Taroudant, Souss-Massa, MoroccoWe fancied a bit of
history (Agadir is only 57 yrs old) so we booked a trip to Taroudant &
Tiout (town & village) along with some friends. There were 10 of us in a
minibus along with a French guide who had good English, but sadly an
unintelligible English accent at times!
The day started
with quite thick mist, and we peered through it to see more areas of Agadir. It
soon burned off as we headed east, though and our first stop was something I
really wanted to see - goats in trees, right by the road.
Argan trees only
grow in this area of Morocco, producing sparse leaves and a very hard nut like
a cross between a Brazil and an almond. Nomadic herders take their goats to
where the argan trees are, & the goats love the nuts so much that they
literally climb the trees to get at them. A very bizarre sight!
We were very cross
with a party of German ladies in the minibus behind us though – one was
determined to get so close to the goats' trees that the herd’s dog barked
very loudly and got them all to jump down. Grrrr! They (the goats, not the ladies!) promptly stood on their
hind legs to get at any available nuts, which was humorous to see, but still
not as good as actually up on the branches.
We continued along the road for quite a few miles through desert scrub then our next stop was a
tour of a large orange and clementine orchard. It also had pomegranate and avocado
trees plus the cutest little puppy gambolling around and wanting to play with everyone, nipping at our ankles. It was good to wander around amongst the heavily laden fruit trees, and the café provided us with a very necessary stop! The day was much improved
now and we were treated to blue skies and sunshine, thank goodness.
On we went to
Taroudant, an ancient town which was founded 6 years before Marrakesh & is
known as its grandmother. The whole of the town is within the 6km stunning
ochre-coloured walls interspersed with towers & 9 entrance gates. We
climbed up to the walls for close-up views of them but sadly there is not a
route to walk along them.
We then went into
the souk - different again to the ones we’ve already seen. This one had stalls
of every description, from spices & fruits to clothes & shoes, fruit,
veg & meat to recycled objects. Nothing goes to waste here so gas cylinders
& old tyres are made into containers & baskets, old roofs into spades -
in fact everything into something else.
The whole effect was really colourful, from multi-hued spices, striped rugs, camel leather bags of different shades, fruit & vegetables and kitchen equipment to the clothes being worn by the shoppers, many of whom who were pushing (and riding) bicycles through the crowded souk.
The main square was more like a car boot sale with goods set out on tables, but there was a snake charmer entertaining people...no, I didn’t participate! I tried to take his picture without being obvious as I objected to paying him for the privilege so the pic (from underneath R’s armpit!) doesn’t do him justice - but he had several snakes including a cobra who danced.
Onwards we went through
deserty scrub (with herds of wild camels visible in the distance) to Tiout, a small
village in the back of beyond but with a restaurant for lunch & a balcony
with great views towards the High Atlas Mountains. The whole area seemed to be
palm trees interspersed with small houses – very attractive as it was backed by
the mountains.
After lunch it was off to
find the donkey herders, where we were encouraged by our guide to participate
as it’s their only livelihood. I agreed, and mounted “brown donkey” with his rag rug saddle, led by a Tottenham-shirted 10 yr old (how ignominious!) but I was very uncomfortable as I hadn’t realised how
much it would hurt my dicky hip.
The trail we followed wound its way amongst the palms & we stopped halfway
to see an irrigation dam, pathside sellers (where I purchased a small soapstone camel), a fig tree-shaded cafe & a
castle – lovely views & very interesting. I opted to walk the rest of
the way leading Brown Donkey.
We returned to Agadir via yet another argan oil cooperative along the main road in the setting sun, where one noteworthy
sight was a donkey cart jostling for position with cars at a roundabout. It had been a very enjoyable
day.
2025-05-22