Kiwaani

Great memories of this song 2007 Kampala

So glad Youtube exists to remind me of great stuff

Back with some Inspiration

So I've not blogged in a while and I still have quite a few posts to upload, I also have my giveaways to do but I've switched laptops and its all gone haywire.

Anyway I thought I would leave some beautiful photos here of gypsy/tribal inspired fashion.

My first photoshoot for the relaunch will be happening next week, and the second one soon after so watch out there's going to be some amazing photos :)

Full Moon - Food stuff

After my trip to Inezgane and the beach I spent the rest of the day in the hotel being angry (see previous blog post) I hadn't eaten because I felt too wound up and didn't want to venture out to get food because I'd had enough of being hassled for no reason.

Then I looked out the window and saw this 

                                       

Yup, Full moon, explains it all.

Funnily enough I was having a conversation a couple of days before about Moroccans and the full moon, I never realised it was on it's way. A Moroccan girl who has lived in Ireland for the past several years was telling me she still can't sleep when it's a full moon.

I suspect because Moroccans, and probably most other countries, are very in touch with nature and their surroundings it affects them physically (in a "lunar" (crazy) way) We don't get the same thing in the Western world because we are so disconnected from everything natural we would notice is Facebook was undergoing maintainence before we noticed the moon.

The full moon kind of excited me though so I decided to go out and get dinner (alone) after all. I put on a black jelaba to avoid harassment and left. 

As it happened I got harassed all the way to the restaurant and was tweeting about it (trying to look busy) as a group of guys talked at me incessantly.

There are tonnes of places to eat in Agadir but I headed for cheap familiar tourist territory.

If you walk down Hassan II blvd. past the square and past hotel Kamal you come to 2 big cafes ; La Fontaine & Tour de Babel. These cafe's have rooftop seating and are extremely popular in Summer   

Inbetween these 2 cafes are 2 restaurants. Le Stadt & Queens. Le Stadt was a firm favourite of mine a few years ago when a 3 course set menu was 35DH (about £3) and had the best waiter in the world who we names "Welcome welcome man" Then a couple of years ago I came back and the menu had gone up to 55DH the food was still ok, not as good as I had remembered (see pics below)

                                   


                             

                           

                          
When I came back in 2008 the price had risen to 55DH and the food was ok, although I was very upset to see welcome welcome man had gone and then last year (2010) we went back again and the service was TERRIBLE. The food took about 10 years to arrive and it wasn't even good so we migrated next door to a restaurant called Queens. ( - Le Stadt - I don't know what it is like now)Last year this place was great, it was cheap and the food was good.


So I decided to eat here because I knew it would be empty and its a tourist resataurant so I wouldn't get hassled. I ordered a lamb tagine and it was pretty rubbish to be honest although the waiter was nice.

Further along, there are shops, souvenier stalls, a couple of restaurants and an Irish pub (I have a life challenge to find a country that does not have an Irish pub somewhere) a fried chicken shop a pizza hut


There is a restuarant and I can't remember if it is right next to the pub but it is definately next to the sovenier shop on the right hand side. I found this pic on google and I think its the brown one

This place makes me laugh, the menu has prices on it, but the bill comes un itemised and VERY expensive, when you ask why there is no answer, because he has basically made it all up and charged what he likes. The food is alright but not worth someone taking you for an idiot.


In Summer the area near the steps is full of stalls, music and henna artists and is a nice place to visit in the evening.




There is another good restaurant almost opposite hotel Kamal with very well priced set menu's and good food.


Around the rest of Agadir there are countless restaurants because there are countless tourists, most of these places are alright and will serve decent food, but the best food is out of town. The souk serves lovely tagines, basically any "Moroccan" looking restaurant where tourists are unlikey to go is a sign that the food will be good. Order a tagine or cous cous because they are unlikely to have menu's and probaby only serve Harira soup, tagine or cous cous.


The best food I've ever had in Morocco (not including homemade) has been in souks or in roadside cafes.
Don't be afraid of food poisoning and hygene these places are perfectly clean and serve fresh food.






There is one place I do not recommend in Agadir, that is "Tagine" by the beach, near "Ice Legend"

It is very expensive, I ordered a salad as a main and was minuscule, and the lettuce was brown,
there was no dressing and the tomato was mushy.

  

A day at the Market - Inezgane Morocco

The day after I got back from Ouarzazate I decided I would take a trip to a town nearby to Agadir, Inezgane.


