7 Days of getting out of bed early, driving over a 1000 km, walking through many, many little alleys and snapping countless photos, I finally had some time for myself. At first, I was a bit worried about the 3 days I was going to be on my own. What was I going to do? Would it be safe to go to the beach alone or to walk through town on my own? It turned out that I didn't need to worry at all. Those 3 days went by much too fast!
During my time in Agadir, I stayed in Hotel Odyssee Park. It's a very nice hotel with a lovely pool area and a gorgeous garden. It wasn't situated directly on the beach, but it took my only 5 minutes to get to the beach. All I had to do, was to cross a street and the promenade. The stay in the hotel was all-inclusive (didn't have to pay for any of the drinks or food), but I didn't really benifit from it because I spent most of my time on the beach or in town. After my first day in the hotel, I realised that it was better to be a bit late for breakfast, but early for dinner. Breakfast was usually served from 6am to 10am but most of the time, the best breakfast (pancakes, muffins and good coffee) were only served at 8am. I guess that they only served the basic things to the tour groups that left early in the morning.
Agadir is a big town directly on the Atlantic coast. To the West are the High Atlas. Agadir was founded by the Portugese in 1505, but due to a large earthquake in 1961, the town was almost entirely destroyed and 10 000 people lost their lives. The result is, that Agadir has almost no historical buildings and mainly consists out of large hotels. Agadir has a beautiful new promenade. At night, it is lit by huge spraylights and one could walk for kilometers without having to put your feet in the sand. Sometimes, it was a bit irritating when taking a walk along the beach because I couldn't take 5 steps without having someone come up to me, talk to me or try to sell me something. The Moroccans seem like very open, curious people. They like to chat, hear where you are from, what you do, how your family is, etc. etc. etc.
A tip for all people planning to visit Agadir: If you go shopping or eating, stay as far away from the hotel zone as possible. Shop where the local people shop, eat where the local people eat. At the beachfront and in the hotels, everything is almost twice as expensive as anywhere else. For example: One morning, I bought two small bottles of water at a kiosk in town. I paid 7 Dirham for both. The next day, I wanted to buy one small bottle in the hotel, and I was charged 15 Dirham. I almost thought I didn't hear correctly!
Like I said, my time in Morocco came to an end much too quickly. Soon, I was was walking accross the asphalt to the plane again. I enjoyed my holiday a lot and would definately like to visit Morocco again.
So, until next time: au revoir!
