ATLAS MEETS ATLANTIC - PART 2: Days 22-23 of 273, 4-5DEC15, 226km to total 2,376km, Essaouira MOROCCO

PLACES VISITED: Essaouira MOROCCO.

OVERNIGHTS: Essaouira - Bush Camp (1) MOROCCO.

DAY 22, Fri 4DEC15, 195km, Marrakesh to Essaouira MOROCCO. Terrific sleep. A lot warmer than the Gorge. I woke at 6am under the gaze of Jupiter, Mars and a waning moon and set out for my first morning run in the darkness but wearing my trusty head torch (thanks Rozy!) - there was a blue glow of the rising sun behind the huge silhouette of the Atlas mountains. By 8:45am we were off to do our booze shopping - a very important mission! The road from Marrakesh to Essaouira is almost dead straight. Reason being that Essaouira was set up in the late 18th Century as the port of Marrakesh to compete with Agadir and Rabat for trade with Europe and it had to be as close as possible. After stocking up with 12L of wine, Dan and I had a half-pound Fuddruckers Burger with the works plus chilli fries (chips with mince and melted cheese on top).

I did this to remember the first time I met Paris in LA and because this would be the last fast Food for many many weeks… It was around 4pm when we found an adequate spot in a bushy, sandy area around 15km short of Essaouira. I learned a valuable lesson that night. Bush camp rules dictate that you keep your tent empty until you go to sleep and you take only what you need for sleep and to dress the next day - no money, no electronics. There have been cases with other travel companies where locals have walked passed or spied on a tent site and taken things, even whole tents with everything inside! I planned to watch a movie in my tent after dinner and left my laptop and sleeping bag in the tent for this purpose. When I returned to my tent after some length of time, my laptop was gone!!! I searched the truck up and down. No luck. I then “suspected”, only for a second, that one of my fellow travellers or even Andi/Grant may have passed by my tent and picked it up. Before I pressed the panic button, behold, Grant steps forward with my laptop in hand. What a lesson.

DAY 23, Sat 5DEC15, 31km, Essaouira MOROCCO. Essaouira was first occupied in the 5th Century BC but the existing city was founded much much later in the late 1500’s by a Muslim Priest named Mogador so this was the original name of the town until the sultans built the existing medina in the late 1700’s and renamed it to mean “beautiful city”. This town has a strange charm to it - looks a classic “Arabian nights” town that you would expect to find in the desert except it is against the ocean!

This look inspired Orson Welles to film parts of his 1952 movie “Othello” here. This place also attracted hippies during the 70’s and 80’s because of the good quality and very cheap hashish and attracted regular holiday goers like Jimi Hendrix and Cat Stevens - almost like a “Moroccan Byron Bay”! Keith and I entered the Medina at the gate “Bab es-Sebaa” and spent the next 90min wandering the much wider but less colourful alleys.

This medina is definitely more relaxed with much less hassling by the vendors. We passed the “Sidi Ahmed ou Mohammed” mosque on our way to the “Skala de la Ville”, a citadel with canons overlooking the Atlantic. From here it was a walk through the oldest part of the medina with well-worn dirt-like brick buildings down to the “Port de la Marine” where all the fishing boats come in with their catch for fresh sales and several cooking stalls that absolutely swamp you for their business. The “Skala du Port” is another citadel that sits next to the port from which all the famous photos of the town are taken, including mine… We then walked back to the large main plaza of “Place Moulay Hassan” where we sat down to a cafe au lait and wifi. Around the corner was the “Place Orson Welles” complete with a graffitied stone bust of the man - looks like he has blue eye shadow on.

Since our stay in the town was 9am-4pm and the day was warming up, I decided to go for a run along the main beach followed by a swim to clean-up since there are no showers at camp for next 6-10 days! The beach run was terrific. Huge long, open beach with brownish sand. No big surf since there are two offshore islands that block the swells. This place hosts many windsurfing world championships because of the high winds and lack of surf. The water was cold so I only spent 5min in it. Only two women and two kids were in the water with me and some families on the sand. The run and in particular the swim opened my appetite and this is the best place to satisfy it - heaps of fresh grilled fish. I scoffed down a 400g Black Bream and 4 smaller fish that looked like large Yellow Tail. Delicious. The only downside was the absence of wine or beer - not allowed. Instead I had to settle for coke.

Everyone was talking about Essaouira on our way back to the bush. It got the vote for favourite town to date because of its easy going seaside style and delicious fish. Camp was particularly good. Nice spot with plenty of wood making it a long evening of conversation. We also had our first soup (potato and leek) and even chocolate cake (with chocolate sauce) made in iron pots covered in hot coals - risky stuff but it turned out light and fluffy and delicious. This great town and cake made up for what would be a very damp night before tomorrow’s drive to Agadir.

STOP PRESS: “GOATS IN A TREE”: it is true! We saw them! On our way to Agadir, the next day, we actually saw two goats in an “Arcan Tree” eating the leaves, watched by a bunch of shepard kids. Here we are thinking that the photos we have been seeing of goats in Arcan trees (fruit makes the most popular Moroccan oil) are a result of PhotoShop but they are not. Go billy. Not billy tea but “billy tree” ha ha ha….