Sneak peek into a real home in Essaouira

When we were in Essaouira, we had the opportunity to visit an artist’s abode, right in the city center. Welcome to Hamid’s home. It was a four storey windy little house with a large skylight and all sorts of little knick knacks inside. Pictured above, a multitude of crockery from traditional Moroccan bowls, tagines and other clay vessels, to the what looks like Alessi (or Alessi-esque) white espresso cups!

Hamid is a trader. He as several shops in the square, one selling textiles, leather bags and accessories and another dealing in Argan oil.

There’s a certain charm about walking up a set of wonky, uneven stairs that reminds me that some things left behind in time are pretty  cool and not everything should make way for the ultra new and modern. Sort of like Notabilia’s book making, where there’s a great joy in doing things the way they have been done.

The stairs lead up to a lovely open roof courtyard where there are chairs and bean bags to relax on, and little tables for one to put trays of drink and relax in the shade if it’s a scorching hot day.

The drink of choice in Morocco is “whisky maroc” which isn’t whisky at all. It is Moroccan green tea infused with fresh mint leaves and lumps of sugar. Moroccans drink it too sweet and Lydia and I had to request for only the smallest amounts of sugar in ours. Alcohol is more popular among the younger crowd but only available in select few shops.

The same roof top at twilight, as we were waiting for our hosts to finish making dinner, we sat upstairs under the stars in the cool of the evening.