I think originally I had planned on going to Immouzer, but I forgot the name and when Cam said I was probably thinking of Inezgane, I figured I probably was.
 He did tell me to hide my camera and belongings when I went there, before he embarked on the not depressing flight back to England.


I checked into the luxury ( 3 star) Sud Bahia hotel just off the famous Hassan II boulevard (I will review this hotel in another post) and then went back to bed.


                                        


This is my video diary.




                      


So, as I left the hotel to withdraw more money and cry about it, I wasn't sure whether I would first visit Agadir souk or Inezgane, but when a taxi man started hassling me I figured I might as well go to Inezgane




Naturally, it was a bad idea to go with that taxi driver, not only was he way over the 50 mark (in years) and had no teeth but he had the delusional confidence to think I would go on a cous cous eating date with him and he would even pay if I didn't like his recommendation!

Somehow I managed  declined his irresistable charm, but had to listen to him trying for the whole journey.
When I got to Inezgane it was one of those "Yes! This is Africa!" moments that the European style Agadir just could not provide.


We parked up next to a busstling outdoor market where chickens were crammed into cages and sellers crouched on the curb for a spot to sell their goods. The taxi man literally commanded me to let him come to the market with me so he could drive me back but I escaped and got out of view of the car as soon as I could.


As soon as I got out I realised I had made a big mistake. I had thought because Inezgane was near Agadir, that it would be similar to Agadir, boy was I wrong.


Now, there weren't many women around full stop on this trip, maybe because it's the time of year, they come out to relax in the Summer with their families, but the women that were around in this town were covered from head to toe, and I don't mean jeans and a hijab like you find in Agadir. I mean the full Burka. I was wearing a maxi dress and a shawl. Big big mistake.

Woman in Inezgane - Image from World focus

                                               


I promised that I would try to film or photograph the souk and I did try: see effort below but I was already sticking out like a 500lb woman in a health food store.


In those kind of situations you can't really hang around, I know there was a hude indoor souk and outdoor market but I went inside the nearest one, I think it was the electricals souk on one side, and clothes & spices on the other, I tried to film a little bit around the indoor and outdoor market, basically I was holding my cam corder but couldn't see what I was filming so I apologise for the bumpy ride


                       








It was a horrible time, BUT, much cheaper than Agadir souk, I'm not sure if they have a section for ceramics and souveniers but if they do, it would be worth taking a trip down there to save money. I doubt many of them can speak English, but if your French is understandable you will be ok.




Anyway, as I was taking a gentle stroll through the souk I did see a couple of jewellery stalls, one was full of plastic imported jewellery from China or India (which I think is terrible, because thats the kind of cheap imitation jewellery that tourists end up spending money on, leaving the Moroccan artisans in more poverty) and on the other stall there was a man making a bracelet, his stall was full of wonderful jewellery and as I pointed out which items I wanted I was so suprised he did not try to sell me one single thing, now if you know Moroccans you will also realise that is CRAZY. Granted he didn't speak English and I didn't speak Arabic, but the Moroccan language of sales knows no boundaries, any other would have grabbed the nearest English/French speaker and made him sell like crazy to me.
I was charmed by his humbleness and left with some beautiful jewellery.






After I walked around outside for a while it got a bit too much, a weird Moroccan guy was chasing me, people were shouting things at me, and I just wanted to go home. No taxi's.


I mentioned before that petit taxi's only serve their own particular town and typically, there was an abundance of little blue Fiats cruising around, but no grand taxi's that would take me back to Agadir.

                              

Because I was feeling flustered and trying to escape from people following me I was walking around very quickly not knowing where I was headed, I almost wished that I asked the ancient taxi driver to wait for me.
After some minutes of freaking out I spotted a white grand taxi, I literally chased it around the corner and luckily it stopped to let someone out, I ran in, at this point I didn't even care what I would be charged to go home.


The taxi man dropped the other woman in the cab off and then headed back to Agadir, annoying me all the way.


I think he charged me 70 DH in the end which I already know was too much but I was NOT in the mood to haggle.

Afterwards I realised it was Inezgane I wanted to go to afterall, but because I didn't know my way around I went to the wrong part, this is the part I wanted to go to 

Image taken from Trip Advisor

and this is more or less where I ended up 

After I got back, so relieved to be back in Agadir, I went to my favourite place, the beach. Where I sat for a while before the men made me so mad I left. They will invite themselves to sit right next to you. NOT going to Morocco alone again.