Located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and at the foot of Atlas Mountains, the major city of Morocco, is well-known for its beautiful long and really wide beaches, great waves for surfing and interesting nightlife.
The city has a really interesting history - it had been nearly all destoyed by the earthquake in 1960. Over one-third of the population of Agadir was killed and at least another third injured by this short-duration earthquake, which lasted less than 15 seconds. It was the most destructive 'moderate' quake (magnitude 5.7) in the 20th Century - the direct opposite of the magnitute 8.1 Mongolian earthquake of December 1957, which killed just few people.
How did this tragedy liked like? Well... The history says that the night of the 29th February 1960 was a typical winter night, warm and clear, with the stars bright overhead. The hotels were filled with a tourist crowd and the native Moroccans were celebrating and feasting in observance of the third night of Ramadan... no one was expecting the incoming catastrophe.
But when the earthquake hitted the Moroccan land, within the seconds the entire districts of the city had been destroyed, thousands of people had been killed outright, and even more tragically, additional thousands had been buried alive in the debris to die agonizing deaths days later. Most of the people died in their beds, as it was late at night (23:40 UTC), so most of them were already sleeping.
In the hospitals, often ran under the tents, were treated more than 12.000 injured people. 35.000 of the homeless one were saved and homed by the Humanitarian Organisations.
2 days after the earthquake, people, who survived a disaster, were evacuated from the ruins of the city.
The government decided to rebuilt Agadir 3 km down south from its previous location.
Majority of its inhabitants speak Tashelhit, a Berber language, as their first language and there are also two other languages spoken in the city: Moroccan Arabic (Darija) and French.
Until 1960, the native Moroccan population - Berbers - had lived there, but after the earthquake, only the ruins of the Kasbah are left on the top of the hill.
Going from the airport to the city center for the first time by taxi, you will surely hear the common joke of a taxi men, trying to persuade you to believe that the symbol of Kasbah says "Coca Cola, Fanta, Sprite"!!! Some people apparently did believe it...
These days El Kasbah is a famous tourist destinations, as it's a fantastic view point over the whole city. Until recently, we could enjoy Kasbah during the day as well as at night, but at the moment it's only possible to drive up the hill until 8.00 pm. Night's visits are forbidden until further notice.
Agadir's Marina is obviously a great place to try fresh seafood and also a very pleasant area to explore/walk around/have a coffee or meal during the day as well at night.
And the sunsets here are just stunning!
See you soon...
Martita
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