Blog #3.23 Essaouira Trip

Lookout tower at Essaouira port (photo by Tara Deubel)

Let’s start with our wonderful tour with our local guide who taught us about Essaouira’s rich history, including the name which means “little picture” in Arabic. The town was originally founded as a Portuguese seaport because of the wind which helps bring all the ships in. The two weather seasons of Essaouira are windy and non-windy, and they have 345 days per year of blue skies.

Walled medina of Essaouira (photo by Tara Deubel)

The Lion’s gate is next to Orsen Welle’s Square, named after he came here to shoot 90% of the Othello movie there. He also dedicated his Cannes film festival win to the Moroccan people because he enjoyed his time here so much.

Lion’s gate (Bab Sba) entrance to the medina of Essaouira (photo by Isabelle Haddad)

The fishing industry in Essaouira is huge, but when there are large winds and waves (like during the day of our tour) the fishing boats don’t go out. Instead, they take that time to untangle their 3 mile long fishing lines they have for sharks! The sardine nets they use have a ½ mile diameter and are used mostly before dawn because the sardines eat phytoplankton at night. Sardines are a staple food for Moroccans since they are affordable and healthy. (Although that may have been the culprit for some of our group’s illness we experienced at the end of our second day…)

Manal and Isabelle on a fishing boat at Essaouira port

The restaurants around Essaouira pay people to clean fish guts, which they feed to the seagulls in the area. The seagulls fly when they’re happy and fed, which we were able to witness passing by.

Seagulls of Essaouira

The medina was planned by the French during the protectorate era and structured as a grid, which makes it very different than other Moroccan medinas and simpler for the tourists to navigate!

Argan retail shop in Essaouira medina

Following the tour, we split up into our groups to perform some argan cooperative and shop interviews in the medina. We had to weather the fierce Essaouira wind and sand to get there, but my group’s first interview was a success. We were welcomed with great hospitality, collected much information and a website that the shop owner uses to ship products to the U.S., and even got a group selfie!

James, Rachid, and Isabelle lead an Interview inside an argan shop (photo by Isabelle Haddad)

Unfortunately, by the end of our day of touring and interviews, some of the group had fallen victim to Essaouira’s food, including me. Moral of the story, if you’re going to Essaouira: enjoy the view, but maybe pack your lunch…

Farewell to Morocco’s windy city!

Research team in Essaouira port entry (Bab al Marsa)

-By Isabelle Haddad, UC-Merced PhD student in Environmental Systems