Just before we left for our walk around town yesterday, a local fisherman had motored up to the fence and called us over for a chat. Did we want to go out for a 2 hour ride on the lagoon tomorrow for a bit of birdwatching – Merja Zerga is a known area for flamingoes? The gorgeous Mr T didn’t need a second request and after a bit of haggling and French/Arabic/English charades, we had set a date for a sunset cruise. 2 hours for 2 poeple at 4pm for MAD200.
Well, I have nothing different to report this morning, as the sun rose in its usual morning splendour over the lagoon. Although to be fair, a little too early for us to really admire in its entirity!!!
But before the cruise, a foray into town for our fish lunch. Down the little alley we had spotted yesterday, skirting the tourist restaurants along the street and the cries of “Come eat here”, “No, come eat HERE, we have better food”, as menus were wafted under our noses. We were on a mission and not to be persuaded.
Down the alley we ducked (to the right of Restaurant Milano) squeezing passed tables of fresh strawberries and raspberries, the heady scent following on behind us. And we suddenly exited into a courtyard of fish sellers, stalls with raw beef hind legs hanging from hooks ready to be sliced into fresh (???) beef brochette for your delight, raw lamb carasses swinging in the afternoon breeze ready for barbecueing.
But we were here for the fish. So we chose our restaurant and sat down for a shared feast of Salade du Maroc (tomatoes, cucumbers and onions chopped very finely and seasoned with parsley & lime juice, plenty of salt & pepper) and a Moroccan version of baked haricot beans (Heinz, you have some work to do!) to start, a plate full to the brim with whiting, sole, crevettes and calamari, tossed in semolina and fried on the flat top grill, served with chermoula, a spiced tomato and pepper sauce to be poured over the fish or dipped into, chunks of fresh lemons, the ever present chips, bread and more fermented olives. Guesses for the prices emailed through and closest one wins. Oh ok, I’ll reveal now. All for the princely sum of MAD95 (€9.50) for everything, including drinks, for both of us. And we were stuffed full and waddling about as we left. Which required a further brisk walk around town and a settling minty glass of Te du Maroc as we watched the tide start coming into the lagoon.
| PS: Why does it always look like our table has exploded when we have finished eating? Just us? |
Oooops, best get back, time for our boat ride.
Captain Abde was waiting patiently as we packed our cameras, water and my kindle (I’m not really a birdwatching kind of girl, yawn) and set off across the lagoon.
Of course, birds being wild creatures, just bloody didn’t play ball and this is as close as we got to the flamingoes….. ah well, when we come back, we’ll have to try again.
But we did spot a family of 3 Ospreys,
sanderlings flitting across the water, cormorants diving deep beneath the surface for fish (well, we glimpsed it’s bum as it disappeared!), Oystercatchers standing in neat rows on the sandbank all watching the sunset
and ‘undreds and ‘undreds of seagulls raucously cawing above us but funnily enough never dipping down for a hint of food; wary of human interaction as all wild animals are and should be. Huh, maybe it’s our responsibility for have fed them at the seaside at home, that’s now causing their errant behaviour….that we now need to cull them because they’re attacking children……
And finally we make our way back to Kaya as the sun is setting in the distance and the cold sea breeze picks up forcing us to retreat into our fleeces.
My kindle forgotten in the bag.
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