THE famous
Crosby, Stills and Nash song Marrakesh Express painted a lively portrait of
Moroccan railways: an on board carnival of ducks, pigs and cobras, all seen
through a hazy cloud of exhaled smoke.
These days a journey aboard the
Marrakesh train yields less in the way of travelling livestock and mind-bending
tobacco-but just as much in the way of dusty deserts, crumbling Kasbahs and
colourful chacters. Follow the old hippy trail by catching a southbound service
fro mTanger along the coast to the port of Casablanca. From here, trains turn
inland, rumbling a corss the baked earth until the Atlas Mountains rear up on
the horizon and Marrakesh materializes out of the heat haze. If you’ve time to
spare, take a detour along the soon to be upgraded Fez-Oujda line, which
branches off the main line en route to Marrakesh. Here, the crowning moment
comes soon after the train depart Fez, with sweeping views of the idris I Dam
backing on to arid, low-slung hills.
Night trains from Tangier to Marrakesh take roughly 20
hours, changing at Casablanca (oncf.ma).
