The Cities of Morocco:  Agadir, Casablanca, and Tangier

2023 HAL World Cruise

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, April 4, 6, 7, 2023

After the beautiful sojourn in the Canary Islands, the MS Zuiderdam sailed to North Africa (commonly considered to include Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya).  Specifically, we visited three cities in historic, exotic, and mysterious Morocco. 

Agadir was the first.

This is a city we had never visited.  And that fact surprised us.  Agadir is a major, vibrant, highly populated Moroccan city.  We have traveled in, around, and about Morocco since the 1980s.  Why not Agadir???  Mmmm, perhaps the earthquake.  On February 29, 1960, at 11:40pm a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck the environs of Agadir.  The main shock collapsed hotels, apartments, markets, and office buildings.  Underground watermains ruptured; the Kasbah crumbled on the side of the hill; 15,000 people died; 12,000 were injured; and 35,000 were left homeless.  The huge extent of damage is blamed on the earthquake’s shallow focus, its proximity to the port, and the unsatisfactory construction methods used in the past. 

The city was destroyed.

The Moroccan Army provided emergency aid, and helicopters arrived from the Ben Guerir Air Base.

Military planes from France and the United States flew into Agadir to assist with the relief effort.

Since 1960, Agadir has rebuilt about 1mile south of its prior location; there are now more than half a million inhabitants; the beach is roughly 6 miles long and is a thriving resort area.  Agriculture thrives around the city, but tourism and fisheries are the main components of Agadir’s economy.

 Today, Agadir is one of the major urban centers of Morocco. 

 And it remains situated atop three major faults.

Here are some photos:

Casablanca was the second city we visited.

Now, since the 1980s, we have traveled to Casablanca more times than we can count!!!  We have shopped the souk, the markets and even a few factories.  Ahh, the rugs!!!  The tea!!!  The leather!!!  But these days, we no longer need rugs and now prefer wine to tea.  And a lot of that leather purchased in the past is still in use!!!  So these days, as we cruise into port for the day, we tend to be more sedate.  We’ll dine with friends, take a taxi-tour to admire the architecture or pop into the Marche Habous to shop for exotics!!! 

And that is exactly what we did today!!!

Tangier is the final city of our Moroccan triad.

Tangier is a beautiful city on the Morocco coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar.  It was founded as a Phoenician colony, possibly as early as the 10^th century BC.  The Phoenicians, the Mauritanians, the Romans, all had their time here.  The Portuguese occupied the area in 1471; but the Iberian rule ended in 1661 when it was given to England’s King Charles II as the dowry of Catherine of Braganza.  Morocco reclaimed the city in 1684.  For a long time, Tangier served as Morocco’s diplomatic headquarters.  In December 1777, Morocco recognized American Independence and George Washington dedicated its first consulate in Tangier.  In 1821, the American Legation building in Tangier became the first piece of property acquired abroad by the U.S. government—a gift from Sultan Moulay Suliman.   

We have been to Tangier many times and every time we visit, one of us will say, “We really should visit the American Legation Museum!!!” And yet, we never have.  But this time, we vowed to do it!!!

And this time, we did!!!

We will now sail over to Spain.

The next post will cover our visits to Malaga and Cadiz.

See you soon!!!