Tag Archives: fish market

Essaouira Fish Market

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“There is only one tower where I know I’d live and be locked up forever, even to die there rather than return the keys – Mogador in Africa.” Paul Claudel

Essaouira, (formerly Mogador) is a walled city dating from the time of the Phoenicians, who named it Migdol or small fortress. In 1506, the city became the seat of a Portuguese fortress and was strengthened by the construction of ramparts.
We started at the fortress, surrounded by gulls who would be hoping for some fishy tidbits later in the day.

Essaouira fortress video

A short video at the fortress (Click on the image to watch)

After another delicious lunch, we headed to the fish market – the quantities and varieties just amazed me.

Crabs for sale

Crabs for sale

Sting rays for sale

Sting rays for sale

Please excuse the way my sketches from this adventure are slowly dribbling in as I continue working on them, in between any new places I find!

 

Blue boats and the fish market

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Essaouira day 5 – Thursday
After breakfast, we walked down to the harbor to sketch the boats.  They were so blue, and I was so intent on my sketching that I nearly missed a wagon full of sharks being unloaded!

Sharks!

Sharks!

The blue boats of Morocco

The blue boats of Morocco

Essaouira harbor boats

Essaouira harbor boats

Lunch today was at Taros, a rooftop restaurant.  We noticed a lady eating sea urchins, they come by the dozen, like clams, and apparently are quite delicious.  No thank you, I’d rather have my goat cheese and beet roots.
After lunch, to the fort – this time going inside and climbing up to the top for views of the local coast.

The fort at Essaouira

The fort at Essaouira

After that, the Essaouira fish market, which was very busy.  Similar to the dogs at the meat market, there were many cats and kittens hanging around for scraps.

Essaouira fish market

Essaouira fish market

I did several sketches at the fish market, but will add color and post them later.