Marrakech

After the drive back from the Sahara region we were back in Marrakech for one further night before hopping on a bus the next day and heading towards our next destination – the sleepy fisherman town of Sidi Ifni. The bus trip in Morocco were always surprisingly cheap however a little word of warning: the bus drivers always made tourists pay extra when on board to put your bag in the hold. We were well aware that they shouldn’t be doing this and they were completely taking advantage, but for the relative pennies they were demanding it wasn’t worth risking all our belongings – so we coughed up so to speak.

Sidi Ifni

It’s not possible to get a bus all the way to Sidi Ifni from Marrakech – you have to get a bus to Inezgane near to Agadir and then a ride in a grand taxi across to Sidi Ifni. The taxi ride is roughly 2.5 hours – it probably would have been a nice drive if they hadn’t piled 5 of us in the back of the taxi – it was VERY close quarters. Miles literally had a local man asleep on his shoulder….

Anyway we soon arrived in the sleepy town of Sidi Ifni and booked into the Hotel Suerta Loca which was right on the beach, it really was lovely.

  
If I’m honest, Sidi Ifni is a bit of a ghost town, but it is the perfect quiet retreat when you’ve been travelling around in the hustle and bustle of Morocco.

The town was returned to Morocco by the Spanish as late as 1969 and the slowly decaying art-deco buildings on the hilly streets are a reminder of past colonial times. At the heart of what was the Spanish Sahara, Sidi Ifni was once a base for slave-trading operations and later a large exporter of fish to the Spanish mainland. The locals have painted the town blue and white, and continue the colour scheme in their turbans and robes. It really is a beautiful little town, even if a little eerie.

We spent a couple of days here spending time on the gorgeous Lagzira beach and eating our fill of sea food at restaurant Nomad. It was fantastic.