Essaouira Part Five - The Cantina Square

I am sure this has a proper name but it is a small square at the north end of Avenue Sidi Mohamed ben Addellah and in one corner is La Cantina, a café owned by a lovely english lady.  I only have a pen sketch of La Cantina and the shop next door:



La Cantina from the sketchbook

I had two sessions in the square, both very enjoyable.  The first one tackled the shop in the NW corner:

Clothes and Art Shop, Cantina Square (12x8)

 Then I had a long stretch doing three paintings in the square from the closed shop next to La Cantina, on our last full day:



'Mosaique' (10x7)



Two Doors, Cantina Square (7x10)



Cantina Square, Early Evening (10x8)

One morning early I pitched at some closed shop doorways at the Cantina end of Ave Sidi Mohamed ben Addellah.  I started to paint but then the shop owner arrived and opened up.  He was trying to put out his beautiful wooden wares - boxes and lanterns - but I was in the way so I said I would move.  He insisted I stayed put and later on offered me a cup of tea.  I wonder if I would have got the same kindness from a British shop.

By The Box-Maker's Shop (10x7)



When I had finished and waited for him to finish his prayers, I bought a small box.  Michael and I returned there to buy two much larger boxes for our wives and were shown round his tiny workshop.  We were both amazed at how, with a few handtools and some old blocks of Thuya wood and lemon tree, he could create such exquisite things.