Morocco / Day 6

While in Agadir there was an opportunity to get a massage from a local spot before leaving after lunch. Monita and I made a very last minute decision and luckily Abdoul was able to get us a booking. We went down to the beach before a few of us took a taxi over to the Spa.

A one hour massage with Moroccon grown Argan oil followed by a Hammam, or Turkish Bath. It is the Islamic variant of the Roman or steam bath. After two days in the Sahara, I came away clean as a whistle!

Our taxi driver took us back to the hotel and Monita and I grabbed a quick bite by the beach before jumping back on the bus. The sun had started to come out and a lot of the group were making the most of the sun by the pool.

The drive up the coast to our next stop, Essaouira, was absolutely stunning. It reminded me so much of Southern California and the drive we did from San Fran to LA. We had a movie playing on the bus so some people watched that, everyone else seemed to be asleep and I just kept looking out the window.

We stopped half way to what seemed like just a random stretch of road and rocks. Abdoul told us that we'd see some pretty cool animals like lizards, scorpions, goats and spiders etc. He'd told us the first person to find a scorpion would win a prize and to my surprise, the first rock I flipped over had a yellow scorpion underneath it! Boooooya. They're cute little things but if you got stung it definitely wouldn't tickle! After about half an hour of searching for scorpions, lizards and spiders we jumped back on the bus and arrived at our beachside hotel which was on the main strip of Essaouria. - Jess

We made it to Essaouira an hour before sunset. Before the hotel we made a quick tour of the town in the bus and I knew this would be one of my favourite places in Morocco. The vibe here was so different to that of Marrakesh and even Agadir. It was the place to be during the hippie days of the sixties. Even Jimi Hendrix, Cat Stevens and Frank Zappa all visited here! A few of us walked along the beach and found a place for dinner called Gusto Italia. Though not the traditional Moroccan cuisine we had been eating, it was one of my favourite restaurents and meals to date. The seafood was so fresh and so tasty. I loved the atmosphere in there too, two guys playing guitar doing the best covers.