Wind city? Pfft. They obviously haven't been to Geraldton. Way more interesting.
Hendrix? Well it seems as though he's been all along the Moroccan coast.
Hippies. Really? That's a positive?
And "quite chill". Who comes up with this shit?
With that out of the way let's talk about the fish, or seafood to be more accurate.
The Dock
Our Australian brain told us to wake up early one morning and we'd be right in the thick of the action as the boats came in. Who were we kidding, this is Morocco. Some boats were only just going out as we got down to the dock.
After a couple of hours down at the dock a few big boats came in with mainly just crate upon crate of sardines. It was around 11ish when things really got interesting.
There are three main places in Essaouira to source your seafood. From one of the sanitised seafood stalls between the medina and dock, from the fish market within the medina and fresh as fresh, laid out in all its glory, on the dock itself.
Here you find your standard fare - squid, mullet, bream, prawns, cuttlefish, sardines. And also your not so standard - moray eel, monkfish, stingray, baby leopard shark looking things.
The stench of fish guts and the threat of gull poop (of which I fell victim twice) did not deter, this experience was a highlight of Morocco. It's difficult to find places that are as raw and interesting as fish and meat markets in countries like Morocco and this one did not disappoint. You get a strong feeling of gentrification throughout the Essaouira medina however tradition remains intact down at the dock.
We had a crack at buying some fish at the dock but were a bit too frugal for our own good. Instead we headed for the fish market.
The Fish Market (on Avenue de I'Istiqlal)
This place is slightly less raw than the dock itself. Still a lot of fun though.
Over a couple of meals here, where to get the best price you barter for your seafood of choice then take it to one of grills at the end of the market, we had bream, pink snapper, goatfish, sardines, sole and stingray. All gutted and cooked with bread, salad, spicy sauce and wedges of lemon for 110dh in total (about $15 for two lunches).
The setting is a little more (hmm) rough and ready than the fish stalls but what more can you ask for for that price.
And the verdict? Everything was cooked to perfection and each of the fish were lovely in their own way. The sole and snapper in particular were v good.
The stingray however? Dad had always told me that you don't eat stingray. He was right. It was the ocean equivalent of something from a river being 'muddy'. It's actually difficult to see how you could possibly make something of it. We will not be revisiting stingray.
I just wish we had more time to work our way through the rest of the market's offerings.
The Fish Stalls (Place Moulay Hassan)
These are sort of reflective of the sanitisation that's taken place within the medina walls. Here people hustle you like you've never been hustled before to either go with one of their set menus or pick some things from the "fresh" fish displays, have it weighed and then cooked at their grill to then be brought to you with bread and salad. Cloudy peepers on some fish suggested that they weren't as fresh as promised.
For 90dh (a bartered price that caused the tout to crack the shits) we had a red mullet, a serving of baby cuttlefish and six scampi. The mullet was good, the cuttlefish a touch overcooked and four of the six scampi were mushy. In hindsight we should've only eaten at the fish market but we had to give the stalls a crack.
What did give us a wee bit of joy was watching a couple of Asian girls next to us eat roughly the same amount but instead pay 320dh for the privilege!
Overall
Essaouira is a seafood lover's dream and an adventurous eater's dream too. You could spend an infinite amount of time there trawling (oh stop) though the fish markets and never get bored but we only had a few nights and I believe made the most of the spread available to us.
A couple of other fun facts about Essaouira:
- The ratio of cats to people here is off the charts! And they are the finest, healthiest, shiniest looking cats that you've ever seen
- We were asked "hashish?", "good smoke?", "you want spacecake?" a ridiculous number of times
Barrie-ometer of "Feel" - eels up inside ya...
