St. Tropez of Essaouira
The Moroccan manager of the riad where we stayed in Marrakech informed us before the trip that Essaouira is the St. Tropez of Morocco. Hmm, OK.
So later in the afternoon after we had our fill of the medina, and with this in mind, we went in search of this St. Tropez Beach. Obviously, with Morocco being a very conservative Muslim country—the women here are walking around in djellabas and kaftans (robes), and hijabs and khimars (headscarves), and some even dressed in highly secured niqabs and burkas, we set our expectations low. Like really, really low.
And we found the beach!
Of course, we didn’t find any female in proper beach attire. We expected that anyway. But what is actually proper in a highly religious country? One thing for sure, there were no bathing suits and no bikinis. No burquini wetsuits even.
The breeze on the beach boulevard was refreshing so while waiting for our ride back to Marrakech, we took the opportunity to relax here. Staring at the open horizon, the sea, watching people go about their day at this so-called Essaouira’s St. Tropez, digging our feet and toes in the sand and enjoying the final rays of the sun... It was the best last thing to do in Essaouira.
We were very glad to have visited this another Moroccan gem of a city.
Travel Period: April 2009
So later in the afternoon after we had our fill of the medina, and with this in mind, we went in search of this St. Tropez Beach. Obviously, with Morocco being a very conservative Muslim country—the women here are walking around in djellabas and kaftans (robes), and hijabs and khimars (headscarves), and some even dressed in highly secured niqabs and burkas, we set our expectations low. Like really, really low.
And we found the beach!
Of course, we didn’t find any female in proper beach attire. We expected that anyway. But what is actually proper in a highly religious country? One thing for sure, there were no bathing suits and no bikinis. No burquini wetsuits even.
The breeze on the beach boulevard was refreshing so while waiting for our ride back to Marrakech, we took the opportunity to relax here. Staring at the open horizon, the sea, watching people go about their day at this so-called Essaouira’s St. Tropez, digging our feet and toes in the sand and enjoying the final rays of the sun... It was the best last thing to do in Essaouira.
We were very glad to have visited this another Moroccan gem of a city.
Travel Period: April 2009
