Essaouira is Khalid’s favorite place and once I got there I could completely understand why. The trip there was fun and unusual. Our first stop was to see goats in a tree. We were told that sometimes they are there, sometimes not. Apparently they follow the leader. If one goat climbs the tree, the rest follow. It is now illegal for shepherds to allow the goats to do this. The goats climb the trees to eat the fruit of the argan tree. These trees are only grown in Morocco and argan oil comes from the nuts of these trees. Argan oil is a huge business in Morocco.

After seeing the goats we stopped at the Argan Oil Women’s Cooperative. The argan oil here is made completely by hand with no machines. The more the women produce, the more they make. I have been using argan oil on my hair for years. It is clear that the oil that I have been using is not pure argan oil but diluted with fillers. I am hoping that I can get all the argan oil that I purchased through security at the airport.

We finally arrived at the seaside town of Essaouira. Such a nice change from the desert landscape. There were wind surfers and seagulls everywhere. Beach football aka soccer was being played. So laid back. We checked into our hotel that was another Riad. This means that it was once a home that was converted to an inn and that it must be open to the sky with a fountain and a garden.

We went on a tour of the Medina, the old city behind a wall. No one trying to sell you things that you did not want. It was so refreshing. During this entire trip Khalid had been talking about that this was the place to buy silver. Guess what? I did!

For dinner we ate in our hotel in front of the fire.

The next morning we went next door to our hotel to a spa to have a hammam and a massage. For the hammam you lay on a heated marble slab in a thong and women dump buckets of water all over you. They proceed to wash and scrub your entire body. You then lay on the marble slab and they turn on the steam and you relax. After that they dump varying degrees of water over your head to bring your body temperature down. Next we robed up and went to the relaxing beds where our two other friends were waiting. We had mint tea, of course. Then came the hour massage. We were all like jelly after that.

After this we went back to the Riad and probably should have taken a nap but we had lunch at an oceanfront restaurant. I had grilled calamari that was to die for. More of our favorite Moroccan wine.

Of course after lunch there was more shopping. It was a very good thing that I only brought a carry on and back pack. We planned to tour a Portuguese fort but it was closed because they were filming a movie.

For our last night in Essaouira we went to a restaurant called Love By Caravan Cafe. We were served wonderful tapas. We listened to musicians playing Gnawa music that is described as African jazz. Peggy and I became part of the show. There is a video. Just take my word for it. Afterwards we had henna. A very fun evening.

Sadly we had to leave Essaouira on to our final stop in Casablanca.