Essouira

It was really good that the medina was so close to our hotel. We had a lot of free time so we could go shopping whenever we wished. Our room overlooked the beach. It's a good thing we are tall. The bathtub was about 2 1/2 feet off the floor, so it was tough getting in and out of it. On one of our shopping excursions, we were pulled into an area back of a shop where a blind jeweller spent 30 minutes showing us silver jewelry. After Chris picked out a necklace and 5 rings we found out the cost was about $600.00, so we quickly ended that adventure.
Essouira is a pretty and laid back port town and a wonderful relaxing place for Moroccans as well as us tourists. It was a hippie hangout in the 60's with Jimi Hendrix coming to town and there are still hippie type festivals here. There have also been a number of movies filmed here, notably Orson Welles "Orthello."
The port here was a vital link for trade between Timbuktu and Europe in the 18th century. Much earlier than that the Romans found the place very important for the purple dye made from a local mollusk, the murex, which is found only on a nearby island called the Purple Island or Mogador. The purple color was more important than gold at that time and only royalty could wear it.
As far as shopping goes, Chris bought a beautiful thuya wood coffee table inlaid with wood and mother of pearl. The shop keeper brought it to the hotel on his bicycle. Since there was no time to get it shipped, we have it in the bus until we can repack it and get it mailed from Marrakesh. I bought a thuya wood bowl which I hope will look good in the living room. Unfortunately the wood is endangered, but our guide assures us more trees are being planted, etc.
Another new thing for me was that you can put US dollars in the ATM and the machine will count it and give back Moroccan dirhams.
A neat adventure was a trip to the Ranch de Diabat for horseback riding. We donned chaps and a riding helmet and with a completely non English speaking guide set off across the sand dunes and scrub bushes to the Atlantic Ocean beach. My horse was Prince Noir. We went at full gallop several times and I did not even fall off! However, after one run I looked down and saw a cell phone on the beach. Chris had not zipped up her bag and the phone had fallen out. Lucky we found it.
We went to the weekly market at Ida Ougurt where everything imaginable was sold. We visited a women's cooperative where cosmetic and food products were made from the oil in the nuts of argan trees. Goats climb up into the trees and eat the nuts, but the nuts are so hard that they are not digested. Years ago the nuts were collected from the goat dung, but that is not the case anymore.
We had another 6 hour drive back to Casablanca, but we did stop at an olive processer on the side of the road. The olives are put in a big grinding wheel and a camel (blindfolded with a plastic bag) walks around and around to crush the olives. Then the paste is put in a press and oil is extracted.
After we got back to Casablanca, Chris and I took a taxi to the Cornich to walk along the beach. There were scores of men playing soccer on the beach. Apparently especially during Ramadan, the hour or so before the fast is broken, the men are out there with their last bit of energy. Then after dinner we went with Aziz to see the crowd at the Hassen II mosque for the evening prayers. There were several thousand people outside since the inside was filled. While the adults were praying, children were running around all over the sidewalks and playing.
Later we listened to some musicians in the hotel and Aziz joined them as well as did Chris trying to play the doumbek.