Essa-weer-a

Es-swore-ah

Es-swar-ah

Ee-swear-ah

I still am not entirely sure how to pronounce the name of this beautiful coastal city, but I do know that it is one of my favorite places that I visited in Morocco. It’s only about a three hour drive from Marrakech, but it could not be more different. Essaouria is laid back. Very laid back. In fact, it was the most peaceful place I visited in Morocco. There were a few overzealous vendors along the way, but they were respectful when I said “non merci” in my terrible french accent. In Essaouira, you won’t have to side-step speeding motorbikes or worry about strangers aggressively offering to give you directions to a place you don’t want to go. This was a nice break from the non-stop chaos in some of the other Moroccan cities.  (more…)