Travel diary #40 : Further into Moroccan culture
Hi there !
After having enjoyed some time cut off from the world in the small village of Imsouane, I decided it was time to take the road again.
I just love the aesthetics of this country. From the outstanding landscapes to the golden fabrics, everything is a gift for the eyes ✨
Last Friday, I took a bus to Essaouira, a port city located 100 km north of Imsouane.
The drive was amazing and the scenery so stunning that I felt like I was in a movie. I imagined myself to be Brad Pitt in Babel, crossing the Moroccan desert on a bus. Fortunately, no gunshot met my path and led my life to drama, as in the movie. It would have been perfect if I hadn't been sick the whole way…
By the way, the soundtrack of the movie is amazing, I put you a little preview here :
Since the borders of Morocco are still closed because of Covid, I knew that there were few tourists in Essaouira. However, I didn't expect to be the only foreigner in the whole town ! Attracting so much attention made me very uncomfortable and it was the first it really had an impact on my experience as a traveler. I felt like I was being watched every time I was stepping out from the hostel so I didn’t explore the city as much as I wanted.
I have really felt the patriarchal side of the Moroccan culture in the last few weeks. In a lot of places, women are in the shadows literally and figuratively and it’s making my experience as a solo female traveler more challenging. Feeling comfortable in a foreign country isn’t easy when the public space is only filled with men…
Beyond all that, I was thrilled to be able to discover the medina of Essaouira - originally called Mogador.
I went back to the Hammam and I loved it again ! The experience is far from what I imagined before coming to Morocco. It is not a simple moment of well-being as I though but a real ritual in addition to the daily shower. For less than 5€, I again enjoyed the traditional body exfoliation, a cleansing of such intensity that it made me question my shower experience of the past 24 years.
The hammam is a real tribute to the female body. It is a place which frees bodies and speech. A place where you see real bodies with real shapes and a genuine feeling of sisterhood. I always have a special time there.
I spent a few days getting lost in the alleys of the medina, in the port and in the “souks”, amazed by incredible scenes of life. I regret not having taken my camera out much but unfortunately, my priority was to blend in with the landscape...
Issam, a moroccan photographer I met at the port introduced me to the work of photographer Yassine Alaoui Ismaili. This amazing photo he took on a beach in Casablanca represents perfectly the Moroccan “Organized Chaos” for me :
I left Essaouira with beautiful images in my head, some frustrations and a lot of new questions about the gender dynamics of this country.
I have started this blog when I first travelled solo in South East Asia more than 2 years ago. The passion hasn’t faded and I’m still really excited to share photos and stories with you here. If you like the content I post every week and want to support the blog, you can buy me a coffee here ☕️, or simply leave a comment :)
