May 29th: The museum

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Today was washing day. When you plan to be on the road for 5 months but only bring a carry-on sized backpack, washing day comes around pretty quickly. In Norwich it was easy; RL has a washer/dryer combination machine. Here …. well I didn't exactly walk to the river and beat the clothes on stones, but, yes, time to handwash in the sink. I haven't had to do that since I moved to America 34 years ago… and cursed and swore with every sinkful of newborn baby clothes, wondering to what kind of backward place I’d moved! Clothes washed, it was up to the roof to hang them on the line. In the midday heat and the Essaouiran winds they were sure to be dry in no time.

Chores done, I went to the Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdullah museum, a short walk from the apartment. Founded in 1981, and named for the founder of the town, it is a small museum with some lovely pieces from the bronze age up to modern day. It is interesting to see jewellery from the 13th century alongside its modern counterpart and realise little has changed in either design or technique - both sets being large and clunky, ornate, and primarily silver. The facade of the museum is extremely plain. It easy to walk past without realising it is there. But the lobby is beautiful. It doesn't take much imagination to picture the pool that was there before the double staircase. The colours are mainly blue and white - as with many homes in the medina - and red for a background. There’s so much blue and white here, I often feel as though I’m wandering along the Mediterranean. The museum has coins, jewellery, pottery, sugar moulds, clothing that would be quite chic on any millenial, all the apparatus for extracting argan oil - which has been a large industry here for centuries - and lovely old photos of the town as it has changed.  The museum is open every day except Mondays, and admission is a mere 10 Dh ($1.00).

After a lunch of soup and salad - harira and leftover tabouleh - we went for a walk to the souk. Eggs and coconut milk were the order of the day… coconut milk for tonight's turkey curry. Success. Now to find the little French bakery that my aunt has been looking for. That was a much longer, and unsuccesful, walk. But we did run into my aunt's friend, the baker from the medina. As soon as I can I must take a photo of her with her pastries. She is such an effervescent woman, always smiling and laughing. Her pastries are works of art. I don't know how she manages to produce them on the small oven that she has in her shop.

We purchased tickets for an upcoming bus trip. The poor young man in the ticket office had to deal with us, a couple of young Japanese girls, and the driver and passengers of a departing bus, all at the sane time! Naturally no one but the driver spoke Arabic…  Wallking home we passed a newsagent displaying papers from around the world - something I miss in Venice. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung was a bew one to me. Apparently it is “a centre-right, liberal-conservative German daily newspaper.” Now I know!

A pause for coffee on the way home. Today I tried the intriguing sounding "Ness ness" - which turns out to be similar to a cappuccino. I'm still waiting for a good strong cup of Turkish!

Turkey curry, with coconut milk, made and devoured, we heard the sound of drums in the street. We rushed down just as they ended so went for a walk to the sea. There's a full moon tonight.