Second Most Favorite Spot In Morocco

I LOVE Essaouira! It's a small seaport town directly east of Marrakech (about a 3-hour bus ride). It is so incredibly clean and laid-back. Then again, this might have to do something with my own personal bias of loving to be near the ocean.

As with Marrakech, I was quite surprised by the number of tourists in town. I should probably amend that to foreigners as I'm told there are also quite a bit of expats that live in Essaouira.

Anyhow, they have several huge music festivals several times a year. In June there's a Gnawan festival (of the music that I wrote about in a previous blog) for professional artists with another one in August for talent of "amateur" status. Then there's a mixed music fest in September that includes fireworks and medieval Moorish jousting and such. The Gnawan music of Essaouira is notably different from that of the desert. I think that I actually prefer that of Essaouira. There was a shopkeep that was playing and he was so amazing. I could've stayed there all day listening to him play. I really want to try and make it back to check out these festivals!

Soccer is also pretty big here (as with everywhere else in Morocco). Right now, since there are really no tourists frequenting the beaches, they hold games on it. When I was there, there must've been at least 5-6 games going. They're all pretty good. I wish I had gotten up the nerve to ask if I could've join in for a bit!