Day 12- New Year's Day

The day started like many others, grey sky, slowly awakening children and a busy agenda planned. This time we were mostly up by 8:15 AM and having breakfast buffet at the hotel. Selection okay but less staff on hand. Lots of dried candies on the floor and photographs on display in the lobby of the goings on in the hotel. We packed up and checked out, putting our stuff in the car. Putt-putt stayed in the parking lot while we walked to the medina and Djemaa el Fna. We saw our requisite snake charmer from a distance and the monkee was turning somersaults as usual. We headed toward the souks and did some shopping and haggling. Sometimes we walked away without purchasing as the merchants thought Guittel was offering too little. Kids were somewhat interested and bought some of the things they wanted. Taxi back to hotel and then we drove north to the Majorelle Gardens. There we saw the beautiful and colourful garden that Yves Saint Laurent had maintained after the original owner died. The cacti, bamboo and the colours were striking and perhaps, typically modern Moroccan, rather than traditional.The digital archive continued to grow as we clicked away.
After the Gardens, we had lunch at a cafe on Mohammed V, paninis and  Moroccan versions of caesar salad and club sandwich. Then we hit the road in our car to Essaouira on the coast, There is some construction but on the whole it rolled along well. We arrived on the coast in time to get a glimpse of the sun setting over the Atlantic and the lights coming on in the town. Essarouira is a port with Portuguese roots. Lately with an excellent beach, good surfing and an artist community it has developed. The city and people look typically Moroccan and the Medina is similar to others in crowding, style of shopping and cleanliness (low). The buildings in the medina are old but surrounding and near the huge walls, the riads have developed and the restaurants have become sophisticated. Our riad, Dar L'oussia is just inside the walls, so we parked putt-putt on the street and paid the street watcher 30Dh. Then a porter came and took our bags to the Riad around the corner. The entrance revealed a beautiful open courtyard surrounded by four floors of the building and rooms. The central fountain is filled with rose petals, and there were ground-floor restaurant  and bar areas.The rooftop terrace is also the breakfast area. The rooms are simply decorated with large frame beds and local furniture. The bathrooms have showers with tadelakt finishing, and most impressively the heating comes from radiant heating under the ceramic floors.The other guests seem quiet and the French restaurant was not too busy, but the quiet was punctuated by the shrieking of seagulls who live on the roof and squawk down the open courtyard.
We settled in and had the usual debate over bed assignments by the kids. Then we walked the main street of the medina and did some more shopping. Supper was at a local restaurant featuring Moroccan and French food, Le Mechouar. There was good entertainment with musicians and singers as well as percussionist. The service was slow but the food waas excellent. The area just outside the medina, where our riad is locted has a cleaneer look and the surf is audible above the noise of the town.  From first glance it would seem to be a city that offered a beautifuk taste of the Moroccan coastline.