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The city of Agadir is becoming more and more beautiful, as part of the Urban development program launched with the support of King Mohammed VI. Latest openings to date: those of the Olhao Garden (our photo - credit City of Agadir, taken from above ) and Lalla Meryem, whose transformation is absolutely magnificent. These commissionings follow those of the Ibn Zaydoun Garden and Park a and Youssoufi Garden, awaiting the highly anticipated ones of the Al Inbiaat Park, from the Remembrance Forest, as well as Tikiouine Park. Created in 1992, to embody the twinning with the Portuguese city of Olhao, pairing today unfortunately under a bushel, the garden of the same name had aged. The facelift from which it has just benefited after nearly two years of work was the subject of an inauguration ceremony, this Saturday, June 24. The mayor of Agadir, Aziz Akhannouch, who is also head of the Moroccan government, cut the traditional ribbon, with the collaboration of the governor of the Souss-Massa region, Ahmed Hajji (our photo). The event took place to music, in a space of semi-circular bleachers (our photo). The rehabilitation of the garden, which covers 2.4 hectares, cost 16 million dirhams (1.6 million euros). The structures and landscaping have been completely overhauled, to offer visitors a real place of relaxation and activity. The people responsible for this upgrading have fortunately preserved the evidence of the Amazigh (Berber) style which makes it original, such as the ornamental wall shown in our photo. Architectural jewel, the building of the same type which previously housed the small Museum of the Memory of Agadir, and whose we were worried about the future, was included in the renovation, even as the opening of the new large Museum of the reconstruction and memory of Agadir is announced for next September. As for the Lalla Meryem Garden, located rue de Marrakech, an extension of Ibn Zaydoun Park, and built in honor of the eldest sister of King Mohammed VI, it too has come to the end of its rejuvenation cure (our photos, taken a week ago). So its opening is quite imminent. It will take place tomorrow, June 27. Smaller in size than the Olhao Garden, the renewal of this abundance of greenery cost five million dirhams (500,000 euros). The public gardens of Agadir are open every day, except Monday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Exception for the Lalla Meryem garden, closed on Thursdays.

Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, which has just taken place in Liverpool, the Swedish Loreen is called, by her real name, Lorine Zineb Nora Talhaoui. Having grown up in Sweden, Loreen is in reality an Amazigh, Moroccan of origin. Her roots, she highlighted them in the staging of her song "Tattoo", as well as in her toilet. Her fingers were elongated, in reference to the henna technique (our photo). Born 39 years ago in the suburbs of Stockholm, capital of Sweden, Lorine Zineb Nora, already winner of Eurovision in 2012, with "Euphoria", is the eldest of six siblings, all of whom have music in them. She never stopped claiming her dual culture, Amazigh and Swedish. Regarding the latter, she insists for example on Nordic customs, including the need to warn her in advance before disembarking at her place. As for the Berber symbolism, she showed it in the visuals of her video. For Loreen, who participated in the 2013 Mawazine festival in Rabat (our photo), her Moroccan origins are "what makes me connect to things so easily". Before adding: "At home, we have always talked about spirituality, it has never been weird. Some call it God, others otherwise". The symbols highlighted in his interpretation of "Tattoo" represent nature and women. “We have created a society that takes a lot of our energy,” she says. “We have to become, we have to be, we have to succeed… This tires us and disorients us”. In his eyes, nature is a source of corrective energy. The women ? "I want to challenge them to live their full potential and embrace female power, she proclaims. I feel that a change is coming. A global change for equality, and I support it". In 2017 on Swedish television, Loreen reveals that she is bisexual. She adds that "a lot of people are focused on sex, sexuality. Love is so much more." In his eyes, "love is where you find it". Two years later, another performer of Moroccan origin made headlines at Eurovision, but did not win, far from it. Bilal Hassani, who represents France (our photo), has since become an icon of the LGBT+ community. In Liverpool, while Loreen triumphed, La Zarra, a Quebecer of Moroccan origins, who performed "Evidemment", once again disappointed the French hopes of winning. Her real name Fatima-Zahra Hafdi, she created the buzz by performing a much-discussed gesture in which many saw it as a middle finger. If performers with Moroccan roots have marked Eurovision, the Kingdom has only participated in the competition once. It was in 1980, and it was a flop. Loreen covered herself in glory there, being the second artist to win Eurovision twice, after the Irishman Johnny Logan.

German tourists represent a significant proportion of visitors to Morocco, and particularly to Agadir, which they appreciate the climate. They complain, however, of not having enough direct flights, hence the significant waivers to take advantage of the assets of Agadir and its region. Big improvements are in sight, however, with the creation of new lines by low-cost companies Eurowings and Condor (our photo). A new weekly Eurowings flight departing from Stuttgart is initially offered for the 2023 summer season and the 2023/2024 winter season. Eurowings belongs to the Lufthansa Group. The most massive and diversified offer is presented by Condor. From October 10, 2023, this company will operate two weekly flights to Agadir from Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and more importantly from Munich, the Bavarian capital being so far very poorly connected to Agadir. The flight time from German airports to Agadir is just over four hours. These new lines will contribute to bending the curve of German overnight stays in Morocco. While overall tourism figures to the Kingdom show a strong recovery, the German market has so far not recovered from the COVID crisis, as shown the table below.

