If you've never heard of Essaouira....

This article is from the Washington Post. Essaouira is where we plan to go the day after the wedding for 2 nights.

SMART MOUTH

What's the Catch? Fresh Fish in a Moroccan Port Town
Sunday, May 7, 2006; Page P05

In seaside hamlets across Morocco, you'll find fishermen hawking the fruits of the sea. But for an experience that appeals to all the senses, Essaouira -- revered by Moroccans and tourists alike for its windswept vistas, laid-back vibe and walled old city -- is the most appealing locale for indulging in fresh fish.

During the 1960s, the Atlantic port city 110 miles west of Marrakesh lured hippies on the North African bohemian trail as a more offbeat alternative to the country's northern port of Tangier. (Though some refute it, Jimi Hendrix is said to have found inspiration for his song "Castles Made of Sand" while chilling in Essaouira.) Today, Essaouira can seem more international than true-blue Moroccan, with French tourists on day trips from Marrakech mixing with dreadlocked Japanese backpackers in town for kite-surfing lessons. Restaurants run by French expats cater to Western palates, but the most authentic place for seafood is the port.

The fish go straight from the sea to the grill in the Moroccan port town of Essaouira.

Just inside the city's imposing ramparts, a few steps from where fishermen haul their nets from colorful wooden boats, a stretch of grill stands -- painted blue and white to match the cityscape -- fringe a small square. Vendors clad in starched whites leap up from picnic table perches to entice diners, but the displays speak for themselves: Piled over ice, there's everything from lobster and fire engine-red crabs to oysters, mussels, octopus, sea urchins, snapper and the attention-grabbing shark or two. Just point to your pick and it'll be sizzling on the charcoal grill before you have time to change your mind.

While it's tempting to set your sights on a crustacean, one of the tastiest and most filling meals is the one that'll set you back the fewest dirhams -- sardines. Most Americans harbor an innate aversion to the small silvery fish. However, fresh sardines are as distant from the canned variety as ahi tuna is from Chicken of the Sea. You can haggle with the stall operators, but the going price is around $10.80 for two people to feast on grilled sardines -- and there's a surprising amount of flaky white meat on those whisker-thin bones.

The port's standard meal deal includes soft drinks (try Pom's or Hawaii); tomato, cucumber and onion salads; and thick circles of Arabic bread. Be sure to set the price of your meal before it's tossed on the grill -- Moroccans are notoriously efficient businessmen, and many an unwitting tourist has wound up shelling out a sheik's ransom for a single shellfish.

Daring tourists can take the cultural experience down to the fishing boats themselves, a minute's walk away just outside the city gates. Here, djellaba-clad locals swarm over the fishermen's haul of the day, which is piled atop tarps or brims from buckets laid on the ground. It can be intimidating to mingle with the frenzied throngs of Moroccans haggling for their day's lunch, but it's worth the effort.

You'll pay only about a dollar for roughly 20 sardines (easily enough for two or three people), while larger fish such as snapper and eel go for $2 to $3, depending on the weight. Fish doesn't get any fresher, but it's best to pick the specimens with the clearest eyes and reddest gills. Tote your fish back to the same grill stands that hawk their own poisson to have it prepared with olive oil and lemons with all the fixings for about $1.62, including salad, bread and a soda.

The fish stands shut in the late afternoon, giving you a chance to check out some of the restaurants in the medina for dinner. The rooftop terrace at French-owned Taros Cafe (2 Rue de la Sqala) a short walk from the port at Essaouira's main square, is the place for a sunset aperitif; there's even Moroccan wine (from $11 per bottle) on the impressive wine list. Musicians play traditional Gnaoua music most nights, and the menu features Moroccan and French specialties, such as magret de canard (duck breast, $13) and the pastry and pigeon pie called pastilla that's a specialty of Fez (about $8.50).

A few serpentine streets away, near the clock tower, the budget backpacker crowd packs Laayoune Restaurant (4 Bis, Rue Hajjali) for the three-course set menus (about $5-$8) that offer typical couscous and tajine selections, vegetarian harira soup and cinnamon-spiced oranges.

Le Patio (28 Bis, Rue Moulay Rachid) is the hippest spot in town, with cozy candlelit alcoves enshrouded with wispy curtains that conjure South Beach. The wrought-iron embellishments, elaborate lanterns and mosaic tiling, however, are North African all the way. The menu, presented tableside on a blackboard, changes daily to reflect the fresh catch (entrees from about $11). Make like the hordes of vacationing Parisians and cuddle up close on the banquette couches while tucking into such entrees as tajine de poisson (fish simmered with cumin, preserved lemon and vegetables in a traditional conical cooking pot). Sure, the port's

closer to the seaside source, but come nightfall,

there's no restaurant more romantic.

