The Small Seaside City of Essaouira

December 24^th, 2025 

It was a nice drive from Marrakesh back to the coast.  I stopped for a late lunch on a hill with a view before descending to the city of Essaouira for a walk along its boardwalk and to check out its harbour and medina.  Numerous kite surfers were on the water but then a small squall rolled in from the ocean and killed off their wind.

 

Heading west in the plains of Morocco.

This hill was just outside of a town.  It has some Arabic writing in white on it, just to the left of the middle.

Looking down at Essaouira from where I had lunch.  Can you spot not one, but two camels?

Essaouira.  You can see a few small islands just offshore.

The islands off the coast from the beach.

It seemed like a nice place with a lovely sandy beach.  I walked a kilometre or so along the crescent shaped coastline towards a fortress by the fishing harbour.  Essaouira is renowned for its blue fishing boats…and boy, there were a lot of them.  Not sure why blue is the “in” thing, but they looked cool.

Heading towards the fisherman's wharf.

A fisherman painting his boat.

The big fishing boat is drydocked for repairs.

Part of the kasbah of the city.

Some wet dogs after the rain squall trying to dry out in the sun.

Many, many blue boats...

I wandered around the harbour, checking out the small stalls selling various types of fish, lobster, eels, oysters…pretty much anything edible that comes from the sea.  Seagulls were hovering around, diving down at any chance of picking up a morsel to eat.  I almost got hit by some bird shit, which wouldn’t have been the first time on this trip…I hit when I was with Naomi in Porto!

These tourists are sucking back some raw oysters.

Some stalls had quite the selection.

A cat hoping to get lucky.

The seagulls found a quieter spot where they could enjoy their lunchtime spoils.

This bigger, more dominant seagull stole this piece of eel (I think it was eel) from another bird and then proceeded to swallow it back in one go.  It was impressive.  He sat there for a minute before flying off, looking a bit uncomfortable during his takeoff...served him right!

This guy was brave and got quite close to me.

Next, I meandered into the walled medina, which not surprisingly wasn’t as impressive as Marrakesh, although it wasn’t as overwhelming on the senses which was nice.  However, I could see that a rainstorm was imminent as it rolled towards the shoreline from the ocean, so I began to walk back to Octi.  I had my rain jacket but stupidly didn’t bring my umbrella with me.

This older man was making small zurnas, a little wind instrument that you typically see snake charmers using.

A storm is coming...

There was a Fan Zone set up to watch some of the Africa Cup of Nations matches.  

A match between Algeria and Sudan had just started.

Into the medina.

The second Christmas tree that I've seen in Morocco, again in a hotel lobby.

Nice gate...not sure what was behind the door.

Part of the fortifications of the kasbah.

The rain started and that walk turned into a jog and although I did get wet, I just made it to shelter before the heavens really opened up.

My plan for the evening was one of two campsites near a small surf village just twenty minutes south of Essaouira called Sidi Kaouki.  Surprisingly, both places were full, and they weren’t small campsites either. 

 

It was passed 5 pm on Christmas Eve and sunset was around 6:30 so I had to come up with another plan quickly as I prefer not to be looking for a place to sleep in the dark.  I checked my app, but the next campsite was over an hour away, and who knows if they would have availability.

 

As I was driving past the little surf village to the full campsites, I had noticed a number of motorhomes and campervans parked by the seashore, but assumed they were just parked there for the afternoon.  However, doublechecking my app, it looked like you could camp there for a small fee.  There were no services apart from a few small shack-like restaurants which reminded me of the beach establishments in India, but I decided that it was my best option.

 

After I settled in, I couldn’t help but think that it was way better than the campsites.  It was cheaper, had a nice view of the beach, and I would fall asleep to the mesmerizing sound of the waves.  Perfect.

Octi's spot for Christmas Eve.

I sent this to my family and joked that I had seen 2 of the 3 wisemen.

Yup, that's a donkey receiving a treat from this traveller.

And he wasn't the only one.

The beach was mostly rocky, but there was some sand.  It did have some good waves for surfers.

What a great cloud ceiling.

I watched some surfers for a bit from this derelict building by the shore.

Some motorhomes went off roading a bit.  I didn't want to risk it with Octi.

A nice sunset to boot!

It didn’t feel too much like Christmas Eve, but that was fine with me.  It’s a small price to pay for this opportunity to drive around and explore Morocco.