The last couple of days…
We left Casablanca early in Sunday morning to beat the traffic, and that was largely successful. We then drove 4 hours down to Essaouira, an beautiful town right on the coast- and the only place we had a negative experience.
First, let me say that we have become accustomed to the tip culture for the most part. We’ve tipped guides, porters, drivers, hotel staff and small kids that gave directions through small towns- and other than the small kids and a teenager in Marrakech, no one demanded a tip. But when we parked outside the old medina at Essaouira the man who took our money for parking demanded a tip “for coffee.” Later, when we left the same parking lot another attendant made us repay for parking and wasn’t going to let us out until we paid. Again these weren’t large amount, but it was the only time we felt pressured or scammed.
Other than that, Essaouira is a beautiful town. There were a lot of French speaking people there and the town itself had an interesting feeling of being Moroccan with a European feel. We had a lovely spiced coffee at LeEspirit Cafe & Bookstore that was so good we returned the next day. We stayed at the Riad Mimouna and had an amazing room that looked out over the ocean- I mean waves were crashing against the wall below our room and sleeping with the windows open was just fantastic. Dinner at the hotel was lovely and had a fantastic view of the ocean as well.
Morning was a buffet at the hotel. It wasn’t the best breakfast we had, but it was not bad and we had the same amazing view. We knew we were about done with beautiful buildings so we scheduled another hammam to let us read and decompress from our trip- so we were washed, scrubbed and rubbed. It is a wonderful and relaxing couples experience that we highly recommend. We did walk down to the port and saw all the blue boats tied up together
We spent another night here- pro tip, don’t feed the seagulls from your window, the action can get intense! We were in no rush to leave this quaint place so we delayed as long as we could, but eventually we did the long drive back to Marrakech to return the car and spend one more night there.
It was a crazy drive back into the city- worse than Casablanca or Fes, by a long shot. So many cars, pedestrians and mopeds going the wrong direction and swarming around us. At point I told Melinda we had to get out of here, because all this insanity was starting to feel normal… but lets just say I was happy to turn the car over to the rental company unscathed and have their driver deliver us to our last hotel.
The Dellarosa Hotel was very modern, very clean and had a delightful restaurant where we had our last bottle of Moroccan wine. We were being picked up early for our flight out, but the airport was pretty easy to get through, no huge customs issues although they did search bags just before boarding. We’d heard they would ask if we had any dirhams- the country has a closed currency and they don’t want money leaving- but no one ever asked us. It didn’t matter, we had tipped it all away anyway. But that’s why it is important to try to minimize the amount of cash you take out at a time, you will lose money when you exchange your dirhams back to dollars or euros.
So what were our final thoughts, and would we do it again?
First off, the people are very kind and friendly, even the ones trying to sell you something. And almost everyone is trying to sell you something… goods, services, whatever. But it is their living and their culture, so once you learn how to say “no thank you” over and over it gets easier. I guess in the States we have a constant barrage of ads, and commercials, and in Morocco it is much the same, only it is live people doing the constant selling.
Second, if you don’t have a lot of time to drive around like we did (we really needed a few more days) then go into Marrakech or Fes and take day or overnight trips to see other places like the Sahara. You’ll get a good sense of the place and culture just fine doing it this way, many of the cities have similar vibes and the small towns you go through are not places you’d spend a lot of time in.
Third, if you do drive, try to drive like a local. It will just be easier. And get used to having to go through a lot of police blockades. They are everywhere.
I don’t think that we would feel the need to go back, but if we were we would stick to the coastal areas and explore Chefchaouen, Essaouira and maybe Tangier, since we didn’t make it there. But it is a wonderful place to visit and we have no regrets about our amazing adventure there!