Day 6
Breakfast was standard fare, except for an omelette that arrived in a tajine, and some excellent vanilla yogurt! We checked out from Riad Maktoub, and happily got into the car, when Hisham told us that we’d be walking up. That took us about 20 minutes, and we were early enough to miss the crowds that would soon arrive from Marrakech. The site is a kasbah which apparently still has a few families staying inside. The rest of the population had shifted to the opposite side of the river, (that looked more like a stream) because it had electricity, transportation etc.
On the way up, we met “Picasso Abdullah”, who painted using indigo, saffron and tea+ sugar. The fantastic part of it was how the colours changed when he heated the paper. This was an old ‘encryption’ technique, he said. Ait Benhaddou has also appeared in Hollywood fare, (including Gladiator) and more recently as Yunkai in Game of Thrones. The view from the top was fantastic.
We began our journey along winding, narrow roads following the old trade route from the Sahara to Marrakech, through the Atlas mountains. We stopped at Telouet, the base of the El Glaoui family. Thami El Glaoui was quite an interesting character, and his kasbah is now in ruins. It was quite a beautiful dwelling, but the government won’t help in renovations because the family had sided with the French against the king.
We were now passing through the Atlas and when we stopped at a tourist spot for a quick break, we were accosted by a shopkeeper who said his wife was Indian. He showed us photos and it seemed true.
As we drove down the Atlas, we could see kids roaming about. They didn’t seem the school going kind, and we asked Hisham about this. Coincidentally, we were listening (and humming along, because we liked it and had listened to it several times) to a song which apparently was about the plight of the Berber kids and their lack of education. Bigger news, the singer was Hisham’s brother, whom we had met the previous day! The other song we had been humming along with, was about corrupt ministers!
We had lunch at a very scenic place – Tizi Ait Barka – super tasty tagine, and skewers, with our favourite mint tea. Midway through the meal, we began hearing Hindi dialogues! A few other folks at the restaurant had begun watching Salaam Namaste!
We continued, and when we woke up from our little nap, we were passing Marrakech. We drove along the new part – Gueliz – which seemed quite cosmopolitan and featured quite a few international brand outlets.
Our destination was Essaouira, and we had hoped to catch the sunset there. But we got ourselves a punctured tyre and were delayed by another half an hour. We didn’t even realise it until a policeman pointed it out to Hisham at a check post! We glumly drank tea while it was getting fixed.
Just before the town was a viewing spot from where all of Essaouira was visible. Very picturesque. We reached Essaouira by about 7.30, and immediately loved the place. To begin with, it was by the ocean. The square was fancier than the others we had seen earlier, and the market and restaurants looked very promising. No vehicles are allowed inside the medina, and I was not thrilled about having to carry luggage for about 10 minutes. Thankfully, a hand cart economy exists. (paid) Riad Benatar’s location, we realised, was fantastic. It was close to all the places we wanted to see, though I suspect every riad in the touristy part of the town delivered this.
Despite the riad being inside a lane maze, the room we got had a great view. We had been warned about sea gulls, and sure enough, they were around all the while, squawking.
Since it was time for dinner, we decided to take a look around at the options. On the way, D thought she had found a solution to all her woes, but apparently it was just a spelling mistake.
We tried to find the restaurants we’d wanted to visit. Our first preference was the Le Chalet de la Plage, but though we found it, and it had a great view of the sea, the menu didn’t appeal to us much. Elizir was almost next to our riad, but had the same problem. We were now almost allergic to tajines! We finally selected Taros, largely because of alcohol availability. Grog and an Essaouira sling to drink, and a live band to listen to. A fantastic view of the sea and the square completed the perfect picture. We had asked for clams to begin with, but the sting ray like fish which was our main course, came first. There had been some miscommunication. But we had all the time in the world, and had Tiramisu for dessert!
Essaouira has also appeared in Game of Thrones as Astapor. It was easily more touristy than the other places we had visited, and the restaurant prices were proof of that. After traveling another 400 km, we were relieved that the next day involved no travel.