A Sousse Sunday Souk

We went to the market today. We always mean to go to the Sunday souk but in reality we rarely go except to take visitors. There seemed to be slightly fewer stalls today and I was disappointed because the sweet seller with his packets of salted popcorn was not in his usual place by the arch to the vegetable souk. We couldn't find anyone selling it so I had to do without.
 It is the strawberry season -they were selling them outside the mosque after Friday prayers and there were several stalls selling them today so I bought a kilo. They look like Spanish strawberries  but are not turnipy and rather sweeter although I still prefer the more delicate British varieties. The one thing that Moroccan strawberries are though is HUGE. I had two after lunch and they made a large portion.

Pears were also available. They were much bigger than the imports in Marjane and just as sweet.

 Also there were good broad beans. I had some a few weeks ago when there were first being sold but they had been picked to early before the pods had filled properly and it took a kilo to make a sad single portion. Today's look better so we shall see.

Blue Skies and Parasols

Just to annoy the modelmaker further I took some pictures of the sky last weekend when the weather had resumed normal service. We have had temperatures of 23C+ for the last week and the terrace has recovered it's attraction.
 We have two "sofas" on the terrace. One ,during the winter period  between equinoxes, is usually in the shade.

 I prefer this one because I burn and don't want full sun. The other is usually in full sun for most of the day.

 Beloved prefers this but doesn't want to burn either and for some perverse reason won't move to the shade if he starts to catch. (This applies regardless of whether I am in the shade or occupied inside.) Therefore the shade must come to him. He declared the existing parasol inadequate so when we went to Agadir yesterday we sought an alternative. The third shop we went in had just the thing. The downside was that the base weighs 30kg or 5stone and had to be carried up 3 floors but other wise it is just the job casting a shadow  long enough to cover the whole sofa - and in the right colour.

Bird Valley

We wandered out of our hotel in search of a light lunch and found a pleasant pavement cafe that would give us an omelette and some quite decent red wine and more importantly had a table in the sun and out of the wind. 

We realised it was by the entrance to "La Vallee Des Oiseux" an Agadir tourist attraction we had eschewed for 10 years. We thought we'd have a look. There was an old painted sign on the wall saying 1Dh entrance but they'd long ago stopped collecting it. It ws essentially a shallow valley passing under a main road with a playground for younger children at each end  with a pathway lined by aviaries with various bids, largely parrots

 but also geese, chickens and flamingos 

 and a few paddocks of goats, deer and what i took from their horns to be moufflon.

The most surprising thing was that there was an ornamental waterfall under the road.

 We've driven over it hundreds of times without knowing it was there.

Agadir sunset

It was Beloved birthday so we went to a hotel in Agadir for a couple of nights. It didn't quite work out a last week was cold and we had chosen a hotel with a heated pool because he said he wanted to lounge round it and take a dip. In the event it was a bit too wintry for that but the heating in the room was excellent, much better than here. We did have a nice fish feast and wandered down to a bar on the front to watch the sunset over margharitas.