Larache: The Last Stop

The coastal city of Larache was the last stop on our Moroccan tour. There is a popular nearby beach town that soaks up most of the local tourism, so there are very few foreigners, and little of the things that usually go along with them here – souvenir shops, touts, over-priced taxis, faux guides, etc….


The waterfront


Though Larache is right on the water, the good local beach is across the Loukkos Estuary. To get there, you have to catch a boat for the short hop. The boat launch is a scene of total mayhem.

Too many people + small boat = wet butts


Boats trying to edge in to load and unload, various people squabbling with each other, people getting on the boats or getting in the way, and overloaded boats struggling not to take on water. We spent a good hour one day just sitting and watching the fracas, and there were many locals doing the same thing – free, non-stop entertainment.

The chaos


About 5 km from Larache are the Roman ruins of Lixus. The site was apparently inhabited at least 3000 years ago, but the ruins date from the 5th century A.D., when the Roman colony here was abandoned. The ruins are pretty well overgrown, but the amphitheatre was amazing, and the wall sections give an idea of the settlement that used to be.

Perfectly circular...how did they do that?


Our visit was also put off a bit by the news from the guardian of the site, who told us that it wasn’t safe to wander alone, due to thieves preying on tourists. We thought this might be a ploy to get us to pay for his “protection”, but it turned out he was paid by the government, and he accompanied us, was incredibly friendly, and asked for nothing from us. Another example of the difficulty we have interpreting people’s actions toward us.

Tall ruins, normal sized tree


We had some trouble finding the food we’d gotten used to – tajines, couscous, and the like were tough to find or nonexistent in the local restaurants. And many of the restaurants seemed to have limited menus, or things only available at certain times of day. For example, they were usually out of salad before dinner time, and didn’t start making harira (Moroccan soup) until after lunch time. But we settled into eating what the locals eat – lots of delicious fresh seafood, salads with lunch, and some of the best harira we’ve had in the whole country (and at seventy cents a bowl, an incredible deal).

We liked it too...