Saidia

Saidia beach looking towards Algeria

SUNDAY 29 JUNE 2008

At present there is only one shower and toilet which is in the Marina Office building - presumably the shower block hasn’t been built yet. The drainage for the shower doesn’t work properly and floods the floor of the store room outside!

Mohamed took us to Saidia in his car and when we asked when all the buildings in the Marina would be completed and the restaurants operational, he told us most of them were opening on 15 July! It seems incredible that so much work can be completed in just over two weeks. The development also includes a new Medina, holiday flats and apartments, and about four five star hotels with golf courses. The season in Morocco only lasts for July and August, but the new young King is keen for Morocco to develop.

The town of Saidia is about 5 kilometers from the Marina, close to the Algerian border. Mohamed said it wasn’t possible to cross into Algeria by foot or car – only to fly from Casablanca. We didn’t tell him that we had sailed over the border yesterday! He also told us that there is a healthy black market trade between Algeria and Morocco.

We went to the souk which sold household items and second hand and new clothes and shoes, but there didn’t seem to be any handicrafts. We had an excellent lunch in the Hotel Atlal, which Mohamed had told us was the best one for foreigners. Although we are quite happy to eat in Moroccan restaurants, he had also said this was the only one that served alcohol, although they were challenged when we chose a white wine from their list and had to settle for a rose as they didn’t have any white wine. When I tried to pay with my card, it was declined because the minimum the hotel’s machine would accept was 600 Dirhams (about £40) and the meal was 554 Dirhams. I didn’t want an excess of Dirhams as we are going back to Spain tomorrow and Dirhams can only be changed in Morocco, so the waiter took me to a cash machine to take out what I needed.

It was very hot again – 37 degrees in the sun, 30 degrees in the shade, but a Force 4 wind got up in the afternoon. We walked along the sea front where the beach was very crowded, with hundreds of people in the water. As the Marina is nearly empty, the water quality should be quite good and I went for a swim from the boat.