Thursday 2nd July – Agadir, Morocco

Well, this is it. Our final port before two sea days and then we wave goodbye to the ship in Barcelona on Sunday morning. It doesn’t seem possible that our African adventure is almost over (for 2026 at least).

Today’s stop was Agadir, on Morocco’s Atlantic coast. With around 800,000 people, it’s the 10th largest city in Morocco and is famous for its long sandy beaches, fishing industry and sunshine. Temperatures today were a very pleasant 19–23°C… a welcome change after some of the hotter ports. In my opinion 23°C is the best temperature!

Getting there, however, wasn’t quite so pleasant!

After a rather bouncy night with four-metre swells, we woke to thick fog as we crept into the harbour around 7am. The fog horn had been going every five minutes since about 5:30am, so I was well awake! Local officials then took an hour and a half to clear the ship, although thankfully everything still ran on schedule and we were off the ship at our allocated 9am tour time.

As the fog gradually lifted, the city was still wrapped in a soft haze. Apparently that’s quite normal here, thanks to a combination of cool Atlantic air, coastal humidity and a fine layer of Saharan dust that often hangs over the skyline. It made for some atmospheric photos.

We’d all been told to carry our passports, expecting a thorough inspection. Instead, an official simply looked to see if we were holding one… they didn’t even open it! No stamps again!

One of the strangest sights as we entered port was spotting two full-sized passenger planes sitting on a hillside overlooking the harbour. After a bit of research, I discovered they’re retired Airbus aircraft that were dismantled, transported and rebuilt to become luxury restaurants. I haven’t figured out if they are open yet. Definitely not something you expect to see overlooking a port!

Morocco has been on my travel wish list for quite a while. While I can now officially tick it off, it hasn’t made me want to come back any less. In fact, quite a while ago I promised Victoria we would come and explore Morocco together properly one day. We must lock that in, Princess xx.

Our guide introduced himself as Ricardo… then told us his name in the Berber language was Rashid, so we went with that. He had a wonderfully dry sense of humour, and a little bit inappropriate, which kept us entertained. He explained that Agadir reflects Morocco’s mix of Berber, Arab and French cultures, which is why road signs appear in three languages.

He even tried teaching us a few Berber words. Let’s just say I won’t be holding conversations with the locals any time soon.

One interesting fact I hadn’t realised is that locals call the country Al-Maghrib, meaning “the West”. Rashid also explained that most of the world pronounces it “Marocco”, while English speakers say “Morocco.”

Every time we’re told how long one of our tours will be, I can’t help myself and burst into the Gilligan’s Island theme song… just replacing “three-hour tour” with however many hours today’s tour happens to be. Todays was, naturally A four-hour tour…”

Dave rolls his eyes every time, but I keep doing it anyway 🤪 It’s been a habit for many years, and being the dedicated jingle singer I am, there seems no need to stop!

Dave also doesn’t like to book three-hour tours because he’s convinced we’ll end up stranded on a deserted island like Gilligan and the gang. To be fair, after the night we’d just had at sea, I could almost see his point.

After a drive through the city, our first stop was a traditional Fantasia performance. The visit began with Morocco’s famous mint tea and biscuits. The tea is considered the national drink and a symbol of Moroccan hospitality.

Unfortunately… neither of us were fans.

After a couple of polite sips we quietly slid our cups under our chairs and hoped nobody noticed. Judging by the number of untouched cups around us, I don’t think we were alone!

The show itself featured traditional music, dancing, acrobatics and horsemen charging across an arena before firing old flintlock muskets into the air with an enormous bang.

The crowd loved it, and so did we, although I did feel sorry for the horses. Those rifles are really loud!

There was also snake charming (definitely not my favourite part!) and, thankfully, when audience members were invited up to dance, nobody chose me. Of course, the young American man who annoyed us back in Benin was first up to show off perform. Hmm.

Along the way Rashid shared plenty of fascinating snippets about Morocco, its history, its politics and its economy.

Argan oil, used around the world in cosmetics and cooking, comes almost exclusively from this region, where around nine million argan trees grow. Morocco is also one of the world’s biggest producers of phosphate, while agriculture employs around a third of the population. There was a ship loading phosphate alongside our ship – with dust going everywhere I was a little concerned about the health impacts 😮

Life expectancy averages about 75 years, reflecting significant improvements in healthcare and living standards over recent decades. Still lower than Australia and yesterday’s port of Canary Islands, but better than the African average.

Agadir itself has quite an incredible history. The original city was almost completely destroyed by a devastating earthquake in 1960, followed by fires and a tsunami, killing around 12,000 people—roughly one-third of the population at the time. Rather than rebuild on top of the ruins, the city was relocated slightly south and rebuilt with wide streets, parks and modern buildings, which explains why it feels so new and open.

Our next stop was a women’s cooperative where Argan products were demonstrated.

“Demonstrated” may be stretching things a little. It felt suspiciously like it wasn’t on the official itinerary (it wasn’t listed) and was really just a very enthusiastic sales pitch. I’m still not entirely convinced it wasn’t owned by Rashid’s cousin!

After that we visited Souk Al Ahad, one of Morocco’s largest markets. Rashid asked how long we’d like there. The majority voted for half an hour.

So naturally…

…he gave us fifty minutes 🙄

Which eventually became a full hour because a few enthusiastic shoppers couldn’t find their way back.

Rather than risk getting lost ourselves, we wandered only a short distance (in the food area, of course!) before finding a lovely little French café where we enjoyed freshly squeezed orange juice, hot chips and a Diet Coke to take away. The grand total? About A$9.

Our final stop was the hilltop Kasbah (Castle) overlooking Agadir, perched around 260 metres above the city. Originally built in the 16th century, it gave us spectacular views across the Atlantic Ocean, the rebuilt city below and, in the distance, the Atlas Mountains. We could even see our ship from up there.

It’s hard to imagine that almost everything we were looking at simply didn’t exist before 1960.

One last fun fact before we leave Morocco…

In the 1980s Agadir was regarded as the world’s leading sardine port, and while tourism has become a huge part of the economy today, fishing remains one of the city’s biggest industries. Dave loves a sardine; I’m not such a fan. Perhaps I’ll look for a Moroccan brand when I do my shopping in the future.

By the time we finally returned to the ship we’d run an hour late but still made it to lunch… priorities!

So that’s our final African port done and dusted 🙁

Just two lazy sea days to soak it all in before a few days Barcelona.

Somehow June has flown by… and somehow it feels like we’ve been away forever at the same time. Even though we are having an amazing time, we are so looking forward to seeing family and friends. Seeing photos of family celebrating Dad’s birthday with him yesterday was hard. We best have a belated celebration when we are back in Australia.

It’s just past 9pm here (6am in Australia), so I’d best get this posted before most readers wake up, and we go to bed!

Sara xx