April 24, 2024, Agadir, Morocco, 11 days left of 138

 I had no preconceived ideas of what to expect from Agadir today. We are in the capital of Amazigh culture, which are the indigenous people of North Africa. The weather is cooler than I expected, but the claim 300 sunny days a year. We noted construction going on everywhere. This is a relatively new town, as it was mostly leveled in a 5.7 earthquake in 1960. One third of the population at the time died, or about 15,000, with another 12,000 injured.

The rebuilding was done with forethought, with a masterplan and assistance and consultation of French-Swiss architect. Stricter earthquake building codes were implemented.

Agadir today...

The area the trees are planted has been designated a cemetery, as this is the area many locals lost their lives. They will not build on this site, but let it remain as a memorial to those who died in the 1960 earthquake.

Our tour included a cable car ride up to the top of Agadir's Kasbah hill, more than a mile above sea level. We visited a fortress Kasbah of Agadir Oufla, which housed the old city of Agadir. We were not allowed inside, but outside we enjoyed beautiful views. Since this is a tourist site there were also Camels to ride, snake charmers, and venders.

Tourism is a major factor in the cities economy. They are making strides to provide what the tourists want.

Colorful tiled murals.

A 5 mile beach with 4 and 5 star hotels lining the area.

The markets were presented beautifully. Right next to this was meat markets that appeared clean, and the meat was enclosed in cooler cases.

We don't know the reason, but there were not a lot of locals buying when we were visiting.

They are proud of their green spaces. Drought is an issue here, and they have solved it with a dam, and desalinization of the oceans water.

The port was full of fishing boats large and small, container ships, always, and as always security.

We visited their largest mosque of the 54 mosques in the city. We were not allowed inside, they have 3 doors entering the mosque, one for men, one for women, and one for high dignitaries to enter.

Muslims pray 5 time a day at 5:30 am, 1:30 pm, 4:30 pm, sunset, and 9:30 pm. They, if they can, are suppose to make their way to a mosque, or they can also pray where they were. If they miss a prayer, they are supposed to make it up.

When the French were in charge they were only allowed one mosque and they were not allowed to pray there.

The signs were very helpful being written in 3 languages. 

Below is another of the Viking guests on the same tour, so this is what we look like.

They have many pocket parks in the city. Again they are proud of their city and its plan.

This says something like "God down our city, we will build back big city"

Below was outside of the City Hall. They called it Hotel of something. I liked the sign.

You are looking at the winning Trivia team tonight. This is our 11 win, but the players keep changing. 

Tonight the entertainment was a mind reader. He was pretty amazing. We all were pretty quiet when he was looking for volunteers, but Mike stepped up on stage one more time.

I am trying to put a video of his segment, but so far it is not loading.