Settling back into our routine, Islamic Prayers, Moroccan Dress

Posted on by Lea Ann Reynolds
Men in their traditional Moroccan dress

We have finally unpacked and settled down in the apartment. It will be comfortable for our stay. The kitchen is large enough for our needs and the sofa has a table in front that we can place our laptop to watch our Netflix shows.

A shopping area we have yet to explore.

We didn’t bring along an HDMI cable to connect the laptop to the TV and the TV itself isn’t a smart TV so we can’t access Netflix on their satellite program. Nothing is in English so we’ll just stick to Netflix or reading in the evenings. We have a routine.

The beach had a variety of umbrellas and chairs. This sun here can get brutal.

We don’t get out of bed until around 9-10 am but that’s because we don’t go to bed until at least midnight. We have breakfast around noon, an evening snack usually consisting of cheese, crackers and either grapes, olives or some type of fruit.

A child’s playground. I’m hoping they are remodeling it. It’s sad looking.

Some days if we aren’t very hungry we will just have some peanuts. We venture outside around 1-2 pm to walk and explore. If there is something specific we want to do, we plan it ahead of time. Around 7-8 pm we have a nice dinner and clean up.

Camel ride anyone?

We are settled back down for the evening around 9 pm and we will watch TV until midnight.  


I’m always complaining about noise because I like my peace and quiet. Well, here, the noise is beyond ridiculous. Unfortunately nothing I can control.

Hard to believe but this is actually a park.

There are 100’s of seagulls that hang out on the roof. They have no problems fighting or talking beginning at sun up and ending in the evenings. I’m not sure what they have so much to talk about or what kind of hen party they are having but I’m ready to give them a piece of my mind.

These colorful ground cover give some life to the desert surroundings.

I was thinking this morning before getting out of bed where I could find a water gun that I could use to shoot them! 


The other disturbing factor here is the daily prayers. The night we arrived, we heard it come over a loud speaker and it lasted around 3 minutes.

One of the mid grade type hotels

The next morning we were awakened at 6:30 am with the same projecting loud Muslim voice. Then again at 1:30 pm and 4:30 pm and 6:59 pm and the final one at 8:15 pm. Times will change by a minute or two depending on the sun up/sun down timetable. This is every day! Five times a day! 


We found that the windows and doors have what we think are automatic hurricane doors.

A more upscale hotel with a security guard at the gate and nicely landscaped lawns. More greenery here.

They remotely close and are made of some type of metal. This does two things, makes the bedroom really dark (which I love) and also drowns out some of the noise. So, when the 6:30 am Muslim prayer comes on over the loud speaker, it’s not quite so loud but still wakes me up.

Province Essaouira government building

But, just imagine being awaken each and every morning with that, especially if you have only been asleep about 6 hours. 


We have read that the atmosphere here is a little more laid back and more welcome to tourists when it comes to some of the Muslim traditions. I think the Muslim dress is about 50/50. Some women have the full dress with a scarf on their head called a Niqab and full length dress.

More of the nicer hotels along the front strip facing the ocean. Our apartment is next to these.

Almost all had at least a scarf over their head. (Its also very windy and dusty here so they would be useful) Very few have their faces covered. You see that mostly in the older women. I have only seen two so far. 

Overlooking the town from the roof of our apartment.

This is called a Burqa. The photo I posted yesterday was full coverage. The men have hats called a Topi and about 20-30% of them wore the full length dress type garments. Most of the young adults were dressed like us westerners. But they were dressed modestly.

100’s if not close to 1000’s of seagulls. It’s unbelievable. 

Long sleeves, jeans and knee length dresses for the young girls. Some of the young women had more colorful long dresses.  

While out walking, we saw the camels around the other side of the beach. We ventured out to look and they wanted us to ride. We politely said not today but we do plan to take a ride before we leave. It was cooler today so we didn’t stay out long. Tomorrow and the rest of this week should be in the 80 degree temps so it should be nice. Tomorrow we plan to walk around the fishing ports and see the fisherman. Hopefully I’ll get some good photos. So far I’ve just been using my iPhone and they aren’t too bad. 

May God bless you always!

Chuck & Lea Ann

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