"Agadir, Morocco, Feb 2020"
"with our friends Dawn & Alan"
After a cold January and impending colder and wetter February, we decided on the spur of the moment to take a poolside, all-inclusive holiday in Agadir, Moroccoo. Our friend Dawn organised the hotel and flight, etc and the hotel she chose based on previous experiences in the same chain of hotels was the Riu Palace Hotel, Tikida Taghazout, Taghazout Bay which is around 15 minute drive from Agadir. This was an inspired choice with superb facilities, excellent and varied 'all-inclusive' food (and drink) and happy, friendly staff. The hotel is only around 4 months old and as you would expect the grounds are still young and I'm sure by next summer, the plants will have matured and it will look stunning.
Our rooms were large with two big beds, a superb walk-in shower and a large balcony. Even the mini-bar was stocked with free soft drinks and our rooms had a full sea view facing west which meant that we had a fantastic view of the setting sun in the evenings. The hotel had three large swimming pools of which one, the largest, was used mainly as it was the only heated pool, but this pool was plenty big enough for the numbers using it; also we were not there during school holidays so thankfully there were very few kids to dive bomb us and spoil our enjoyment. The pool staff were very friendly and attended to our every need including running daily water aerobics classes and bringing us drinks when requested. We spent most of our days by the pool and with temperatures in the upper 20's returned home with decent tans considering this was early February.
Evenings were spent having dinner followed by a few drinks in the Jungle Bar which was not too busy and had a very calming atmosphere; there were shows in the evening put on by the staff but to be honest we were more interested in relaxing in the bar. One evening we went to a specialist Moroccan restaurant in the hotel but I think that the main inclusive restaurant was more varied and we especially liked to sit at our favourite waiter Mohammed Meshkour's table which he reserved for us every morning and evening.
We only had one tour outside the hotel during our stay, but to be honest there doesn't appear to be much to see in Agadir; it really is more or less a beach type, chill-out holiday and great if you like surfing off the beach. During the season, this is a very popular place to go for the beach bums. The tour that the girls arranged was just for the four of us was to see the main local sites around Agadir and we were accompanied by our guide Kamel (pronounced carmel not camel as he hastened to tell us); Kamel is a retired teacher and proved well worth the fee as he took us round and explained the main points of interest.
At the outset he explained that although Agadir is a very old city and first named in 1510 by the Purtuguese (Agadir al-harba) but the old city was almost totally destroyed by a massive earthquake (magnitude 5.7 on the Richter scale) at 15 minutes to midnight on 29 February 1960 when most of the inhabitants were asleep in bed. Although it only lasted about 15 seconds the city was destroyed killing more than a third of the population; the death toll was estimated at 15,000 of the 40,000 inhabitants. The earthquake destroyed the ancient Kasbah and what remains now consists of the long wall, rebuilt after the earthquake; the hill beneath the Kasbah bears the inscription in Arabic: God, Country, King" which, like the walls, is illuminated at night. Kamel took us up the hill to the Kasbah and the view from up there was stunning in all directions.
We visited the Souk El Had which is the largest market in the region with an estimated 6,000 small shops and surrounded by walls with 12 locked gates; unfortunately, we were not told when we booked the tour that the Souk is closed on Monday (the day we went there) and we were only able to drive round the outside. Whilst we were not particularly interested in shopping there it would have been nice to see what it was like on the inside and take a few photos; never mind - next time if we go again. We also visited the biggest mosque in the city and finally a factory where they make Argan Oil, a plant oil produced from the kernels of the argan tree (Argania spinosa L.); this appears to be used for everything from drizzling on bread at breakfast to making cosmetic oils to cure all ills and even as a hair dressing!!
At the end of our stay we thanked our favourite waiter Mohammed who wanted us to meet his family (wife and daughter) but unfortunately we just did not have time on our last day. We resolved to go back, possibly in Sept-Oct when the weather is usually good, kids are at school and when we hope to see a few more local sights; we will certainely stay at the Riu Palace Hotel again and hope to renew friendships with some of the staff, expecially Mohammed Meshkour.
