Overview
** ESSAOUIRA, MOROCCO **
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A BETTER MARRAKECH
Essaouira, this place has to be one of my favourite places in Morocco. I also feel like its one of the most missed out places when people travel to Morocco too.
As many of you know if you have been to Marrakech the hustle and bustle is amazing but can get tiring after a while. Essaouira is the perfect escape with the same qualities Marrakech has.
I travelled from Marrakech on a minibus that took just under 3hrs and cost around $10. My only regret is that I did this as a day trip and I didn’t stay for a few days. The markets are booming and the quirky streets that you can get lost in is a great way to spend your days just wandering.
As soon as I arrived the people were so welcoming, within no time the locals were talking to me about Jimmy Hendrix telling me this is a place he used to visit. This was a totally different vibe from what I got from Marrakech as I felt Marrakech was more about the locals trying to get money from you and making a sale. I felt somewhat respected in Essaouira just for being black, the same colour as Jimmy Hendrix.
This place really had a nice feel too it, with loads of bars and restaurants on every street to go eat and drink. We ended up finding a local restaurant where we ate a lamb tagine for just under $5. There are tons and tons of places to eat to choose from. There’s also Essaouira beach which isn’t the nicest beach you will ever come across but it’s a nice place to go find a cafe to sit outside with ice cream by the beach and relax. I also noticed water activities on the beach paragliding and jet skiing. I was close to staying in Essaouira longer but realised it wouldn’t be the best option financially as I already had a place booked in Marrakech but I did find decent Riads on Booking.com for less than $20 a night so I guess it all depends on how much your willing to spend and how close you want to be to the centre.
The people from Essaouira were very friendly and something that stuck with me is when I left my glasses in a cafe without realising and a local man who was in the cafe peddled on his bike all the way through the town to give me them back. I didn’t realise I left them and as soon as I was getting on the minibus back to Marrakech he found me to return them. He didn’t want anything in return just for me to have my glasses when I have met people who have disliked their time in Marrakech it has been because of how eager people are to get money out of tourists. But I always recommend Essaouira to people travelling to Morocco because not everywhere is like Marrakech and it has a much more relaxed feel. As I said earlier my only regret was not staying longer.