Dec 7 – Essaouira

One of the main historical highlights of our walking tour today was the citadel that was built by the Portuguese in the early 1500’s…the Castelo Real de Mogador (the town was called Mogador back then).  Much of the walls seem to remain and it was a rather interesting walk.

There were a number of cannon along the ramparts

And there were great views of the ocean from the walls.

The real fun was walking through the Medina.  

This medina is much newer than most that we have toured being planned on a European grid style lay out and built in the mid 1700's.  Consequently the streets were wider and straighter.  

This gave us much more room to get around.  And the area was just interesting. 

And the "window" shopping was much easier.  Several in the group did their last Morocco shopping here.  The selections were great.  Morocco is truly a shopping Mecca.

We stopped to watch an artisan put metal inlay into a wooden piece.

We also stopped to visit a Jewish Synagogue.  

The tour was over by lunch time and most of the group headed for the waterfront and the dozen or so little seafood shacks.  As we approached the area we were inundated with attempts to get us to eat at their "special"/"best" seafood restaurant.  


Since we don't eat fish we checked out the shacks and then headed to a plaza for a sandwich.  

As usual there were cats everywhere.

Sometimes the very best of travel is stumbling across the unexpected and unplanned.  This evening we heard drums outside of our windows...so we headed out to see what was going on. 

The language barrier was formidable but the nearest we could figure is that there is a local cultural center nearby that focuses on preserving the culture of various local tribes and ethnic groups. And every so often the groups take to the streets for a mini-parade...

and dancing in a nearby square. 


************************************************************
Watch video of dancers #1
************************************************************

************************************************************
Watch video of dancers #2
************************************************************

************************************************************
Watch video of dancers #3
************************************************************

************************************************************
Watch video of dancers #4
************************************************************


So we had an enjoyable hour or so watching the enthusiastic dancing, singing and drumming.  

Travel is rich and inspirational.