Day 12 - Agadir, Morocco

Welcome to Agadir, a town founded in 1062. This is a small, somewhat depressing beach city with not much to do. You need to drive 2-3 hours to experience real Morocco. And that's what we're going to do today. The plan is to head out on an 9-hour tour.

It was a long night. We entered a fog bank at around 11pm and it never left us. The poor people at the front of the ship, every 2 minutes, would hear the ship's fog horn... for 8 hours. More reason to find a cabin away from the bow. Once we got here there was a stench of spoiled cat food / cleaned old fish. That's interesting considering the nearest town is 25 miles away. Today I booked a non-ship excursion into Marrakesh. The thought of experiencing this town with 60 others sounded awful So, we've got a 3-hour drive each way into the city. Let's get going.

6:30am - at the dock	7:30am - fog starting to lift, the number of ship-sponsored tours comes into light	Shell gas is everywhere along the route
That's where we're headed	Lots of new development in Agadir. Most condos are selling for $55k

The below two photos were unbelievable. In the first one goats really are jumping into the Agadir trees to eat the leaves. Ironic because these trees are were argon oil comes from. In the second photo are wild camels.


This country use to be under the control of the French so road designs, with their roundabouts as well as treats available at gas stations are absolutely French. The ship info was also totally wrong. Women here are in all stages of exposure. The older women tend to have the full cover while the younger local women are in pants, cleavage exposed.. and the men don't care which attire they chose.

Almost into the city and greenery becomes visible. This is actually very lush with water coming from underground wells	This is becoming Western?	Thew new train station
Opera house	One of the inner walls of the city
Starting to feel like Mexico or Philippines	Being so close to the Sahara Desert there's a lot of water	Majorelle Garden
The tallest building in the country. No building is allowed to be taller than this mosque so as not to block the calls to prayer	Attached are the footprints of the old mosque that was torn down in the 1400s by the conquering Muslims because "it wasn't facing Mecca precisely"

 

Bahia Palace, home of the Grand Vizier Ba Ahmed	This is the king's home
	Lots of high ceilings and courtyards to hide from the midday heat
		The intensity of the sun's rays were near unbearable. It's worse than Australia. No wonder they needed these shaded areas.
		I thought I was waiting for the Jungle Cruise due to the vibrant colors and tight streets
The recently created dump	Saadian tombs	Graves of the king's servants. They're buried outside the royal family plot
The king and his son's cemetery	The queen and the other brides (he got 4) were buried down the hall in their own building

And finally, what most of us wanted to see, we're off to the Djemaa el Fina. This is the major market where all the shops, spices, snake charmers and other interesting things are housed. There is an aroma in the market my nose won't forget. Imagine putting your face into the spice buckets at Sprouts, all at the same time. It didn't leave my clothing even after we returned to the ship.

Random pottery / rug shop. Everyone barters, with most coming down 40-70%	Traffic is crazy. No one stops, lane lines are more just general guidelines
Apparently the market grow into the evening and night as it gets cooler	Booths like this line the market	Fresh fruit for sale, all grown locally
So many little shops like this	5 oranges for $1	Just a regular farmer taking his hay into market, though I think he may have overloaded the vehicle a little

If you've been to Tijuana, India, Thailand or similar 3rd world country you've been here. It's exactly the same. Lots of beggers, some folks trying to con you, crowded tight noisy streets, bartering, a unique aroma in the air. They just happen to sell spices (and I learned jelly beans and sour patch bears are considered spices here). Today was 110 degrees. It was a cool day as it can get into the 130's. I'm glad I did the visit but not sure I'd recommend someone doing it.


At this point it's been a long day and I'm beat. You can imagine the questions that started to run through my mind when I saw a birthday sign on my door. Is today my birthday? Who would have done this for me? No... I'm pretty sure today isn't my bday. I guess someone entered the wrong info when buying it (and yes I tried to clarify it with guest services but they said to just enjoy it).

No, not today. Am I sure? Who do I know that'd know my room number to do this? So many questions.		"Happy birthday with all my love Caroline". I seriously need to meet this woman that loves me this much. My name was even on the card!

Tomorrow - our first of three visits to the various Canary Islands.