essaouira – the essence of dreams

In time for easter, let me tell you what I did last christmas (yes, I’m a bit behind…).

In December, I spent 3 weeks in Morocco at my parents-in-law’s place. This time, I also brought my mum and brother along, which was fun – it was the first time my brother visited them! We spent most of the time on their farm with family, loads of cats and noisy chickens. For christmas, which we don’t really celebrate, we packed some clothing and drove several hundred kilometers south to the coastal town of Essaouira.

It was a very memorable trip, not least because of the beauty and atmosphere of the town itself. The medina in Essaouira is a UNESCO world heritage site, and for good reason. Cars are forbidden in the town centre. Mass tourism hasn’t yet found the place, and winter is the quietest season. Still, we had temperatures of 25 degrees C more or less every day, and on christmas day, I swam in the Atlantic. It was a great way to recharge batteries, stock up on vitamin D (I know you can’t actually do that) and spend quality time with some really awesome people.

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves, but before then, this is what to me is the essence of Essaouira: blue boats and red fishing nets, fishermen and gulls, space cakes and a roaring sea, cats and fresh orange juice, fallen dreamy watchtowers in the sand.

The essence – blue boats, red nets.

Going through the day’s catch.

Maintenance.

The fishers don’t ever have to feel lonely.

A well-deserved break – the fishers go out on the sea early in the morning and work until sundown.

… but they look pretty happy doing it!

The catch.

The last light.

The city at night – and the ever-present gulls.

Sleepy boats.

If you walk far enough on the beach, you can find this old, fallen watchtower, resting in the sand.

I climbed into the fallen structure, and enjoyed it so much that I almost got caught there by the tide. Instead, I just had pleasantly wet shoes when I walked back.

Sand patterns never cease to amaze me.

I decided to get up before sunrise one morning. Due to strange time zones and such, I got up an hour earlier than planned – which was actually really good. The place was quiet, dark and the gulls were my only company.

After a while, the city woke up. In the background you can see the huge wind power park outside the city.

My morning catch.

It was great to spend time with family in such a beautiful place. I took very few photos indoors since we mostly were outdoors – but this is one of the few.

Sunset light on gulls.

The town was built as a fortress. The city walls are now a great place to sit and read, watch the sea and enjoy life.

Sunset.

As we basically have no tide here in Finland, it’s always intriguing and awesome when I do get to experience it.

The last night ended with a stupid amount of gulls enjoying the updraft after sunset – from my viewpoint, it looked like they were aiming for the moon.

Tags: africa, animals, birds, blue, essaouira, fishermen, fishing nets, landscapes, morocco, nature, people, photography, red, town, travel, unesco, unesco world heritage, unesco world heritage site, vacation, watchtower, winter

• March 28, 2013
• Animals, Landscape, Macro, Nature, Photography, Travel, Waterscape
• 11 Comments