While I was in Agadir I wanted to do some touristy stuff so I visited the main Souk – a gigantic covered market. You name it, you can probably find it in the Souk: from food to a new dining table. I bought a few essentials, plus I had my tweed-cap repaired, which was a crucial job…
One thing I’ve noticed about my clothes – is they smell. I have been washing my clothes wherever I can, but always in cold water. Wherever you go West Africa you can buy small sachets of washing powder, which is actually quite good.
TOP TIP – if you have been working on your bike and your hands are oily and grimy – pour some washing powder into your hands, a little bit of water and work the powder into your hands. Because the powder is so strong and has a grainy consistency, it soon shifts much of the oil and grime.
Anyway, one thing I noticed at the Souk is that you can get perfume/aftershave (smelly stuff) custom mixed. You choose a fragrance and the guy will put some of the fragrance into the size of bottle you choose and then add alcohol. I ended up buying two small bottles of fragrances I liked for £4 and now my clothes wont smell so musty. I think the problem is because as my clothes spend most of their time in an airless bag, so they smell ‘musty’. My riding jacket and trousers do stink though, smelling of months worth of sweat. Hopefully soon i will find a campsite that has a washing machine so I can wash my riding jacket and trousers.
After the Souk I went to the Agadir Messina, which is a recreation of the old Messina that was raised to the ground during the 1960 earthquake. The work to recreate this part of Moroccan heritage is superb, even down to the finest details of the many wall and floor mosaics and the fine engravings on doors and windows.
Finally, I went up to the fort which overlooks Agadir. Built in the early 1500’s and paid for by the Portuguese it was eventually taken over by the French who also added to it. It was also seriously damaged in the 1960 earthquake but it’s been painstkaingly re-built. there is a small cafe and gift shop, so buying some snacks and cold drinks I spent a long time sat on a wall admiring the wonderful view over the city below.
