No, not really but it certainly felt like it when we drove through a never ending market this afternoon!
Before we were up this morning, a man was walking around the campsite shouting “Croissants, fresh croissants…”
Guy was just about to sprint out of the door in his pyjamas when we heard him more clearly..
“Poisson! fresh feesh” – err non merci!
It’s not been a great day for our lungs after a trip south on the motorway past Casablanca, in what can only be described as smog! Some of the worst slums we’ve ever seen at the back of the city too.
We got to El Jadida at lunchtime and had a nice walk around the old Portuguese medina, but the underground cistern that we wanted to see is still closed for roof repairs and water ingression.
Set off south on the coast road, which was fine for a while if a little bit rough and pot holed. Then, out of nowhere, we were suddenly driving through a Sunday souk. It was total and utter chaos! Cars coming from all directions, bikes and scooters squeezing through the middle. People crossing with carts and bags of produce. Women sorting through bunches of green stuff, men fixing tyres, it went on and on.
We felt very conspicuous stuck in the traffic jam in our big white box but ‘smile and wave’ gets a brilliant response and everyone seems so happy to see you.
We think it went on for over a mile and it took us a good twenty five minutes to get through. Can’t say that we didn’t breathe a big sigh of relief when we got out the other side!
No point breathing too deeply though, because then we hit the chemical works which also went on forever. As we choked in the van we passed people selling fresh fish on the roadside – bet that tastes divine!
We turned off for the campsite by the sea which had good reviews only to be met by two lads who were very insistent on guiding us through.
The road had turned to sand. There were two campsites and of course, we went to the wrong one! Gypsy camp by the look of it – Guy did a swift 360°. Children reappear to ‘guide’ us. Eventually, we enter the correct campsite and the boys stood waiting for their tip and even asked if we wanted electricity! 🤣…I’m fairly certain they’re nothing to do with the campsite, but seemed fairly happy and soon scarpered once they got a coin each.
The beach was the other side of the dune so we went for a walk to breathe in some fresh air and the biggest shock…it was actually clean!
