I woke up this morning at 5:30am to make sure that I was packed and good to go. I shaved, brushed my teeth, and put my toiletries away then I packed my slippers and got dressed to go downstairs.
I found my reef booties without issue but I just couldn’t find my wetsuit for the life of me. Good thing some of the staff showed up because I wasn’t able to open a door it was behind. I packed up my wet stuff, made some coffee, and spoke with Spencer for a moment before saying goodbye.
I packed up the remainder of my things and put my stuff outside the door. I got a chance to also say goodbye to Geordy and to let him know when he is in California to contact me for a surf and a bite to eat.
Right about that time Ilyas walked in the door and helped me check to see where my driver was. I wasn’t able to go outside through the front door because it was locked. Instead we had to take the side stairs up and out of the villa.
Luckily the driver was waiting for me and I took off shortly afterwards. I didn’t get any breakfast but that’s ok. I had turkey jerky and trail mix. On the way to the Agadir Bus Station I asked the driver to stop by an atm as I was short on money. He told me there was an atm there as well. When I got there I thought I would be booking with supratours but I couldn’t find a window that indicated supratours. Instead I found a ctm window so I asked when the next bus to Marrakech was and the guy told me at 8:30am. He muttered something and I had to ask him what he said. Apparently it was 22 indicating the gate I had to wait at. I looked at my ticket to see if that information was on there and it wasn’t. To my surprise the time said 8am so I hurried over to make sure the time was correct. I was told it was but I didn’t have a luggage tag…well I had to go get that which costed me another 5 dirhams. Total I think I spent 115 dirhams. Not bad.
Since I was about one of the last ones on the bus I had to sit in the back. It wasn’t too bad but the chairs weren’t very comfortable. I sat down and readied myself for the trip. It took around 3 hours and 20 minutes maybe a little less.
Catching a cab wasn’t much of a challenge. Seems like they wanted to charge me the max which was 50 dirhams. Guess I could have haggled but I figured what’s the point. I got close to my destination and the driver dropped me off. He pointed in the direction of the riad but I had no idea what he meant. A lady was nice enough to take me to my lodgings but of course that cost money. I had planned on paying her 20 dirhams but she asked for 100…I gave it to her.
Mossimo greeted me and went over places to eat, places to visit, we had some coffee, and waited while the room was being made up. I’ve got to say this place is really nice and I’ll have some pictures to follow either later on tonight or tomorrow.
After I put all my things away, checked the map one more time, and checked my emails for updated tour info I set off to check out the town. I hadn’t eaten since I had my small snack on the bus so I was starving but I needed to get money first which I wanted to get out of the way. I walked from the Riad to the road named Houmman El Fetouaki then went left at the fork to Avenue Bab Jdid. Of course I had to ask for directions but I found that I was going in the right direction. I looked for an atm and couldn’t find one. Instead I looked at the Jardin de la Koutoubia which I was told is the tallest structure in the area and took a snapshot of it (I was advised not to take my tripod into town to avoid hassle).
From there I walked up Avenue Mohammed V and took the right fork at the road which was Fatima Zohra then I turned right on Dar-el-Bacha. That about got me right were I needed and bam after feeling like a boss and not getting lost I was in the thick of it and was starting to get confused. I had to ask a couple of people but I finally got to my lunch destination Le Jardin. This was the entrance to the place. Pretty cool with all the mirrors on the wall and the tile work.
This was the view from the second story. There was a slightly higher level but there were tons of people and it was sorta noisy. Where I was at I was all by myself which was nice. Take a look!!
I asked for a menu and got one in French. I tried to navigate the menu but was a bit confused. I pointed at what seemed like a good choice and this is what I got. I didn’t realize this was a salad and a starter so I got a proper entree and felt much better afterwards.
After that I set out to go see the Medersa Ben Youssef but couldn’t find it. Instead I found the Maison de Photographie which had some pretty nice photographs. I saw a couple of photos that had very strong subject matter and great composition. They also had some autochrome stuff that was really interesting. One of the best parts was they had a rooftop cafe where I took a couple of pics. I will include that in another post.
After all that I was pretty tired. I decided to head back to the medina but thought I would be more adventurous and try the other route. Bad idea. I got really lost and it seemed like everyone wanted to “help out” at a cost of course. Or to lure you somewhere. I was getting really annoyed but finally made it back. I rested for an hour or so then had some dinner at Roti D’or which was rated number three on Trip Advisor. I had a falafel sandwich that came with fries and was only 25 dirhams. Pretty good!! Check out the sandwich and the seating.
I paid and left planning on getting a coke and water for the next day. What ended up happening was I had a desert which was ok then I got a coke and water for tomorrow.
I headed back to the Riad and readied myself for tomorrow which included getting money together, getting my camera pack ready, and making sure I had my tickets in my passbook and reminders on my calendar. Think I’m good to go!!