Up bright and early again, of course with some lovely homemade breakfast from the Riad

Wonder to the square where we’re picked up by an unmarked van to take us to a mini bus for our tour for the day

Arrive and boarded on the un-air conditioned van ready for about a 3 hour drive ????

Multiple stops along the way, including our third argan oil ladies cooperative experience (again very pleasant and we were even shown the actual tree)

Finally we arrive at Essaouira – only took 4.5 hours! – so lovely to see the sea again

We head into the city where it’s dressed with palm trees and high, Moroccan-decorated walls

Hungry, we find a decent looking place for some food

Brunch & Co. seems as good as any, and has familiar coffee too!

Now we’re fueled and ready to explore, we stroll around the Souk

We find the city’s NW sea bastion still with it’s cannons!

Weaving through the streets of tat stores and stray, well-fed cats, we make it back adjacent to where we started – Place Moulay Hassan

Lots of cafes around the square as well as pop up street restaurants grilling fish fresh from the market next to it

We make it to Plage d’Essaouira – the largest beach of the city with a long stretching sandy shore

Take in the sun and breeze as we stroll half way before needing a drink

Pop to MBeach for a virgin mojito – little pricey but worth it!

Time definitely flies, now we have to go back on the bus: the Marrakech Express!

We make it back, just about in one piece with all the crazy traffic and dust reducing visibility, and with only one pitstop

Straight to some dinner… and a treat tonight: curry ????

Bombay Medina is in a sort of organised food market with a couple other restaurants

The food:

• Garlic and coriander naan: yummy, not over cooked, bit flat
• Chicken Jalfrezi: good spicy curry flavour – maybe too much curry powder – some veg, not very tomoatoey, strong aniseed and cardomom flavour, lemongrass an odd addition – not tikka chicken
• CTM: nice but not very red sauce, chicken tikka on the chicken meat though, lemongrass again a bit odd, not very sweet, some spice, quite tomatoey
• Good fresh bits of things in them, a nice reminder of more traditional curry
• We had the “spicy” versions with several warnings, but heat is fine

Tummies filled, we head back for some kip before our journey back tomorrow ☹️