-- Terry Ward

For information on Essaouira, check http://www.essaouiranet.com, which
gives information on everything from apartment rentals to kitesurfing lessons.

For general info on travel to Morocco: Moroccan National Tourist Office, 407-264-0133, http://www.visitmorocco.org.

Our new home

This has been a momentous week for me and Maz. We made an offer on a house (which has happened before) and it was accepted (which has never happened before)!

Our new home is in a new quadrant - we're trading a "W" for an "E" and moving over to Northeast DC. Sure, it's a big change (especially considering we don't know anyone there), but we're definitely excited to get to know another part of the city.

Here's our new home!!!

It's a cute 2 bedroom row home with 1.5 bathrooms and a nice size backyard. Settlement date is still TBD, but will likely be in December or January. Consider this as an open invitation for guests! (Email us for the exact address - for safety reasons we're not posting the exact address on this public blog.)

Welcome to Marrakech!

Well, not yet, but we want you to be excited as we are!

We want to make the planning of your trip to Morocco as easy as possible. Please email or call us if you want help or recommendations on booking flights. (We highly recommend www.kayak.com as a starting point.)

Our wedding itself will be on the evening of Wednesday, April 4th. We have made some plans for before and after the big event:

• Monday, April 2nd we're planning a group excursion to the Lower Atlas Mountains (http://www.kasbahdutoubkal.com/)


• Tuesday, April 3rd we're planning a low-key day in and around Marrakech, including a walking tour of the Medina (the oldest part of the city and where most of the wedding guests will be staying). That evening will be a "rehearsal" and dinner in a local restaurant (TBD).
  
• Wednesday, April 4th is the big day! The wedding ceremony will begin around 6PM, and will be followed by cocktails, belly-dancing, traditional Moroccan music, a dinner reception, and dancing! It doesn't get much better.


• The rest of the week (until we depart on Saturday afternoon) will be spent in Essaouira, a small port on the Atlantic Coast.

Guest are invited to spend as much or as little time with the wedding party as they'd like. If you want to explore other parts of the country, we can help you figure out how to get around. The Lonely Plant Morocco or Rough Guide Morocco books are fantastic resources and gives lots of recommendations of places to visit.

We can't wait to see you in Marrakech!

Maz in a nutshell

Maz and I have been best friends almost since the day we met in Philadelphia. We've spent countless hours together talking, laughing, sleeping, eating, dreaming, planning. I knew Maz was the one for me early on in our friendship. It doesn't require but a few minutes in his presence to know you're around someone very special.

If there's one thing to know about Maz it is that he takes care of the people he loves. I first saw this on a sweltering day in the middle of nowhere in Kedougou, Senegal as our small group was trying to make our way out to his village. I was miserable. Thirsty, tired, hotter than I ever thought it was possible to be and still be alive. It took me almost twice as long as the others to get to our destination. Maz was patient and supportive. He took great care of me that day and hasn't stopped since.

April Wedding

This is our first posting. Lauren and I are getting married on April 4th 2007 in Morocco. April's a great month. My brother, sister, and I were all born in April, and now we can add one more important day to the month. Lauren and I have been together for almost 4 years now. We met in the Peace Corps in Senegal, actually, we really first met in Philly, 3 days before the whole group left for Senegal. Great story, while we at the hotel in Philly, a day before we left, Lauren and I got into a conversation about how we both really want to travel overland through Mauritania to Morocco after our service was done. We had heard that it was unsafe for women to be traveling alone so we decided that we would pretend to be husband and wife. I met Bruce and Barbara (her parents) that night, and Lauren introduced me to them as her future husband on our trip to Morocco. Pretty Cool. Well, we did actually end up going to Morocco after we finished up in Senegal, though not overland. By the time we finished, we were so tired of roughing it, all we wanted to do was jump on a plane, and for me, put down a few Big Macs. Now we are heading back to Morocco in April, and with the support of our parents, we are having our wedding in Marrakesh, at a beautiful Riad. www.riadblanc.com

Life now, four years later. We live in DC, renting an apartment in Adams Morgan. We bot have jobs in the development field. I do more agribusiness related work, and Lauren works on health related issues.

Greatest joy other than being together, we've got a baby. Her name is Kiné, and she's 1 year and 4 months old. Well, she's actually a puppy, and she gets all the love in the world, even after chewing up our couch, clothes, chairs, shoes, baskets, blankets, phones, remote controls, pens, books, and on and on.