So here we go again… now moving towards Agadir and Sidi Ifni as final destination on this move, since I want to see the famous Arch of Legzira. We agreed with D to take one taxi to save a bit of dirhams from the square at 11:00 at the Café de France to be on station a bit earlier. I have waited for the academic 15 min and then hail taxi myself as who knows maybe he changed his mind or maybe they are travelling together with girls. Anyway taxi for fifty dirhams and I was at bus station with plenty of time to check in luggage “ yes you do that for bus fare here” and still have plenty of time to get lunch with local people and behold only for fifteen dirhams. Nice and quick ready made f st food, stew from the cow stomach and bread of course. As I was finished my lunch message arrived from D that he is at the station now which was 11:50 and he was looking for some food too. Not much time left for the sit down meal so we both got the square “pancake” with cheese two for eight dirhams and ready to rock on the bus. All in waiting room preparing themselves for boarding, means everyone tried to get over to the door as first, which is normal in this part of the world. As soon as the man in suit approached the door from the other side the noise begun and people start racing to the front position like their life depend on them pass the door first. Door opened and the hum lowered down as man said Casablanca and from the little French I know it was only Casablanca so rest of us just moved back a bit to let Casablanca passengers roll on the bus. D went and I was finishing my first square pancake and not too long from the time that Casablanca bus pulled out Agadir was called in and we started board the bus in the same organized panic 😊 I have seat no2 which is right behind driver o I could see here are we going and how the road will wind down to Agadir. As everyone took their seat and the driver announced something in Arabic, doors were closed and bus started slowly reversing, when I saw girls boarding bus to Essaouira. So funny, we all went on the same bus station at the same departure time and still everyone took different taxi.

Bus moved out and the Marrakesh start changing from the touristic and old to new residential, with apartments blocks, shopping malls and all the usual arrangements of western world. Not all in Morocco is old and even some new things are interesting such as new lovely apartments hidden in lush green of palm trees and other plants. Beautiful new roads, foot paths all line up with palm trees and all clean as the roads are more less constantly swept by the cleaning crew in overalls. Coffee break at petrol station somewhere near Agadir at least based on maps.me and the not welcomed nose from some passengers but toilet break sounds good. All in and few noisy horn beeps ad we were speeding away on the new motorway and as we approached toll driver took the e-token and put it on the dashboard to get through but nothing happened so he point the fob to many various locations, then exit bus with it and eventually reverse and approach the toll again but without luck. At the end some employee just run out of the office building at the side and get across to the booth to lift the ramp so we can go. Well even electronic sometimes need manpower😊

Agadir is here and the bus station is not really pleasant as it was in Marrakesh, this is oversized parking lot and one cone shaped building and a lot a lot of sales people trying to sell you the ticket to somewhere. I knew that I need to get a taxi to Tizmir from some square which was not on the map so I walked towards the city with a little detour due the fact that I followed avenue with same name as the square had and hoped that it will bring me there, which eventually did but this was a partly by intuition and partly by accident. Intuition was that I felt strong urge turn left and so I did and as I walked down the street I checked the map on the phone and realized that it was not a square bt part of town what I was looking for and It was in straight line from where I was so just keep walking. Nearly changed my plans to stay in Agadir if such a coincidence had not happened. The square was as from the movies, lots of very old Mercedes painted in white and yellow as long distance taxis to take you anywhere you want for thirty-five dirhams and little squeeze as four at the back and three at the front is usual amount of passengers. Great ride, no dials or control lights were working at dashboard ad the speed was fast since we flash the lights on brand new BMW X5 and overtook it within seconds. Similar way of transport as in Lebanon, difference is that here the taxis are really old Mercedes and in Lebanon Toyota Hiace but the speed race nearly the same. Thankfully we had to stop for diesel as I was in emergency mode for toilet and the driver was glad to wait, even if he did not seems to be pleased. As I squeeze in and close the door I said Merci / Shukran to all and we were off like rally car. My right thing was jammed to the door and left was shared with next passenger, so we started talking just to kill the time and to practice my French. He was from Sidi Ifni and when I mentioned to him that I’m going to Legzira he insisted to drive me there instead of taking a taxi so when we reached Tizmit we went for quick bite of eat to local eatery and set off. I supposed to meet up with L at the Legzira since she wanted to see it too with her friend but they had motorbike so we just exchanged messages saying that we will meet up there. New acquired friend and taxi drove carefully and we haver small talk to discover that he is working in Paris and he is home at vacation and that his sister is working in Dublin. The winding roads were tiring and I was glad to reach Legzira as I was really ready for bed. He was insisted to go with me to the hotel and make sure that I’m O.K o after few exchanges in Arabic with hotel owner, it was clear that L with friend had not arrived but that there is family from Czech who were the sole occupants of the hotel until I had arrived.

Get some good night sleep, initially with the crushing sound of waves until the sound was not soothing anymore but it got a bit annoying, so best friend of travelers, ear plugs here we come. Woke up quite early and now the power of the waves was soothing so with window open and refreshed I went to breakfast as agreed night before. The breakfast in Morocco is somewhat rip off as it is consist from one triangle of cheese, small pot of jam and butter and slice of bread and in this case old baguette warm up in the oven. Funny to see the whole ground floor restaurant empty with only four spaces set for breakfast so I sat down , owner brought me coffee, even if I ordered tea night before and I set to eat when he asked where is rest of my family 😊 Well now I understood and he too that the Czech family was ready for breakfast and he does not remembered that I’m alone. Well anyway since we were the only guest in the hotel we got talking and eventually they were so kind nad generous that they offered me lift to Sidi Ifni. THANK YOU if you reading this and hope that you had great time here in Morocco and safely returned home. The place where we parked turned to nice market for everything:

