Morocco- Sidi Ifni and Leghzira beach

The next morning we headed down the road to Sidi Ifni.  It was built in the 1930s and under Spanish control until 1969 when the Moroccan Government blocked landward access and it was then returned to Morocco.  We had planned to stop at Leghzira beach on the way, which has some fantastic arches in the rocky cliffs.  We only found one turn off which lead to an abandoned resort complex.  When we reached Sidi Ifni I did some more research and found that we were indeed in the right place and needed to find a rough dirt track that would lead us down to the waters edge.  Sidi Ifni is only 10km south so we decided we would revisit now we knew more information.

There are 5 campsites in Sidi Ifni including one that had been open only a week when we got there, and they were still painting and putting up their main entrance sign.  We stayed next door to this new one, on a site called Camping Solymar, right on the beach.  It was Friday and Raja Casablanca were due to play Bayern Munich in the final the following night.  We checked in at the reception desk with Abdellah, who spoke good English and we asked him where we could find the match being played.  He told us the cafe and said he wanted to go too and would kindly take us with him.

The campsite facilities

The fort is on the top of the hill, the cemetery below it.  In the foreground Camping Sidi Ifni, Camping El Barco and Camping Solymar

We went for a run along the beach the next morning and up onto the hill where there is an old Spanish fort.  We assumed it was deserted and from the coastal side appears to be.  As we rounded the front an army official pointed us in the direction of the exit.  It seemed a bit odd that they didn't block off access to this point from the beach, but who knows what the story is.  There is also a graveyard on the hill below it.

Sidi Ifni is known for its Art Deco buildings, which it seems they have put some effort into preserving.  There is a main square with trees and park benches, and around that the law courts (used to be a church in the Spanish era), a hotel, another guarded building we didn't know the purpose of and the closed Spanish consulate building (which we had seen in a video in bad repair, but when we visited it had received a coat of paint and was looking much better).

The terminally closed Spanish consulate

The law courts

The lighthouse

There is a big souk each Sunday located in the old airfield.  On Saturday afternoon vendors were arriving and setting up, so we bought some vegetables and bread.

That night was the football and we left the campsite about 6.30pm to go to the cafe and the game started an hour later.  There were plenty of people there watching (about 1 in 5 were female), but it was a rather subdued affair as Raja Casablanca lost 2-0 and Bayern Munich showed what a great side they are.  We even had a chance to get to know Abdellah at half time.  He had studied to be an automotive mechanic but didn't like it as he had originally been wanting to do accountancy.  However he had very good grades and was persuaded/forced into the automotive field as you need higher grades to do that than accountancy.  Interesting as it is the other way round in New Zealand.  Of course there was no alcohol being served either and the customers drank mainly coffees but some soft drinks as well.

The next day was Sunday and we explored the souk.  There was minimal hassle and lots of other European tourists there.  We saw pens of live chickens and rabbits and also a turkey tied up.  It was the first weekly souk we had been to as we had missed the Tiznit one as we had the problem with our computer charger.

On approach to the Sunday souk

A fruit and vegetable stall.  Notice the green bowl- you collect up what you want in the bowl and take it to the counter to be weighed

Dale at the every day souk (across the road from the Sunday souk)

We left the campsite after 3 nights.  As we went to check out at 11am, Dale was told that checkout is 10am and that we would have to pay for another night.  Nowhere does it say what time check out is and we were dubious that it was just another way of extracting some extra money off people.  My reaction was that we would just stay another night as it was a nice spot and very reasonable at 45 dirhams a night.  Eventually it was agreed that we would pay a late fee of 10 dirhams, which wasn't much and meant we could get on our way.  It was a bit of a bad ending to our stay as the staff there had been fantastic.  We had struck up a good repor with Abdellah and another staff member had helped us grease our side entry door and it now opened and closed much easier.  Abdellah gave Dale his phone number and said he considered him a friend, it was just a shame that we parted on those terms.  We know he was probably just doing his job, and it is a fair rule but they need to notify people of it.

We headed north again back to Leghzira beach and found the arches this time.  It was low tide so we were able to walk under them and get some nice photos.  We decided to park near the resort to avoid driving the steep track down to the town.  There was no point risking the van on it and that way we also avoided the parking charges.  It was a nice spot with several auberges (inns) and restaurants overlooking the water.
We continued back to Sidi Ifni and to our next stop near Guelmim.

Hotels, cafes and houses at Leghzira beach