Saturday 9 February 2013

The Windy City

We escaped the heat, dust and crush of Marrakech to fetch up on the shore of west Africa at the small fishing town of Essaouira, a former hippy heaven visited by Jimi Hendrix among others. Life is more relaxed here. There are still the crowded narrow streets but there is less pressure to "Look, yes? English yes? Is free just to look!"
We were told to do our touristy shopping here as it would be cheaper and easier than back in Marrakech.
Everywhere you look is a photo opportunity and so far we've spent more time doing that than we have shopping. When you tire of the souks and port area, there is a long beach to walk along. The powerful wind belting straight off the sea makes this a popular place for wind surfers and surfer dudes. You can't escape the sales patter for long though, this time you will be encouraged to ride on a camel for 100 dirhams for one hour. That's probably a good price but neither of us are fond of camels!
There are men in horseback too and these are the tourist police patrolling the beach and streets. I took a very sneaky photo of this one because I'm not sure they'd appreciate being seen as a tourist attraction....


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