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Published: February 21st 2008
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We woke up and gathered our things together and checked out of the hotel. We left our bags there so we could get breakfast in the square. We returned to a place we had visited our first time in Agadir. We ordered the set petit dejouner and thoroughly enjoyed a freshly squeezed fruit juice and harcha drizzled with honey. In true Moroccan style everything was laid back and unhurried which normally we would love, but this morning we needed to be on our way.
We stood at the crossroads and attempted to flag down a petit taxi which was difficult enough, but trying to find an honest driver was harder still. The first one that stopped for us told us a fixed price of 20dh which by our reckoning was twice as Much as it should have been. We know it would only work out at approximately £1.30 but nobody wants to be ripped off and you don't want to be made to look like a fool. The second taxi indicated he was on the meter which was good enough for us although the meter was set on night rate.
The Gare Routiere in Agadir is extremely new and
there seem to be a few glitches in the running of it however luckily for us they haven't got a left luggage yet, so we left our bags in the office whilst we went on the internet for two hours. We returned ready for the bus to arrive and had to wait a while with only two kittens to amuse us.
The bus was jam packed so we opted for the back seat rather than split up and sit with strangers. It was stiflingly hot and it was a battered old coach lacking in luxuries such as knee room and air conditioning. We only knew where to get off thanks to a friendly guy next to us. They don't announce insignificant things like the names of stops or the fact that they are stopping for a 30 minute break mid journey.
We got off the bus in Taroudannt just outside the medina walls and decided to walk around the outside of the walls to find a hotel recommended in Lonely Planet. It was a longer route but saved us the problem of navigating the busy, narrow streets. We got to where the hotel should have been and a
group of men looked at us with amusement and informed us "hotel is cl-ows". They had every right to be amused because it was swelteringly hot and they were relaxing and drinking tea whilst we lugged bags around. Just to worsen the situation, my carrier bag chose that moment to break and dump my belongings all over the floor.
We found Hotel Saadien with no thanks to Lonely Planet who had managed to put it in the wrong place on the map. It was another more expensive hotel but it had its perks. Our priority was the increasingly smelly load of laundry that was weighing down our bags. We handed over bags of the stuff and promised each other that we would tip well.
We managed to get a look around before the sun set and were pleased
To find a city that didn't revolve around tourism. I began walking around in cut offs and a strappy top but I felt completely out of place and was attracting too much attention. We nipped back to the hotel and changed into more modest clothing which did help but there was still too much attention. It is strange how guys
will make gestures and comments despite the fact that I am walking holding hands with Rob.
Rob as usual had food on the brain so we looked around for a nice eatery. In the main square there were plenty of places packed with people drinking tea but none with people eating. We wandered away from the square and found a stall selling delicious looking cakes for 1dh; (7p) we obviously couldn't resist and bought two for pudding.
The restaurant we found was ok but catered primarily for tourists. We both had set menus which were a bit on the bland side. We sat on the terrace which initially seemed like a good idea but it got chilly pretty quickly and my jumper was part of the laundry pile.
Back at the hotel we tried to have a shower but the water was freezing so I settled for washing my hair in the sink. We had a lot of evening to fill as neither of us was particularly tired so we got out the travel Monopoly. We played a shortened version (which was long enough) and even this took a good two hours. I have taken a dislike
to the game whilst Rob is almost militarian in his enforcing of the endless list of rules. By the time the game had finished we were both ready for bed in the first separate beds we have encountered in Morocco.
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kate
non-member comment
monopoly
Hi Was that the monopoly i got you? I think it was 50p from the second hand shop in Linthorpe village. Mum love x