Essaouira: Day 2

Basically today was a free day on the tour to enjoy Essaouira, but at midnight  we rang our guide and asked him if we could go to a certain attraction and he said this was no problem.

We will write more about our guide and tour at the end of the trip but everything has been well beyond expectations (Name: Mbarek. Company: MoroccanCamelTrips.)

Mbarek drove about half an hour back towards Marrakech when we got to the most unusual tourist attraction that I have ever encountered, goats in a tree. In the one Argan tree there were at least 12 goats standing on the branches of the tree. Obviously this many at once is a set-up for tourists but it is normal for a goat to climb an Argan tree to get the fruit. I think I've seen everything now!

After the goats we went to a surf beach area 20 minutes South of Essaouira, Sidi Kauoki. On the beach here you can hire surfboards, kite surfing, quad bikes, camel rides, donkey rides amongst other things. We ran into the 3 from NYC (Kelly, Kacy and Meaggan) that we met the previous evening, they hired surfboards and were having a great time, we wished we took our bathers with us!

Mbarek took us for a bit of off-road 4x4 nearby and we got to see a great view of the area.

Back at Essaouira, Kristin took on the local traders in the Souk. Poor Andy had to be content with a 50 Dirham ($AUD 6) haircut, whilst Kristin created havoc amongst the traders. It is the middle of Ramadan and in the heat of the afternoon, the poor locals are very tired and drained, so you don't get hassled too much in the market.

Later we sun baked on the beach before heading out for dinner. Much to our pleasant surprise the 3 lovely women from NYC wanted to meet for a drink before dinner. This turned into another fabulous evening.

We started at a bar called Il Mare, which had magnificent views but terrible service. The others had a recommendation for a place next door called Loft. There was a band and it looked very trendy. But you could see the disappointment on all 5 faces when we realised it was a non-alcoholic restaurant, so we moved on. Andy suggested we try another close by called Umia,  highly rated on TA. Table free, check, alcohol, check so we sat down and had a fantastic evening. The food was delicious, the red wines good and the company sensational.

Andy hates to admit it but the highlight of the night was when Kristin let Barbie loose. Meaggan enjoyed re-dressing Barbie and doing her hair and getting her to pose with the food and drinks. I think she wished she had her own Barbie with her. Kelly ordered more prawns, so we could have a photo shoot of a "shrimp on the barbie". The owners of the restaurant were also excited and were taking photos, Barbie may appear on their website I think.

Eventually we finished dinner (prawns, monkfish x3, beef wellington x2, desserts and plenty of red wine) and headed back towards our hotels in the cool Essaouiran evening. Here we had to say goodbye to Kelly, Meaggan and Kacy. In the previous 24 hours we had dined with them twice and felt like we were saying goodbye to people we had known for a long time. They better watch out, we might plan a trip to NYC now!  Another fantastic evening.

L-R Andy, Kristin, Meaggan, Kelly and Kacy

Cheers,

A & K.