Aug 20-21 – Train from Fez to Marrakesh

In our semiconscious states, it seems like an eternity before the train sets off, but set off it does. I despise night travel. Being crammed in a seat, with your backpack, on a full train, as people get on and off, move down the aisles, stow their luggage, and stopping periodically for 10 minutes at a time is an extremely unpleasant way to sleep. It is an 8 hour train ride.

Once the sun rises and I give up on sleeping further, however, the view is fascinating. Red sandy vistas broken by the occasional dry riverbed, and all of a sudden a flash of emerald green – a river that hasn’t run dry is surrounded by lush plant growth and wading birds. Farms – or at least squares of land demarcated by hedges of cacti. Children in the fields. People gathering the cactus fruit. People on donkeys. A mosque in the distance.

Next - Aug 21 – Introduction to Marrakesh