When we returned from Meknes to Marrakesh, we went to the souk square for dinner and we bumped into the people from our tour group. They have spent some time at Essaouira and they highly recommended it. As we have a couple of days to spare, so we booked ourselves onto the bus the next day.
Essaouira is a coastal town located in western Morocco. The island of Mogadar protects the bad of Essaouira against strong marine winds, so it has long been one of the best anchorages of the Moroccan coast. It has been a trading post for almost 3,000 years, starting with the Phoenicians.
The present city of Essaouira was rebuilt during the 18th Century, when King Mohammed III directed his slave, a French engineer, to design and build a modern fortress and city. The fortress was named "Souira", which means "the small fortress" and the name was later changed to "Es-saouira", which means "the beautifully designed"
It was a 3 hour bus ride (with Supratours) from Marrakesh train station, with a 30 minute break in the middle, so it wasn't too bad.
Sadly, it was cloudy when we arrived. We were also very hungry by the time we got there, so we quickly found a place to stay and head out looking for food.
Essaouira is on the atlantic coast, so we weren't going to miss out on the seafood, esp. daddy has been fish-deprived for so many days. We headed straight to the fish stalls and place our lunch orders.
We picked what look the freshest and the bill came to around 300Dh for the 4 of us, which isn't too bad.
Sadly, the weather was pretty bad and it started raining mid-afternoon. So we went for a quick walk around the markets and had dinner, then head back to the hotel for a early night.
I spent the rest of the day wishing that the weather will be nicer next day. However, we can hear the rain throughout the night so we didn't have high hopes.
The next morning, SP woke me up and said, "The weather is great today. There's blue sky!" I thought it was a trick to get me to wake up but no, the weather really had a 180 degree turn around!
Look. Not a cloud in sight!
We went up to the Skala de la Ville and walked along the ramparts. The Skala de la Ville is the fortification built along the cliffs, with all the brass cannons lined up to defend the city from sea attacks.
A little trivia: The opening scene of Orson Welles' Othello was filmed on the Essaouira's here.
Here is another photo of the city with the famous bright blue boats.
The local fisherman would gut their fish on the shore, with the cats getting the choice over the leftovers. The sea gulls are not that far behind.
We went back to the fish stalls for more seafood. This time, daddy was to show his culinary skills, so we picked our seafood and waited for them to arrive, while daddy "directed" the kitchen crew.
Lots of fish to choose from!
Love those big scampis. Very delicious!
Here is daddy serving his dish.
I prefer to focus on the eating... hehe
A group photo before we had back to the bus stop for our return trip
Essaouira is famous for thuya handicrafts and argan oil. We both a couple of thuya wooden items there, The workmanship was quite good and the wood looks really nice. We also bought some argan oil product, but after 1.5 year, I still haven't unwrapped the box! That reminds me, I must try out this skincare miracle!
An additional note: Essaouira is also very famous for its beaches. The strong wind makes it a good spot for windsuring and kitesurfing. We weren't into watersports so we just walked pass it... without even taking a photo (it was cold!)
Gerbeaud in Vörösmarty square is the most famous cafes in Budapest. Founded in 1858, it was a fashionable meeting place for the city's elite in the 19th and 20th Century. The founder was also famous for bringing Hungarian confectionary to the international scene.
I've ordered the lemonade and the "Gerbeaud Classic". The lemonade was very refreshing on what was a very hot day. This was the best lemonade that I've had in Budapest.
The Gerbeaud Classic are Gerbeaud (ground walnut and jam filling between layers of sponge covered with chocolate), Dobos (A multilayered sponge cake, sandwiched with chocolate cream and covered in caramel icing) and Esterházy square (A multilayered walnut sponge filled with layers of brandy flavoured custard finished of traditionally with white fondant and chocolate). The cake is nice but I still prefer the French pastry, e.g. gâteau "Opéra".
SP ordered a lemonade and then a glass of Tokaj with the ice cream basket. The ice cream was very creamy and the basket was very tasty too.
