The Marrakech Express

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For me even the name "The Marrakech Express" elicits excitement. Perhaps it was hearing the songs by the rock bands of the 60's/70's that waxed poetically about Morocco or this famous train. Perhaps it was the exoticism of Paul Bowles books of the same period. The net result is that for me Morocco has always been the pinnacle of strange/weird/different places to be and the Marrakech Express was the icing on the cake. So to take this train trip was very special for me.

The train trip from Marrakech to Fes presented a great opportunity to see the Moroccan countryside. It was pre-dawn when I boarded at the beautiful Marrakech station. The train was modern, clean and comfortable. The fare for 1^st class for the 7 hour trip to Fes was about $29 cdn, so it was very reasonable as well.

As the train left the city limits of Marrakech the sun began to break above the horizon. The air was crystal clear on the central plains of Morocco and the mid-Atlas mountains bordered my field of vision to the east. Everything was tinted by the early morning Sun’s yellow glow. A painter’s quality of light. The countryside to Fes is stark and almost devoid of life. Some farms with packed earth hovels dot the countryside occasionally but it’s the emptiness that struck me. Farms that raise goats or sheep (never saw any cattle) with a sleepy sheepherder dozing nearby. Little cultivation. A great deal of poverty.

The emptiness suited my mood and the early hour. The few towns the train stopped at had a industrial grittiness to them. About ¾ of the way to Fes I could make out the steel grey Atlantic Ocean in the distance, but then the train turned inland to Fes as the Sun rose higher into the deep blue sky.

The Marrakech Express for me was over but it is a memory I will carry for years.

The Fes train station also was modern, spacious and open and gave no hint of the confusing maze of the Fes medina that I was heading into. The best of Morocco was yet to come.

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