantic seaboard as far north as the UKand Ireland. As well as piracy they traded goods along the way aquiring guns and cannons as well as other goods. British made cannons can still be seen on the battlements and give a good position from which to photographs the amazing sunsets.
guns
sunset
We had originally intended to sail down the coast and stay in essouira but had been put off by other sailors that had found little room to moor and been rafted to local boats who tended to be a little less careful than the visiting yactsmen would have wished.
harbour
The harbour is a hive of activity day and night with a range of fishing boats based there, from 30m long line boats and 20m sardine fishing boats down to small wooden rowing boats now powered by small outboard engines. The sardine trawlers go out at night and come back in during the day, they all seem to arrive back at the same time making for some amusement for bystanders as they push and shove their way into the harbour.
trawlers
Having seen the boats arrive and the way in which they raft up alongside each other I think the decsion NOT to bring Curious to Essouira was the right one!!
more boats
It is a really fascinating town, the people are friendly and used to tourists and being there during Ramadan added to the experience.
sea walls