spent the rest of our time in this small town walking around, buying handwoven scarves and blankets, and eating tagines. I think we probably walked up and down every single street in the medina, and even made it outside of town to a waterfall. We also had our first encounter with rain, which I had not been expecting. It wound up raining a little bit almost every day we were there, but fortunately, it only lasted the length of time it took to drink a cup of tea.The next stop on our trip was the capital city,
Rabat. To me, Rabat felt simultaneously much less touristic and much more western than both Chefchaouen and Tangier. We saw many fancy cars, ice cream parlors, and men and women in suits. Also, the souks were dominated by more practical objects like groceries, clothing, and shoes, not just crafts. After wandering through the medina, we checked out the well-known kasbah (as discussed in my previous post), which is strategically located right on the Atlantic. We spent a long time standing looking out at the swimmers and boogie boarders, enjoying the intense and refreshing wind.After Rabat was Essaouira, a touristic fishing/beach town. Getting from Rabat down to Essaouira was an adventure in its own right. We took the train from Rabat to Marrakech and met some interesting characters along the way, including a Sudanese business man who lives in New Jersey. He told us about his secrets to looking young (no coffee, tea, or alcohol), the many languages he speaks, and his flight from New York. All unprompted! In any event, Michael and I had banked on catching the bus from Marrakech to Essaouira, but once we got to the station, we found out that the next couple buses were already sold out. Two Swiss girls approached us and asked if we wanted to split a cab to Essaouira. They told us that there was a big van, and we could fit 6 people, so we spent the next 30 minutes looking for 2 more people. Eventually, we found a very glamorous French couple from Biarritz. La classe! We headed out to find our van, only to discover we would be riding for 2.5 hours in a regular sized sedan. The driver didn't seem too flummoxed about fitting 7 people into his 5 seater, so we decided to go for it. Adventure!
Once in Essaouira, we found our hostel and headed out to explore. That night was the Copa del Rey match between Barcelona and Madrid so we found a Spanish restaurant and relaxed and watched the game. The next day, we spent a lot of time at the port and on the beach, wandering around and talking to people. The fishing boats there are known for being very picturesque because they are painted an intense shade of royal blue as a means of insect control. After having fun playing in the sand and dipping our toes in the water, we had a lunch of fresh grilled fish that the fishermen catch and sell in beach-side stalls. Then, we spent the afternoon checking out the souks, buying crafts and postcards.
We left the next afternoon for Marrakech, the final destination of our trip. We spent most of our time getting lost in the souks, trying to haggle and joking around with the vendors. There are also some pretty amazing monuments in Marrakech, like madrasas, palaces, and tombs, which we checked out. Eating in Marrakech was a very cool experience, since there is a very big street food culture there. Each night, vendors go to the main square to set up stalls that cook everything from snails to merguez to sheep heads. We made sure to try as much as we could, and even though we both got a little sick, it was worth it.I'll be extremely sad to say goodbye to these long and frequent vacations. I think I did pretty well this year in terms of travel!
