Outside Essouira's Historic Sea Wall & Relaxing Among the Tide Pools
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Essouira (ess-a-weera), a charming city nestled along Morocco’s southwestern coast. Essouira is designated a UNESCO World Heritage site for its unique blend of European and North African urban design, well-preserved infrastructure, and historic significance as an important trading port since ancient times.
It is fascinating to walk through Essouira because many of the historic fortifications are still intact and accessible for people to explore at their leisure. In my last post, I began walking along the top of the wall, which offered really cool views of the coastline and sea. I begin this post at the other end of the wall, where I found some stairs leading back into the medina (old quarter).
Despite not really having a set destination, my internal compass seemed set on guiding me closer to the sea. I soon find myself on one of the main roads in the old city, leading out to the main sea gate, Bab el-Marsa. The road around the sea gate and harbor is wider than any others I have seen in any of the other pre-colonial cities I have visited. This intentional design choice was made to easily facilitate trade, customs inspections, as well as allow for the efficient movement of military hardware (cannons).
Coming out of the Bab el-Marsa gate, I find myself at the harbor level, where I can see two equally enticing paths. One leads to the harbor, and the other along the outside base of the sea wall. As I can see that the water level is still low enough to safely explore the sea wall, I decide to head that way first.
The area outside the seawall is covered in porous rock, with many small tide pools full of all sorts of small sea creatures. Weaving around the rocky pools, I find myself fascinated by the little crabs, sea urchins, and fish residing in the small pockets of water.
There aren’t many people around, but a few small groups of young people would come and sit on the rocks. I follow suit and find a nice sunny rock to relax on. I take some time to close my eyes and savor the soothing sounds of seabirds singing and waves crashing gently on the rocks.
There is some ugly graffiti on some parts of the wall, and I figure this is probably a popular place for locals to hang out. It would usually bother me more to see historical things defaced in such a way, but the relentless weathering of the rising tide seemed to do a good enough job at washing the paint away.
There was one mural I found, which I thought actually added some tasteful beauty to the old wall. The faces of the people look so calm, and the weathering effects seem to even add to the beauty of the piece. I wonder how long it had been there, and how much longer nature would allow it to remain.
The wind picks up, and the sun begins to hang low, casting shade upon my once sunny rock. A sign I take to move on from this place.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my time visiting Essouira’s outer sea wall. Join me in my next post, where I visit the historic harbor and uncover more of the city’s hidden beauty.
If you are interested in reading more about Essouira, please consider checking out my previous post, where I explore some of the medina, as well as the upper section of the city wall, which can be found here.
All coastal photos were taken by me. Have a great day! :)