September 17, Ksar Sghir Morocco

The usual relaxing morning and then off to the Roman ruins which are just across the street on the beach. Interesting as the gardener in front had to looking for the guy that sells tickets. The ticket price 10 durham ($1.30) and he did not have any change. Fortunately I had the right change. The 2 of them lead me into the display area. A large newer building with a few artifacts. While I was in there this older man was sitting at the front door. Turns out he is my private guide! He only spoke French and with a hard to understand accent.

I am sure he was describing the sight to me, but I do not know. I did figure out that he was in the military. The area is huge and dates back to the 5th century but most activity in the 11 to 15 centuries. This one had a Portuguese influence. Very large inner city with a pier-like wall that ran into the water. There are at least 20 men on site mostly getting rid of weeds which seem to have taken over everything. But there are a few that are building up the exterior stone wall.

Then I walked along the beach. The sand part is not that big but kept walking climbing over the rocks. I went as far as I could. There is a strong military presence along the beach.

Then to the shop for my hair cut. This is the shocker, I pay $10CDN at home, I paid 10 euro in Spain and here I paid 10 durham (about $1.30). The pricing is hard to figure out! 6 durham for a bottle of water (1.5L).

I stopped for lunch at one restaurant. Seems to be the thing to do as this one had tables lined up outside along the sidewalk and all the men were sitting with their backs to the wall! An interesting sight! I joined them! Apparently this is an all day breakfast place as that is all they had.
I ordered 2 eggs expecting 2 fried eggs, but it looked just like the omelet I had yesterday. These also came with the great bread and olives.

I then continued on along the other beach, through the fishing dock which was built with help from the US and then
along more rocks to another small beach. On top is some old bunkers that have been built into the rocks and also covered up with rocks. Very difficult to spot from a distance. From this beach I could see the naval base. Very quiet.

Today was a much nicer day, although it did rain in the morning. I missed it. Cloudy for most of the day but cleared up late in the afternoon.