As in all the best photo-shoots, it’s the stuff that’s NOT in shot that’s the most revealing…but for now, sit back and enjoy some bits of the new place that we CAN show you!
Click here to see the photo album on our Facebook page – ‘like’ the main page there and you’ll get to see new photo albums as we add them…eventually we suppose we’ll get to the point where there isn’t a building site behind the photographer!
To get to the new house, you walk down a corridor to the left of Dar 91 and then up some steps to the first floor, where you find a two-room flat with a tiny understairs kitchen and windows over the city wall.
Further up lie two more flats, each with two rooms – and then the stairs wind on, finally reaching the 4th floor roof terrace, with views to the sea and across Essaouira’s old and new towns. All three flats cluster around the ‘mrah’ or central riad hole, although the previous residents had blocked this off with plastic and chipboard so as to create some privacy.
It seems unbelievable that this house, which now lies empty and has become so familiar to us, was so recently home to no fewer than 21 people. On our early visits our memories of its labyrinthine layout were so transitory that we thought we’d never make sense of it!
Yes folks we’ve taken the plunge and bought the house behind (and under) Dar 91. To do so meant buying three separate properties – an experience that has been…well, let’s just say “a challenge” (one day we’ll write a book about that).
So anyway, now we’ve signed the final piece of paper and are the proud owners…apparently.
Over the next few months, you’ll be able to follow our progress on this blog as we renovate the new place. As you’ll see from the pictures below, we have a little bit of work to do…
You know spring is well and truly sprung when Essaouira’s fluorescent chicks make an appearance…
For more photos of this year’s latest in poultry fashion – and some beautiful shots of the Moroccan countryside – see our newly updated Flickr pages at  http://www.flickr.com/photos/essaouiraphotos/.
Please note: no chicks were harmed during this photo shoot; they are all now living happily in the countryside. Happy Easter!