Second Port Day Agadir

Firstly I am so disappointed that our postcard still has not arrived back, so here is a collage of some of the ship specially for Izzi.  I loved the art scattered around the ship, on every landing, and alcove, there were different ones.  Even the way they arranged the loungers was 'photogenic'.

We opted for a trip to the City of Taroudant which is surrounded by ramparts.  This is a Berber Market town, and on the way we passed the famous Argon Tree Forests.  I would not compare them to a forest in milder areas.  This is a semi desert area between the High Atlas Mountains and the Anti Atlas Mountains beyond which is the Sahara Desert.  We could see the mountain ranges, and in between the trees parched areas.  Some of the trees were weighed down with several goats nibbling at the foliage.  Along the excellent motorway, ran a newish looking water main which fed water to the increasing number of banana and orange plantations.

In Taroudant our guide took us to a soukk...I just wish we have taken euro coins with us.

 We passed a street stall with delicious breads

 And this is a building site in the middle of the road with goat and sheep rummaging through dumped household rubbish.

 We passed a 'restaurant', where dishes were being warmed on portable charcoal braziers ready for lunch.

In the souk there were many colourful slippers, but no prices,

 and large tagines aligned outside a small shop

We were taken to a woman's co operative not far from the souk, where Argon oil was made, and after a talk and a 'hard sell' we made our way back.  I'd bought Argon oil on our last holiday, and after applying it to my leg, had a type of burn which I could not get rid of for weeks, so passed on this.

On our way back, our tour included a trip to a local farm.  This was not quite the sort of Farm I was expecting.  I thought we would have had a walk among the orange groves or get to have a peek inside the large plastic poly tunnels, which housed the banana groves...we could see them, but this was a 'Hotel' on a Farm.  There were caged chickens of rather lovely breed types, turkeys, and geese, a few prize sheep and a dromedary, and arab stallions all beautifully housed for the pleasure of tourists.

The grounds were beautifully manicured and 'oasis' areas prepared outside a row of tourist apartments.  I caught this..donkey and cart alongside large lorry.

The breakfast we had there at lunch time was really delicious.  Freshly pressed orange juice with a wonderful depth of flavour, various breads, dates and honey, and some mint tea.  The honey was particularly delicious, but I did not have the chance to ask about this.  We were led into the room laid out already, with only a person serving tea.

It was fun to see succulents growing outside to large proportions.