So sang Crosby, Stills and Nash back in the seventies, and fifty years later we’re giving it a crack. Strangely for a capital city, the main train station in Rabat only had two platforms – one for each direction, and when we hopped on our train we found that our 6 seat vestibule was full. Two of them were in the wrong seats, but weren’t going to move until I showed them our tickets, and two more were old ladies who complained loudly in Arabic that I was expecting the others to move. Meanwhile our suitcases were blocking the passageway and nobody could go anywhere. At the next station, the remaining two guys who had kept rather quiet were removed by the police for traveling without a ticket. All in all it wasn’t a relaxed start to the morning. I certainly wasn’t able to ‘smell the garden in your hair’. CS&N were obviously on a different train.
The train transited Casablanca halfway through the trip, so basically the train emptied, and filled again with people heading to Marrakech. There is basically one long regional line running from Fez through Rabat and Casablanca to Marrakech. Trains just shuttle all the way from one end of the country and back, with trains every hour.
South of Casablanca the terrain got progressively more arid and stoney. Not quite desert, but you sense that the Sahara isn’t that far away. It also turned cooler.
Marrakech seems like a rather modern city. Certainly the train station was more modern than any other we’ve encountered in Morocco – it had both a McDonalds and a KFC!
Walked down to apartment, where we were met at the arranged place and at the appointed hour. What a difference it makes. An afternoon devoid of any obligations where we just caught up on domestic matters like washing.
Late in the afternoon we walked down the street to find a supermarket to fill the pantry for the next couple of days. Sure enough, it started raining as we stepped out onto the footpath. Eventually found a supermarket. Even though it is a French chain, like most things in this country it is owned by the Moroccan king, or a company controlled by the king. King Mohammed VI has vast business holdings across several economic sectors in Morocco. His net worth has been estimated at between US$2.1 billion and US$8.2 billion, and, according to the American business magazine Forbes, he was the richest king in Africa and the fifth wealthiest monarch in the world. In better news, he has issued a decree that Moroccan men must limit themselves to two wives, down from the traditional limit of four.
Apartment 39, Residence Malak 2, Rue Sourya, Morocco.