Marrakech to Essaouira. June 9

On our last day of the tour we had organised through our hotel a day trip to this beachside town called Essaouira, that everyone from Marrakech said we should go to. So this morning at 8am a minibus picked us up from the hotel to take us the 3 hours to Essaouira and back later that afternoon.

First though, the bus stopped on the side of the road in a busy part of Marrakech. It seemed like we were picking up more passengers but then us specifically were told to hop off because the bus we were on was going to the waterfalls (also important to note, no one spoke English, only French). So the "Le Caspiens" (us, they referred to us by our hotel), got off to wait on the curb for I guess our bus? Then the bus we were on was emptied, only for us to get back on. This whole process took about 40 mins. We were very confused. Finally we were on the move, but first another stop, this time for petrol.

Okay now we were actually going and of all the buses we could have gotten, we were stuck on the one with two other twenty something Australian girls doing basically the same trip as us but who were soooooo loud and would not stop talking. The whole bus of 12 people were hating them, we were trying to avoid talking so no one else heard our accents and assumed we were associated. Also because they were talking so much, they missed the best thing ever.
As we were driving along a never ending highway, Elise was just glancing out the window opposite us and saw it. Goats in a tree. Like actually, 10-20 goats standing in a tree. A big tree. And she could barely get the words out to tell Ash, just nudged her and pointed. Both of us then had huge shock faces and basically started laughing until we were crying in amazement at what we'd just seem. Goats in a tree. Sadly because we were so amazed no photos were taken. We are both devastated about this.

After a brief pit stop, we arrived in Essaouira at about 11.30am. We got lunch pretty much straight away, Elise a fish tagine, a must at the seaside, and Ash the beloved kefta tagine. We also obviously got olives and bread beforehand and the people must have thought we were starving because we ate the whole bowl of olives then they brought us more and we ate that too. We just love olives guys.

We then left the open square area where we ate to explore within the medina and the souks coming off it. We were in search of silver rings as a Morocco memento and we'd heard Essaouira was the place to get them. After much looking, at virtually the same jewellery at several shops we finally found unique ones that we loved, in this little bazaar of only silver jewellery. After bargaining/failing at bargaining, we headed to the actual beach to maybe dip our feet in. It was not hot enough to swim and also who can be bothered with all the sand and salt and then a three hour bus trip.

Elise was the first to dip her feet in, with the water being so so warm. Like a bath. She was approached by some boys who were so excited, screaming "Madame, poisson!", showing her their catch. Ash then joined her, and both of us then walked across the beach. We were approached by pastry sellers literally whilst we were in the water, so keen for a sale. There were also many camels on the beach and everyone trying to sell you a camel trek. This was never on the cards for Ash. After the stroll we settled on a wall along the beach to watch the beach goers enjoying the water and day, before going back into town to find some gelato. We found this Italian dessert shop on the corner of the town and it was so so so tasty. The best we'd had in Morocco, and we'd sampled a bit!

Preparing for water

POISSON!

Running to show his catch to another person!

Super warm!

Artist at work

'A&E' Ashleigh Kropp. 2015 

What even is this? (It's Ash's face, duh)

Fort at port

At 5pm we had to meet back at a meeting point for the bus. Even though our driver didn't speak English it was clear when and where to meet. However the other two Australians didn't arrive at the designated time. We waited, all of us and our driver, for 30 minutes for them to arrive, and they never came! We ended up leaving without them, but we know that secretly everyone on the bus was okay with this because now the bus was so peaceful. We got back to Marrakech at 8.00pm ish and went back to the hotel and tried to get an early night.

From the windows of the bus

Love A&E