As I had never been to Morocco before I didn’t really have any idea of what to expect. My mum, sister and myself flew to Agadir and our hotel was a thirty minute drive from the airport. Ushers in uniform greet you once you step foot outside the airport and wheel your bags to your bus or taxi. Kind of reminded me of Dublin airport! Of course there must also be a tip involved in the process as with most things in Morocco. The currency is called the Dirham so basically 100 Dirham would be 10 euro, well that was the easiest way for me to work it out. Initially I thought I was rich with hundreds of Dirham but no such luck!
We stayed in The Beach Club hotel which would have been one of the first major toursits hotel built in Agadir about thirty years ago. There is a homely feel in Morocco as the people genuinely are interested in getting to know you. On our first night, we went to a restaurant where I met a local Moroccan waiter called Boubaker. He invited me the next day to visit his university and to see down town Agadir. The only way I can describe the university is if you imagine yourself being transported back in time to 1950 where technology had no quite crept in yet.
I visited local cafes and restaurants where I sampled the traditional Moroccan dish, tajine which consists of meat and vegetables which is stewed really slowly and served in an earthen tajine pot. Moroccans love their mint tea so with no Barry’s or Lyons on the menu, I became a fan of the green stuff.You definately need the Arabic lingo when you go to local Moroccan areas as tourists tend not to venture further than their hotel. This is where my Moroccan friend Boubaker came in handy. Boubaker looked alot like Barack Obama so when I had difficulty pronouncing his name in the Arabic way, I just called him Obama!
What shocked me the most was the poverty and the conditions that many Moroccan people lived in, yet they were all so happy and friendly. There were either really rich people or really poor people but there was no in between. I discovered that it’s not possible for Moroccan people to leave their own country even for a holiday. If they can prove they have a job at the other end there may be a slight chance that they can leave but this would be very rare.
Many of the young people who worked in the hospitality industry were fluent in five or six languages as many French, German and English people visit Morocco on holidays. It really made me feel quite embarrassed as I studied French, Spanish and Irish for years in school and can just about manage to string a sentence together.
What I really loved about Morocco is that it was so authentic, untouched and old school. Morocco is really not your average holiday. It’s a completely different experience and culture to any other holiday that I have been on before. If you are looking for something completely different then Morocco is the destination you are looking for. I even managed to pick up a few Arabic words. Ismi Jenny. Askono fi Dublin. Chokran and Bslama.