Nice day exploring Safi, Morocco

Saturday morning we did the walk into the town of Safi. 

Safi isn't much on the tourist radar, although there are a couple of things worth seeing. The old walled medina dates back to the 11th century, and there is a Portuguese cathedral which was built when the Portuguese occupied the town between 1488 to 1541. And, it's the Moroccan capital for the ceramics and pottery industry, as well as having the largest sardine fishing port.

Our first stop was the medina.

Now that's a wall!

There are a lot of pottery shops.

Inside the medina.

There are lots of little narrow alleyways to explore.

Old doorways.

Lots of little shops.

Ruth had brough a pair of jeans with her, hoping we would come across a seamstress. And sure enough, we did. She just wanted a little patching job done, and the lady said to come back in an hour. The cost was 20 dirhams ($2.60 CAD, $1.95 USD) and she'll now get another few months out of them.

This doorway has a date engraved at the top... 1355.

Horse and cart selling tiny mandarin oranges.

This part of the medina was really pretty.

All made with shells.

Cool!

The outside of the medina walls.

Outside the medina, we walked up to the old castle that has now been turned into the ceramics museum. We weren't really there to look at the ceramics, but I had read that there is a great view of the old city from inside. Unfortunately, it was closed.

The old castle, now the ceramics museum.

There was a view of the newer part of town.

Cliffs at the waterfront.

Looking south.

We decided to look for somewhere to have lunch. I always read the reviews on google maps and look for somewhere the locals would go. I came across a place that does octopus tajine and it got mostly five star reviews.

It's just a little hole in the wall place.

Turns out they have been making octopus tajine here using the same recipe for 46 years. The father has now passed the business on to his son.

Octopus tajine with egg and cheese.

Served bubbling hot!

It was delicious, but a little pricey by Moroccan standards. With a couple of pots of tea, the bill was 160 dirham ($20.95 CAD, $15.65 USD). But, as I said, it was really good.

We were walking back to the campground when a guy drove up on a motorcycle and asked if we were from Germany. "No, Canada." we said. He gets all excited and said his brother lives in Canada... in Ottawa, which is our hometown. Too funny. He said Canada is too cold, and I showed him the Ottawa weather forecast that called for -29C yesterday. 

Yes, too cold indeed.

He asked if we had our passports with us, and I did. "Then you must go visit the fishing port" he said. Really nice guy.

So we did. And, we had to show our passports to get in.

This boat is getting a fresh paint job.

More boats.

Loading sardines on ice into the trucks.

Lots of seagulls looking for scraps.

Eels.

It was interesting watching all the transactions taking place. It was all in Arabic, so we couldn't understand, but they were obviously negotiating prices.

Huge sea crabs.

He was quick to try and sell us one!

Squid, and some other type of fish.

More boat repairs.

How do you keep track of your boat??

So interesting. And definitely not something the typical tourist would do.

Nice looking hotel and restaurant.

And, then back to the campground.

We're heading out this morning though. Another couple of hours south to the beach resort town of Essaouira.

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