Day 1 and 2 Morocco: Riads and Waterfalls

After we departed London on the earliest flight out of stansted, we arrived in North Africa to glorious sunshine, blue skies and the sound of the call to prayer. Not bad for a 3 1/2 trip from London. 

We got the practicals out the way; visa, currency, check in and set off to explore the magical city of Marrakesh.

Our riad Saoirse found on Mr and Mrs Smith, the Talaa 12. It was clad with beautiful Moroccan linen, lamps and grey washed walls. The room was out of this world with a roof terrace that takes your breath away. Not a bad place to call home for the next 4 days.

We headed off to get lost around the winding streets; starting with the highly recommended Photography Museum of Marrakesh. A wonderfully curated collection of black and white photos of Norfolk and morrocan culture and influence dating back to 1842. As amazing as the photographs were I feel in love with the tiled floor of the beautiful riad the museum was housed in.

We had a little drink on the roof terrace before heading into the medina to explore.

The riad is like a very beautiful maze. Magic carpets, Aladdins lamps, bejewelled rings, not the mention the genie shoes I kept eyeing up. 

After a wander, a ice cream and getting extremely lost, we retired back to our Riads roof terrace for snoozes and sun bathing. 

Evening came and we decided to head for an early dinner at a nearby restaurant, highly recommended by the hotel called la foulouk. The lamp tagine was literally like changing. The wine however was not. Note to self, don't order wine in Morocco. After some minor celeb spotting we headed back for probably the best night sleep of my life, or at least 2016. Thank you riad talaa 12.

Day 2 was an early start of Moroccan breakfast and a whole pot of coffee before we headed to Ouzoud and Alzad Waterfalls, the highest in North Africa at 2045 m and the second highest in Africa, after Victoria falls in Zimbabwe. 

The two hour drive took us through beautiful desert landscapes with snow caped peaks in the background.

We arrived at the waterfall early and met our guide who walked us off road down from the top of the waterfall, through  fields of olive trees down to the valley at the bottom. The views were breathtaking. 

I was very glad to have my trusty walking boots on. And only managed to slip over once with was good. We stopped at the bottom for a little boat ride up to the falls, then had a run in with some monkeys on the way back up. 

We devoured a delicious lunch out on the terrace before a bit more hiking and our long drive back to the city. With Moroccan mint tea to greet us when we got back. 

We downloaded the hip Marrakesh app before heading out, leading us through the souk into the main square to a tiny place of the beaten track for another amazing tagine. 

We then explore the night market, soaking up the atmosphere and stocked up on baklava for the day a head tomorrow. All in all a good day.