Essaouira - Day 2

One thing they don’t tell you in the guidebooks is that Essaouira is know for its marquetry. OK, well, actually they do tell you that, but as I managed to move 600 thousand miles without reading more than 30 pages about the country, I missed that part about Essaouira. Fine inlaid boxes, tables, trunks, chess boards, and tchochkes galore. About 80% of the design is of the overly ornate variety that immediately turns Caitlin and me off, but there is still a lot of beautiful stuff. We’ve looked in several stores, which are generally collectives of different craftspeople. The primary wood used is a local coniferous hardwood called Thuya. Depending on what part of the wood is used – from roots, trunk or branches - it can look burled, like bird’s eye maple, or have a relatively open grain. I’m determined to find something here for our riad-to-be, and I’ve put on today’s (very short) to-do list to find an actual wood worker and see if we can have something custom made. Even if we fail at that today, I’ll definitely be back later in the year. Despite all the Moroccan things we see back in Los Angeles, I don’t remember seeing much (if any) high quality woodwork. It certainly makes me want to import it.

Lunch should be noted: Essaouira’s main plaza is lined with little fish shacks where you pick out the fish you want and they grill it up fresh for you. Each of the little kiosks tries