29th January, Safi, Ounagha and Essaouiara

After another long drive south on the last stretch of Toll road, we arrived at Safi. The campsite was quite good with lots of space but the amenities were dire, so glad Lisa has a clean, warm and private shower and facilities. That said, we were securely locked in and guarded every night, it was sunny and quiet, except when the tannoy towers erupted on a regular basis with the call to prayer. We walked downhill for a fair distance and into Safi town, passed the fishermen trying to sell their morning catch with the surrounding tarmac covered in fish scales and smelling, well, very fishy. Firstly we decided on a sit down for coffee and mint teas while we did some people watching. Small shops opposite with food and clothes, there were horses and small carts with vegetables, old motorbikes, a man sleeping in the dirt, and cats. It was sheltered and sunny so we lingered over our refreshments.

Going into the back streets passed more clothing and shoes stalls, and a local man soon started telling us about the pottery area and for a small donation, guided us through a maze of narrow streets and a tunnel to where the pottery was made. It was really interesting and his English was good, so he told us the process from rough dry pieces of clay, the refining of it, to eventually being turned on a foot pedal driven wheel into bowls, jugs, cooking pots etc. Finally the firing, painting and glazing took place and an item was ready for sale, a very labour intensive business and the pieces certainly looked very professional.

Wondering on through the town, we bought a tagine and are looking forward to trying it out. Another purchase was a box of 4 cakes for 10 dirhams, (approximately a €1) and very good they were too. Later on we enjoyed a delicious lunch at a restaurant, sitting high above the street looking out over the sea. What a great day.

Next morning we stayed at the campsite and played boules in front of the motorhomes, great fun and the ladies team almost whitewashed the men, but not quite, they managed one point to get themselves on the scoreboard. Later, a young boy came to play and Kenny showed him what to do, he seemed to love playing with all the balls while we had lunch.

Leading the way out of Safi, a fair sized town, was hair-raising for me, I hate town driving at the best of times, but this was a whole new ball game. There are no rules on roundabouts, anyone can go and there is no polite waiting, there are faded zebra crossings right on the edge of the roundabouts so just as you’ve made the circuit, you may have to stop suddenly as people just walk across. Traffic lights, horses, cars, lorries, people, donkeys, changes of lane, signposts etc all sent my brain into overdrive, lots of expletives going on in our cab, so it was a tremendous relief to get out onto an ordinary road. Avoiding main roads, we opted for the coast road so we could see more sights, bimbling along at a fairly leisurely pace was bliss to me, I can drive for miles in the country and not turn a hair, even when faced with diminishing tarmac and a lorry coming the other way. We saw plenty of horse drawn carts, mules, donkeys and pedestrians, great views of the sea in places and plenty of agriculture, stone walls and even some olive groves.

Arriving in Ounagha the campsite was like a calm oasis, green pitches, space, trees and a good facilities block. We were soon levelled up on ramps, electricity plugged in and that was it. Off to explore. The busy street had the usual horse carts, a few donkeys, small open fronted stores and a lake of water on the mud road. After walking around the block and meeting up with a pack of dogs, literally chasing one poor bitch on heat, fights breaking out between the male dogs, I was so scared and couldn’t wait to get back to our calm campsite.

A bus trip took us and two other new friends to the coastal town of Essaouira where we headed towards a wide sandy beach. After mint tea and coffee at a cafe, we set off for the fish market by the town walls. It was a busy community of fishermen selling their catch, many stalls and a large variety of fish, eels, crabs, king prawns, sea urchins, squid, oysters and cockles. A short discussion had us choosing several things, which were weighed, cleaned and cooked for us, served with flat bread and a fresh salad of finely chopped tomato, onion and cucumber. The plates of fish, prawns etc were delicious and it was a true Moroccan experience for all of us.

An admin day followed, down-time for cleaning, washing and cooking after which an afternoon of sunbathing and reading. Pre dinner drinks sitting in a sunny spot before dinner cooked by Maureen, washed up by Kenny, and a domino game of Mexican Train followed with much chattering and a few drinks.

Another sunny day dawns, and after a leisurely start we walked a short distance to a winery, looking at the prices we thought it was expensive. A swift decision was made and we walked back and had coffee, mint tea and orange juice at a local cafe while we watched the locals go about their daily lives. Next we did a bit of shopping and carried our bags back to prepare lunch. The campsite has an excellent boules pitch so we played two games in the warm sunshine, and the boys won both.

Another relaxing morning of sunning ourselves in the tranquility of the campsite, and reading half of my book. The chicken tagine we ordered yesterday from the campsite arrived at lunchtime. With the two large chicken joints, piles of vegetables and lots of couscous there was more than enough for our lunch with leftovers for another day. It’s been a great stay in a very nice site, but tomorrow we move on to explore a bit more of Morocco.