Essaouira: and a watery tale

Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived in a city called Marrakech with no ocean.  She tried to make due by holding a large seashell to her ear and closing her eyes.  But let's face it, such fakery is only good for so long.

Seeing the sad look in her eyes, her husband went searching far and wide for a solution.  After, ahem, many months of travel on his trusty steed, he found a place 2.5 hours away called Essaouira.   The walls were white and the doors were blue, but most importantly, Essaouira had cleverly settled itself along the sea.  The husband knew without a moment's doubt that this place might be just the thing to put a spring back in his wife's step.  He hurried home, and after packing bathing suits, towels and his wife and children in the car, he headed south. 

Now in a fit of madness, this family had spent almost all their money buying olive trees and cement in Marrakech.  But they managed to find a few extra Moroccan dirhams to rent a shack in Essaouira.  Unfortunately, just about everything turned out to be wrong with this shack -- the water was unreliable, the furniture shabby, and the landlord mean, very mean.  The shack was even next to a graveyard -- can you imagine that?  But there was a pretty garden, and the beach and the town center were only minutes away. And so they stayed.

The family spent their weekends walking on the sand, listening to the waves, and eating fish.  They also roamed through Essaouira's blue and white streets, and found much to their delight that everywhere they looked, there were hippies, surfers, artists, fisherman and others who sported odd clothing. In short, it was perfect, and they managed to blend right in with the rest of the flip flop wearers.    

The days turned to weeks and the weeks into months.  And with almost no warning, the summer ended. The day finally came when they had to pack their bathing suits and towels for the very last time.  As they drove away from the shack back towards Marrakech, the girl tapped on her husband's shoulder and made him stop the car.  She then ran back and took an extra large shell - twice the size of the one that she had in Marrakech.  And with that clasped in one hand, she said goodbye to Essaouira...until next Summer, that was.

The end.

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PS Make sure to visit the fun blog, Toast and Tables for Moroccan-inspired wedding ideas and Marrakech-chic table settings.

PPS The blog, Le Petit Cabinet de Curiosites has a blog entry on Alberto Pinto's new Moroccan-inspired fabrics.  Take a peek.

PPPPS And do check out Tara's great peacock.