1604 in Essaouira

Shoe souk


Jewish Star of David


Sardine boats

Lovely place to spend a birthday. We toured with a guide which also served to orientate us. This is a busy fishing town painted in white and blue. The Phoenicians were here first in the 7th century BC, then the Romans in the 1st century AD, followed by the Portuguese in the 16th century. The current medina was built in the 18th century having been planned by a French designer. The town was originally called Mogador, the Portuguese name but when the ruling Sultan saw the new city he called it Essaouira which means well organised. There were many Jews living here originally when it was the main port close to Marrakech. Once Casablanca was built, many of the Jews left Essa so there are many derelict houses in the Mellah (Jewish quarter). The Jewish properties were marked with the Star of David which still remain even though they are now lived in by muslims. The government is waiting for relatives of the original owners of these properties to renovate them - not sure how that can work. The Romans were interested in this place because of a particular shell called the Murex which yields a purple dye achieved by first drying the little animal inside and then pounding into a green powder which turns purple with the addition of water.

There are 32 million people in Morocco and only 3500 Jews according to our guide, Hassan.

Hassan took us to the Hammam which Orson Welles frequented when he was in Essa to film "Othello" in the 1950s. He insisted in calling this film a Moroccan film and it won a Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival so Moroccans are proud about that. Jimmy Hendrix also lived here for a while and wrote one song about castles in the sand about the Portuguese Scala (fort). There are many canons still facing the ocean, each one 2 tonnes of bronze. They were donated by European countries in the 18th century especially Spain and there is one from the Hague dated 1743.

We walked to the fishing port as the sardine boats were coming in. The seagulls were busy around the men cleaning the fish. Once fish are bought, the cleaners clean them for a small fee. Everything here needs a tip. The wind was blowing this morning and it was quite cool. Essa is called the windy city; sometimes the salt spray hits the houses so maintenance is a constant problem and the decorative metal window screens rust out.

The wood used here is Thuya wood which has a beautiful pattern. We went to see a wood cooperative workshop and then a silver workshop where I was disappointed to see a boy who must have been about 10 learning the trade.

Hassan showed us the Caravanserai and explained that the camels were housed on the pebbled floor which also held the grain for the animals. He also explained that the pebbled floor is deliberately built with the pebbles raised so that the grain will fall between the pebbles and humans will not actually step on any grain since it is regarded as sacred.

Steve and I then walked around the Souks and enjoyed the fact that the traders leave you to look and do not keep hassling if you walk away. It is much more relaxed than other places we have been. We had a gelati on the main square - YUM.

On this visit I have only seen one man smoking a sheesha pipe, and I haven't seen anyone playing backgammon. From memory this is quite different from 40 years ago.

Something else I learned today was the reason why many Moroccans wear yellow shoes. Yellow is the colour of death so it reminds them on a daily basis that they may live and enjoy life but death is always close so they must be holy and close to God every day.