We’re spending a couple of days in Oualidia, which is on the way to Essaouira, which is on the way to Marrakech, which is . . .
Teamwork
Oualidia is a tiny fishing village on the Atlantic, so tiny that there is no dock. The high-bowed wooden boats scoot between the rock guardians into a small cove where they are rowed to the beach. The outboard motor is carried ashore and a dozen or more men buggy-lug the boat up the steep sand beach where the catch-of-the day is displayed for sale.
Hotel L'Initiale
Hotel L’Initiale sits at the end of the road just above the cove. Sea breezes waft through our open balcony door bringing a heady perfume of salt spray, drying seaweed and roses. Normally all six rooms would be booked in July but Ramadan began last night and who wants to give up food, beverages and smokes on holiday? Kids play football and splash around the lagoon but the Grande Plage is nearly deserted.
Deserted beach at Ramadan
The owners of L’Initiale aren’t Muslim so no one gives us the stinky eye for eating breakfast after sunrise or for having a picnic lunch on the balcony. The restaurant, one of the tops in Oualidia, is open for dinner at 8:30 for both the faithful and us infidels. Prices are high but the fresh seafood is wonderful.
Ramadan mornings are silent and cloaked in ocean fog. Later morotbikes will buzz up to the cove to collect fish for the other restaurants and swarms of kids will pass on their way to the lagoon, but the place is generally peaceful. There isn’t much to do but Hotel L’Initiale is a wonderful place to do it. Long after Morocco fades from our minds, we will have fond memories of Oualidia.
