7/26/15
This trip had a fantastic itinerary, one of the main reasons why I chose it! We did Spain, Morocco, Canary Islands and Portugal. The two stops in Spain were along the coast. The Canary Islands are also part of Spain and we did three of them. In order to get an overview of them, I chose a different excursion for each-volcano, country, and city. Hit up the enrichment lectures on board the ship and learned lots of little tidbits about the islands. The biggest one being that contrary to public belief, the islands are named after dogs not birds!
Vigo, Spain was our first stop. Loved the architecture here and the coastline! Joe walked to the top of the fort and took a hundred plus pictures. We also visited the town of Bayona and saw a castle. Had to keep pinching myself that we were really travelling in Europe! Just as beautiful as I imagined it would be. Just to make things a bit more magical, we had this adorable escort as we departed!
The next place we stopped was in Agadir, Morocco. Couple of interesting tidbits. Very, very dirty! Was amazed, not what I expected at all. That being said, I'm very glad that we came here. Decided not to make the trek to Marrakesh, very long bus ride and heard that it was pretty rough. Instead, did a double tour day. Morning we did souk and Taroudant. There are goats everywhere, even in the trees! The souk is the marketplace, huge, loud, dirty, and crowded. Our visit is during the month of Ramadan which involves fasting all day. Several places are closed and it makes things a bit awkward. Our tour includes a stop at a hotel for Moroccan tea and pastries but our tour guides are observing Ramadan.
The second half of our day we travel all around Agadir and visit another souk, a temple, and the Kasbah. This tour also goes to some old walls (ramparts) that have been around since the 1500's. Very, very cool to see! There are holes all through the walls and was interesting to find out that the holes are for ventilation and they are filled with birds as well. Let Joe do some of the climbing and picture taking for this one, way too many steps for me! I did get accosted by some guys, ended up with some pics with a goat but didn't get to do the camel. Joe was a bit concerned as to their hygiene and chased them away! My way of thinking was once in a lifetime photo op, his way of thinking, pestilence!
The souk requires you to barter, they throw out ridiculously high prices and expect to haggle! Ended up with a rug which I think looks pretty good in front of my kitchen sink. I wasn't buying that it was a handmade silk rug worth 150 bucks, more like machine made cotton poly blend worth 10 bucks. We settled on 20 and I get to say I have a rug in my house from Agadir, Morocco!!
Ship doesn't pull out until 9:30 pm, just as it was turning dark. (In this part of the world, sunset is very late! Actually, it took us a few days to get used to it)! Got these shots as we were pulling out. The words that are lit up mean, God, Nation, King. It is called Agadir ofla. Not sure if that is the name of the monument or the mountain it is on. In Arabic the words are: Allah, Alwatan, Almalik. As we were driving around we saw the words on the side of the mountain but no matter how I tried I couldn't get a clear picture of them. I am glad that we spotted them lit up as we pulled out.
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Now, we are headed to the Canary Islands! Stay tuned for the next installment!
Now, we are headed to the Canary Islands! Stay tuned for the next installment!