Considered the safest in Africa , the airport of Agadir named Al Massira was opened on December 20, 1991. But even before that date, planes landed in Gane, near the new Royal Palace ( our Photo ). This airport was initially a French base before being handed over to the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) in March 1961, five years after independence. The FAR had actually lost their garrison and barracks during the February 29, 1960 earthquake . A century ago, in the 1920s, so under the protectorate, the French who introduced aviation to Morocco built an airstrip and some rare buildings between the villages of Ben Sergao to the west and Inezgane to the east. Aéropostale in Tarfaya, which was then called Cap Juby. He landed his plane in Agadir ( our photo: the aviator and his “Little Prince” in the modest Tarfaya Museum dedicated to them). The establishment of a naval airfield dates back to 1934 and the end of the tribal wars against the central power Mahzen and France. During World War II, the Americans established their sector there and patrolled with the French in search of Nazi submarines cruising between Morocco and the Canary Islands. As our picture shows, this 1944 Ventura wore the Cross of Lorraine, symbol of Free France by General de Gaulle . After the war, Agadir Airport also became a school base. The mild climate allows for faster training of war pilots as more missions take place. Air Atlas ( our photo ), predecessor of Royal Air Maroc, operates a few weekly flights between Agadir and Casablanca, but via Marrakech. During the terrific earthquake of 1960 , it was from this base that the radio message warned the kingdom and the world of the catastrophe . The airport is the first to provide disaster relief and has all the equipment. He cares for the survivors, provides them with food and shelters them. The Gadiris are grateful to him. The airport can also accommodate workers from all over the world. Here a Swissair plane. Since the opening of Club Méditerranée in 1965, charter flights began to land and carry tourists. Our photo shows a Lockheed TriStar from the German company LTU. The site's owners, the Royal Armed Forces, lease the terminal to the National Airports Office (ONDA). On August 3, 1975 a catastrophe happened . It touches an Alia Royal Jordanian Airlines Boeing 707 chartered by Royal Air Maroc ( our photo Michael Bernhard, taken the day before at Frankfurt Airport). The plane, which took off from Paris Le Bourget, crashed in the Atlas off Amskroud, about 70 km from Inezgane Airport. The intense heat led to poor visibility on the approach. The record is terrible. The 188 people on board were all killed: 181 Moroccan workers and their families and the seven crew members. It is the deadliest air accident in Morocco. Be that as it may, life goes on. The airport is still just a small hangar inherited from the protectorate. Travelers and their companions before departure cannot all enter the country. The waiting room is open to the sky. Those boarding wave to those staying behind the barrier seen on the right of our photo . The jet burst lifts the girls' skirts, the distance between the planes and the public is so short! Due to the development of tourism, the airport premises are becoming too small ( our photo ). The security conditions are also not optimal given the expansion of the surrounding cities such as Ben Sergao and Dcheira. As a result, the state began construction of Al Massira Airport in the late 1980s. Immediately after it opened in 1991, the Royal Armed Forces took over that of Inezgane, which is no longer open to the public. Since the year 2000, the royal plane has landed there, as the runway is right next to the new palace. A new, more stable concrete tower is being built ( our photo ). The Royal Gendarmerie has a new building, the upper part of which is blue. Each spring, the military airport hosts the African Lion , a Joint military exercise bringing together American and Moroccan forces. Our picture : the arrival of a C130 Hercules at sunset. Will Inezgane Military Airport stay in its current location for long or will it move? For example, it could be moved to Tifnit , where there is a Moroccan barracks for target practice, or even to Tan-Tan, where the maneuvers of the African lion take place. Since the airport is now in the greater Agadir area ( our Bing image ), a move would free up a lot of land to build housing and reduce the distances to be travelled. Called "Abiassioune" by the Gadiris, Inezgane Airport and its old tower ( our photo ) remain a pleasant memory in the eyes of the elders. We knew then that such a device had landed from such a country as we saw it descend from the beach towards the Amadil Hotel . The starts were loud. Airplanes made the dishes shake! The old airport also symbolizes what many locals consider to be the golden age of tourism and when aviation thrived without the anonymity and constraints of today.

Edith Piaf was born on 15 December 1915 in the working-class district of Belleville in Paris. The centenary of her birth was the occasion for a host of celebrations that confirmed the singer's special place in the pantheon of French chanson. But did anyone know that the world-famous Piaf had Berber origins? It is not true that Edith Piaf was of Kabyle Algerian origin. What is true, however, is that her maternal great-grandfather was a Berber born in Mogador (now Essaouira ) in 1827 and died in Montluçon, in central France, in 1890. Saïd Ben Mohammed was a Moroccan circus acrobat. Married to an Italian woman, Marguerite Bracco, née Murazzano, he was the fatther of Emma or Aïcha Saïd Ben Mohamed . The grandmother of the legendary singer also had a career in the circus world. She is said to have been the Moorish dancer in Toulouse-Lautrec's Décor de la baraque de la Goulue ( our photo ). The daughter of Emma or Aïcha Ben Saïd, Edith Piaf's mother, Annetta Maillard, sang in famous Parisian cabarets such as the Chat Noir, the Mikado and the Monocle, but did not have the career she undoubtedly deserved and went into a deep descent. Edith Piaf was born into poverty to Louis Gassion, an independent street performer. Long denied by the French media, Edith Piaf's Berber origins were never hidden by the singer. On the contrary, she always showed a particular attachment to her roots. Entrusted to the care of her grandmother Emma or Aïcha during the first years of her life, from 1915 to 1918, Edith confessed to having been marked all her life by her grandmother's affection and teachings. Other accounts are less flattering for Piaf's grandmother. Sources claim that she paid little attention to her granddaughter and that her bottles ‘smelt of red wine’. As fate would have it, little Piaf's greatest love was the boxer Marcel Cerdan, middleweight world champion, whose trainer, Lucien Roupp, later ran an inn near Taroudant, where he found the calm he was looking for. Having grown up in Morocco from 1922, Marcel Cerdan was nicknamed ‘the Moroccan Bomber’. He disappeared in 1949 in a plane crash over the Azores. Off the coast of Morocco.