Driving from Essaouira to Oualidia
Essaouira was our last major attraction in Morocco that we wanted to visit. After that it would be back to Casablanca for a night before flying out of Casablanca the next day. On the route from Essaouira to Casablanca there were a couple of minor attractions that we would like to visit.
The driving duration to Casablanca was about 4.5 hour and if we were to stop at each attraction for an hour or more it would take a whole day to get from Essaouira to Casablanca. Taking all these into consideration we decided to stop for a night at Oualidia which was a midway on the route. This would allow a more leisurely trip back to Casablanca.
We left Essaouria after a lovely homecooked pasta breakfast at about 10.30am. Then it was 450m walked with our bags to “Parking Rédouane Essaouira” (private parking) to get our car. We took the route closer to the coast and were rewarded occassionally with long stretch of beautiful beaches and the Alantic Ocean, When the view turned scenic we would stop our car and come down to enjoy the breeze and the sound of the waves.
Coffee Break at Safi
Midway to Oualidia we stopped a Safi for a coffee break. Safi was the capital of Safi Province with a population of 34600. It was located in western Morocco olong the Atlantic Ocean. It was once occuppied by the Portuguese Empire and was the center of Morocco’s weaving industry. Safi was a fishing port for the country sardine industry.
As we drove into Safi we saw a fortress walls and corner towers. These were the walls of the Sea Castle of Safi. It was built by the Portuguese Empire in the early 15 century. It was neglect and due to the risk of collapse it was closed for repairs.
We had been on the road for close 3 hours and was time for coffee. We looped around and spotted a cafe with a roof terrace.
We went into “Le Rooftop Terrace” and went up the its top floor. There we ordered two cafe latte. The roof terrace had glass barrier and it faced the Atlantic Ocean. The view was beautiful. and spent an hour drinking coffee, surfing the internet and and enjoying the view.
Safi was famous for its handmade pottery, we did not plan to stop at any specific pottery shop or place but if we passed a nice pottery store we did mind stopping for a look. Somehow our route took us through Safi without encountering any pottery shop.
Oualidia
We had selected Oualidia to stop for a night because this place look different from other Morroco cities/towns/villages we had visited in the last 20+ days. This place looked “resorty”, it looked like a place people would come to chill in hot summer days. After all the Morrocan quaint village, houses, suoks, medinas and kasbahs we needed a change.
We checked into our “stay” which had a great view of the beach. The beach, the sky, the holiday houses looked beautiful.
From the balcony of our stay we could see the ocean and a lagoon. The beach was not crowded and everything looked so peaceful so relaxing. Once the sun was less hot and the air felt cooler we were out of stay walking down the road to the lagoon.
At the lagoon there were a few parasailors, floating in the air. We sat on the beach to enjoy their “performance”. They looked so graceful flying high and twirling round. Watching these parasailors from the ground, we wished we were younger, more “gungho” to pick up such exhilarating sport.
We walked further down to the beach towards “Oualidia Port”, and came across several fishing boat “parking” in a line at the water edge. No fisherman was in sight. On the google map, this part of the beach was named Oualidia Port but it was just a beach with fisherman boats, there was no jetty structure in sight.
Just a few steps further up the beach from the boats was a promenade, there we saw a couple of white/blue hut. We were currious and walked up to investigate. These were fishermen shores selling their catches of the days. Many were already closed with a couple still operating.
We stopped at one stores selling fresh oysters. The oysters looked so fresh and tempting and we could not resist but bought a couple oysters to eat on the spot. With a few drops of fresh lemon, the oysters were, Wow! so succulent, so fresh so delicious.
Stay for the Night
We booked “Apartment with Lake View” for a night. We selected it because it had a fantastic view. Our apartment was a two-bedroom unit on the lower level, our host lived on apartment above our unit. Parking was just right in front of the apartment.
The apartment had two bedrooms but it had three bathrooms/toilets. This place could easily fit 6 people. The cost of the apartment without meal was Eur72 per night.
The living area, the bedrooms, toilets were spacious and clean. The kitchen was okay.It looked bare though it had everything we needed to cook our meals.
We had originally planned to find a restaurant to have our dinner. Unfortunately it seemed that as it was low season the restaurants around the area were closed. After encountering a few closed restaurants on our way back from the beach we gave up looking for another restaurant for dinner.
Luckily we still had some fresh food and can food with us and easily whipped up a simple dinner. It was just two crepes topped with tomato, meat and plentiful of cheese. After having DIY travelling for many years, many times we found cooking a nice meal easilier than searching for a restaurants.
