Agadir

Everyone we met said “Don’t go to Agadir.” We never really got a clear explanation of why, and we’re happy we didn’t take their advice. It’s not exactly a great travelers’ destination – there are no major sights, and it’s popular with the generic package-tour beachgoers. But it was a nice window into a very typical slice of modern Moroccan life.

The city was destroyed by a massive earthquake in 1960. So badly, in fact, that the old city was simply covered over and left as a mass grave. The new city was built beside the site of the old one, and stresses practicality over ornamentation. The mosques are still beautiful as always, but the rest of the buildings are largely plain, blocky, and undecorated. The doorways are one exception – many of them have unique, if fairly simple, tiled entryways.

Our lovely little hotel in Agadir.

There really wasn’t all that much to “do” in Agadir. We spent a lot of days strolling around, hanging out in our hotel (which was amazing for the price!), watching soccer, and just doing day-to-day things.

One big highlight of our time there was the Souq al-Had, a huge covered market in the southeast of the city. It was a like a massive mall full of small shops – it had stores selling everything from clothing, toiletries, shoes, and housewares to electronics, furniture, plumbing, appliances. There was the obligatory souvenir section, though it was much smaller than in most cities. It also had one of the best fresh produce markets either of us has ever seen, sprawling through several large areas. Olive stalls, pet stores, dried fruit and nut vendors, and on and on. It’s the kind of place people go to buy everything – one-stop shopping like we’ve seen nowhere else. According to a guy we ran into on the way there, it has some 2700 stores. Wow. It was packed with Moroccans, and we saw almost no tourists.

Oued Souss

Our major day trip while in Agadir was to Oued Souss, a tidal estuary at the northern edge of Souss-Massa National Park. We spent several hours strolling and baking along the water’s edge. Birds were plentiful, and included a flock of 150 flamingos! Seeing flocks of flamingos in the wild was a first for both of us, and we spent quite a while watching them and taking photos. We also got a bit lost and were shooed away from the king’s palace (he seems to have a lot of them) by a guard.

Yes, we really are in Africa!

In all, we wouldn’t recommend Agadir to people looking for sights and excitement. But it was a great break from the tourist trail, and got us rested and geared up for our next adventure.

More flamingos!