Sidi Ifni is nice town which consist from four parts, old one in the middle and three newly build around and since I walked from Legzira to Sidi Ifni I walked through one new part which is really nice and modern with wide new road what is going straight towards the old town but stops just 50 meters from new bridge which is over the river / bay. So all the traffic is directed through old road around the newly build part of the town. Since it was heavy downpour rain I stayed in the hotel Suerte Loca which was a surprise since I booked the mix dormitory and what I’ve got was some sort of tent on the roof which was leaking like shower. My fault was that paid before seen the room, so lesson learned now. After heated argument with owner where he tried convince me that this is what I book by showing me his booking portal and making some other excuses I switched to normal room for obviously more money. Settled in the new lodging I went to get some food and then just hang around and chill at the hotel. Next morning since the rain has not started I did day trip to Legzira beach by local bus for 6 dirhams and walked back to Sid Ifni. Weather was great during the whole trip and I have great time at the beach and seeing the arch of Legzira even if one collapsed so there was only one left and huge pile of rocks and soil what was left from other one. Since there was high tide I could not get the walk on the beach as planed but have to take the high route at top of the cliffs. However I managed to climb on the rock in the sea what was accessible between waves coming and going with a little splash of ankle high water.

Sat at top of the rock, having my snack, took picture of me and Frankie and enjoyed the pure magic of strong waves crushing against this rock and then soothing noise as they retracted through beach of stones back. On top of the this serene moment the sun was shining strong and warm so I could catch some sunrays on my skin while looking out to the sea. There was a nice secret hideout made under the overhang of rock with plants and small hut probably for overnight sleep of two people or funky love nest for someone 😊 I could sit / stand on the rock all day if it would the heavy rain clouds were not hanging over the sky ready to offload another downpour of water. Since the beach walk was not possible due the high tide I climbed the cliff and walked on top of it towards the road, which was lucky since just as the downpour started I was on the road near the hut which is probably emergency shelter so I could stay in for time until the rain cleared and the sun shone on the blue sky. Then took another part of the walk down the cliffs to take more pictures and walked through some ruins what looked like huge walled garden or house as the wall was good hundred meters long on one side and proximately five hundred on the other side with little square peaks as castle walls have it.

I’ve got to the new part of town where locals looks at me like what the f.. is he doing here …? Children are the best as they smiled and welcomed me with usual Bon Jour and then returned to play football. Football s one of the sports that unites all people as most evening men just sat in cafes and watched football on big screen and little kids played on the streets. I’ve got nearly all the way to old town when another downpour started and it was so heavy that since there was no shelter I just keep walked. Human body is waterproof by design so no problem there and eventually the rain finished and sun came out again so before I’ve reached hotel I was dry again.

It was a very nice walk / hike and I was so happy to see all the nature and local real life in the new town and also met a local guy who was waiting on the side of the road for the bus showing me the house in the middle of nowhere saying that there is where he lives with his Mom and that he works in Casablanca where he is going. My broken French is getting a bit better every day, so I’m glad to learn it. Hang around the hotel drying my washing which the hotel arranged for sixty dirhams was program of the day as the lady who washed my clothes explained that the rain prevented the clothes from drying fully. Have all the clothes hanging from every chair and wires sticking out from the wall I sat on the balcony watching the life pass by as I typed some of these notes. There was a sudden commotion on the street with some clapping and chanting o women near the one house, which was apparently protest against relocation by force from government or the new owner of the property. There was tent there attached to the side of the house when I arrived and I assumed that this is the way they live but apparently they were squatting there and army with police removed tent at 4:00 in the morning so they just monitored the activity. Lots of shouting, picture taking and noise from locals and bored look from the police who were watching them filled the most of the afternoon until the clothes were dry and sun nearly went behind the horizon. Shower and dinner time replaced the laziness of the afternoon by the request of the stomach gurgling, requesting food. Local town market was some experience and I now realized that I have not taken any photo of it doh ☹ fish of every type and size were laying on the tables ready for purchase and therefore I got nice mixed platter of sea food for dinner for forty dirhams i.e. €4 . Also I purchased a bag of small local doughnuts for 5 dirhams before as I wondered around the market and streets so I was so full that I had to get a Coca Cola to get this acid in it help be get through the food. On the way to hostel I have wondered to local shop in hope that maybe they will have Schweppes Tonic waste what they did and I was happy to use it as digestif.

Overall the Sidi Ifni is nice town for lazy days and maybe surfing as it seems like there was lot of surf schools around and if I had rented car I would explore the hills around what looks like they can offer a decent hiking as well as paragliding. The local guy I met at the side of the road waiting for a bus explained me that paragliding is done from top of the mountain and landing spot is at top of the Legzira beach cliff. Well next time maybe as I love it, when I done it in Turkey. As I’m waiting on the CTM bus to Agadir and having breakfast of omelet with tomatoes and tea in the local café the guy from hostel is stopping by in his search for a bread, since most of the town is closed and seems like only few shops were open and all the bread is gone. When we walked to the bus station “small office on the side of the road” in sort of shopping parlor the people waited on the bus told us that apparently today is holiday due the birthdays of Mohamed. Not sure if this is the current ruler or Mohamed as prophet but the town was deserted and only few shops were open. Some of the passenger were quite concerns if the bus will come as the man in office told them that because of the national holiday the bus is not running. However this is Morocco and the time is relative here so bus came twenty minutes later. This time I was chatting to R who is from California and was guest at the same hotel but he is on the way to Marrakesh. We had some chat about the travels and various experiences since he is going to stop over in London where he has not been since 1983 and he mentioned that back then there was no foreign food or culture mix as it is now so he is looking forward to this visit.

Well bye bye Sidi Ifni and here I go Tamraght where I will base myself for a bit to explore Paradise Valley and other natural areas.