Well, we got off the Canary Islands just in time! The locals are revolting!
Locals in the sun-kissed Spanish islands of Tenerife, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria are claiming that tourism is destroying their economy.
A protest is set to take place in Tenerife on Saturday under the slogan ‘The Canaries have a limit’.
Residents are planning to protest against tourism on the island and aim to halt the construction of two new hotels.
However, as it has been pointed out to us by all our guides, tourism is by far the biggest earner for the islands. The islands DEPEND on the tourists. So some sort of accommodation will have to be reached. However, I don’t think the protesters will have much to fear from us. Lovely though it was to visit the islands, I can’t see us spending extended periods ashore there. Although, to be fair, the weather has been lovely!
Arriving in Agadir, the first things we see are two planes taking off together from the top of the cliff! Very short runway!
Actually, the aircraft are part of an amusement park which is under construction next to the old medina, the original site of Agadir. The town has now relocated several miles south along the coast.
However, our first port of call is the old medina. The original fort, kasbah and town centre of “Old Agadir” …
Slightly disconcertingly, there is a cable car passing right in front of the fort on its way from “New Agadir” to the adjacent theme park. Danialand. A $30 million development, complete with restaurants in two planes – presumably with magnificent views!
That’s the “new” town in the distance and part of the massive fishing port in the foreground. The main port and our boat is located a bit further North, to the right. You can just see the Seven Seas Voyager tied up in the (very) commercial port.
From the hill-top fort we were shuttled into the new town area for what was worryingly billed as a “Fantasia Show”. The highlight was the charging horseback riders firing their rifles as they galloped into the arena. The horses didn’t flinch. Unlike most of the audience!
Glenda making friends with the stars…
Between the horsemanship events we were treated to local musicians, acrobats and dancers in local costume.
Then, predictably, we had the archtypal snake charmer.
… and that looks like an Egyptian cobra to me!
Back to.the ship for dinner with Pete and Val in Compass Rose. (Clearly, the ladies hadn’t got the email requesting pink dresses.)
While we dined, we left the busy port, with its forest.of containers and the bulk carriers…
Tomorrow (in blog time) it’s Casablanca. Where Humphry Bogart never actually said “Play it again, Sam!” in Rick’s Café.
Great to see independent action !!