Day 252 : Extended Stay in Agadir

Many whom I have met along the way, have said they did not like Agadir because it is a modern city.  But after experiences in the desert and the gorge , it felt good to be in a modern environment again.

It was also a huge reprieve to have no one hassling you continuously, or the feeling of being cheated by strangers along the way. 

In fact, people in Agadir are much nicer – I had put up my guard a few times at the beginning when people offered to show me the way, as I thought they would take the opportunity to ask you for money.  But all they wanted to do was just to help.

For those reasons, I decided to stay an extra day in Agadir to relax as well as to catch up on much needed rest after the hectic 1 week of travels in Morocco.

I have heard of people talking about Hammam while in Morocco, and with my extended stay, I decided to check one out in Agadir and asked the staff at the hotel for recommendations. They gave me an address for one of the popular ones, and plan to head over after a couple hours at the beach

The beach was absolutely pleasant.  Although it registered 34 degrees, it didn’t feel at all hot, with the cool breeze constantly blowing through.  I had no intention to swim, but rather to just laze around on the beach and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere.

After a couple hours, I took a cab and headed for the Hammam which was recommended by the staff.  .

It was very different from what I expected.  It was a common bath house – there were no massage areas nor hot or cold pools, but rather women were sitting on the floor with buckets of hot water surrounding them, and scrubbing themselves.  There were a couple of lady staff who were scrubbing for others, but with a language barrier I did not know how to get their attention. 

After a few minutes in the bath-house I felt suffocated from the heat produced from the hot water at the bath house and decided to leave.  Not wanting to waste the rest of the afternoon, I headed back to the hotel to take a proper shower before catching the sunset at the beach.

While on the way to the beach via a different route, I came across a small free zoo in the middle of the city which had animals such as deers, antelopes, monkeys and flamingos in captivity. A funny combination!

I sat near the beach front and admired the beautiful setting sun and the bustling of activity at the restaurants and shops in the area.  I had also gotten some good deals at a store, adding a couple more jewellery and a pair of shoes to my luggage, before heading out to catch my last dinner in Agadir – Grilled Fish!