Day 14 – Saturday October 18, 2014

We started the morning with a quick stop at Majorelle Gardens. Although it was nice, it wasn’t very impressive and it was overcrowded with tourists.

We debated between sticking to our original itinerary and visit Ouzuod Waterfalls, Morocco’s largest with no hiking and a longer drive or Ourika Valley, recommended by our driver which has seven smaller waterfalls, a shorter drive and an exciting hike. We were torn so we flipped and coin and Ourika Valley won. Along the drive, stopped for some cactus fruit! I’ve only had cactus fruit in Korea as an ice cream flavour. The fruit was sweet, juicy and similar to a mushy override persimmon.

We started our 2 hour hike to the seven waterfalls. At first, we were disappointed that it would be guided because we love wandering at our own pace. We were spoiled by Iceland. But quickly we realized the value of having a guide as we wandered through little unmarked paths in the village and then into forest.

We hiked through some rough terrain and had to really climb some parts.  We started to see crowds of tourists and it was crazy that some of them were in flip flops carrying new born babies! We arrived at the first waterfall which was packed and not very surreal. We continued hiking up and we saw less and less people. We definitely prefer hiking in solitude.

The final waterfall was empty and someone had put a log in the middle. We hesitate sitting on it at first but then some local kids came and did it… So we decided to join in the fun! It does make a great photo.

We returned to start of the hike and had lunch near the riverside. I ordered a prune and fig beef tajine and it was delicious.

We drove back to Marrakech and got ready for a late dinner. We stopped by the square again to buy some souvenirs and went to dinner at Comptoir, a staple restaurant with a belly dancing show. I had a wonderful final Moroccan meal, BBQ kebab and couscous. The show was short but enjoyable. The ladies with the fire on their head was impressive! We walked back to our riad for our final night in Morocco.

Day 15 – Sunday October 19, 2014

We spent our last day with a tour of three famous sites in Marrakech. Our tour guide, Said gave us a lot of facts and information of each site. Ben Youssef Medessa, an old school was an amazing example of Moroccan handmade artistry. We also visited the Bahia Palace and Saadian Tombs.

We ended the tour at Jamaa el Fna square, ate lunch and got ready for our evening flight to Dublin.