Thursday, 26 March. AGADIR

 Today we seemed not to be playing with a full deck. Literally, I guess, since the first thing that happened was that I lost my key card. Easily replaced, thank goodness. Agadir is an interesting place.

It is a modern city, unlike most in Morocco. It was an ancient city but was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1960 and was rebuilt with wide avenues, lush parks and seismic-resistant buildings. Our first stop was called Fantasia, where we saw a show, consisting of local music, acrobatics and snake-charming. 

The most dramatic part was a charge from the fare end of the field, by 5 warriors on horses, who fired their very loud rifles as they arrived. That happened 4 times. We could see why a Berber attack was a very frightening event. Next was a visit to an agar(?) oil production place, where we heard about the oil, local to this area, and how it is made. From there, we moved on to the biggest souk in Morocco. Our guide said we could stick with him or meet back at the entrance we’d come in by, in an hour. At first, we stuck with him, but of course we wandered off. When we decided to return to the meeting place and wait for him, we realized we were totally lost. We walked around, seeing nothing familiar. There were at least 15 entrances, all looking much the same. We saw nothing familiar in about 15 minutes of searching, and asked a few people, but none could help. Eventually, I spotted a security guard, who though he couldn’t understand my French, enlisted the help of another whose English was pretty good. He pointed us to where the busses wait. That worked and the driver called the guide to say we were there. It became the joke of the bus.  

The next stop was the oldest area of the city, on top of the mountain. All but the walls were destroyed in the ‘quake. When we got off the bus, the guide said “meet here in 45 minutes” then he looked at us and said “I’m talking to you”. Everyone laughed.

There were camels, so some people had rides. The views were spectacular. I actually bought something from one of the local vendors there, who then became very friendly. I obviously overpaid! Back at the ship, we met Joan & Bob for dinner, drinks and another great show. The seas were a bit rough again, so we were rocked to sleep. (I missed trivia because we weren’t back in time, so no report on that today.)

All Photos of the Day in Agadir