The name Agadir is a common Berber noun agadir meaning, “wall, enclosed, fortified building, citadel”. We had a short stay here as we finally touched the soil of Africa. Many on board used this as a start or stepping stone port to go visit Marrakech and then catch the ship up back in Casablanca tomorrow. Agadir itself is really about relaxation and enjoyment rather than sightseeing soak up some sun and perhaps take a camel ride along the, 5 mile (8 kilometre) crescent shaped beach.
The other main site is the Kasbah which was originally built in 1540 by Mohammed ech-Sheik but was reduced to ashes from an earthquake and tidal wave from 1960. In 15 seconds, several thousands of deaths, all buried under debris which forms today but we were remains of the invincible Kasbah. Rebuilt and incredible with over 6,000 stalls selling everything from fruits and vegetables to furniture, clothing, spices, well basically everything under the sun.
Our day began with the Moroccan officials wanting anyone coming ashore to their land to be tested for Covid. The ship responded quickly, within minutes of standing outside your stateroom you were given the rapid Covid tests. Needless to say, only those that produced a negative result were allowed to go ashore. Ten minutes later ours showed negative and we were off to the show lounge to join our tour.
Our tour today was interesting, we drove about 45 minutes to a women’s cooperative where they made the Argon oil, used for both cosmetics and for health benefits if taken orally. The Argon tree only grows here and there are many factories or groups that create this product from the trees. The process is very labour intensive with these women breaking the shells and removing the husks to get to the seeds (they earn about $4.00 euro per kilo of seeds). It then moves to production of grinding down and heating up to produce this oil. The area of production was very protective and we were required to wear full protective gear, gown, booties and hair nets. We looked hilarious.
From here we visited the Kasbah and the 6,000 stalls. Our guide tried his best to keep us together as we strolled through the maze but of course one guest decided he wanted to take more pictures and lost our group. Our guide and all of us were not impressed with this action and lack of courtesy for his fellow guests. The Kasbah was indeed amazing but the actions of this person cost us a visit to our next site on the tour. After 30 minutes he was not found, the assumption was that he simply jumped onto another bus coming back to port.
We drove up to the 15 century fort but only to turn around and come back down, no time to enjoy the vista views that it offered. Not impressed, I will be writing a comment to shore excursions manager that this individual should not be welcome on the tours.
Back to the ship by about 1pm and lunch with a relaxing afternoon before dinner tonight. We do have an all day tour with the Cruise Critic group tomorrow in Casablanca, we are actually going to Fex but I feel we may be in for an interesting day given the limited communication around the dynamics of meeting up - we shall see. Stay tuned.
Tonight’s pillow gift, surprise Rapid Covid tests, so no, not a real pillow gift. The captain thinks they may want us to be tested again before leaving the ship tomorrow, so just preparing for the morning.
Some pics of our day, hope you enjoy…
Quote of the day, “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page”. - St. Augustine
It's great that you have rapid tests. Keeps everyone safe. We test before every choir rehearsal.
ReplyDeleteLove the souks, looks like a fun day
ReplyDeleteOne size fits all blouse 😂 M&S
ReplyDeleteThat’s a cool story about the Moroccan oil. I use it in my hair all the time did not know you could eat it. So many beautiful markets.
ReplyDelete