Easy Essouira

This laid back and chilled little beach town is THE best place to end the trip in Morocco. Essouira was founded as a Portugues port, and would you believe that its over 500 years old!!

Jimmy Hendrix used to hang out here back in the 60s and the ruins on the beach inspired the song Castle in The Sand. Megan and I went to check out the castle and it is quite a haunting thing, with the water rolling slowly on it and gulls treating it like a real castle. Other punters included Cat Stevens and Jefferson Airoplane. ok no more name dropping.

Man people are really chilled here, no one comes up to you to sell stuff and shop owners are seldomly pushy. The marriage offers don't stop though however. Then again why shouldnt i be tempted. Just watching the clouds and birds floating across the sand with african drums beating in the background seduces you into a full day of siesta. The medina is very easily navigated and the tourists are definitely less annoying here.

Fish Auction
Fish auctions happen daily in the fish markets next to the dock from 3 to 5pm. Its like a hall with several concrete platforms. Auctioneers move from platform to platform to conduct the auctions. It is kept immaculately clean and each platform is hosed down religiously. But smoking inside is allowed...

Firstly the fishermen would bring in the day's catch and say 6 -7 lots from different fishermen would be displayed on the platform and each lot would have a tag. Buyers bid auite passionately and the successful person is given a ticket and the auctioneer moves onto the next lot. At the end of the round successful buys collect the fish in their own bqskets and pay the ticket to the office. Then he would generally hire men outside the market by the rockpools to clean the fish. Fish is then dispersed to the intended destination whether it be a restaurant; an open shop or sent to other parts of Morocco.

I use "HE" because this is strictly a male business of buying and selling. Women dont even do the cleaning. The usual laid back middle aged men zould flare up in colourful expressions when it co,es to business and would yell at each other with aggressive hand gestures and eyeball each other. Back in the docks younger men maintain the boats and many sits in a circle mending fishing nets. Even without the women doing the hard work they are still relatively laid back and chilled as they worked. The contrast is quite amusing.

Best Fish'n Chips In The World.
I can confidently say that I have found the world's best fishn chips. Theres three little holes in the wall on Rue Mohammad el Qory in the medina. They are pretty much the same but I eat at the third one along. Theres all kinds of fish being fried up but my fav is the giant eel. didnt know what it was till i saw it being auctioned off at the dock. The batter is crsip and salted and appears in a dark brown, the its quite a fatty fish and so half of it is its white tender but substantial flesh, and the other is a layer of jellyfied fat coating the flesh. It comes with the skin and the bones but very manageeable and make the eating twice the fun. I like turning up to the shop to find a piece or two just being finised off in the wok and I point at the one I want. The supple fat melt on my fingers and slides and disappears in my mouth. Even then theres enough to share with my cat friends.