To Marrakech
16/09/07 17:06 Filed in: Morocco
We caught the 10:22 to Marrakech travelling first class. It's a worthwhile upgrade and ensures reserved seats. It really is a good rail system here.
Most locomotives here are built by Alsthom in Casablanca. This one was built in Japan by Hitachi.
The terrain between Casablanca and Marrakech was featureless. Just flat barren rocky ground most od the time. We arrived in Marrakech at around 15:30.
I taken photos on my previous visit in 1974 and I was sure the station had changed. It will soon change again as a completely new station is under construction.
Main platform at Marrakech station.
The exterior.
We made our way to the centre and found a small hotel for 230 Dhm It was just off the main square. Not the best of pictures but not a bad little hotel.
Marrakech had changed massively. The main square is now paved over and the old dynamic market has been replaced by twee little wagons all selling fruit at the same price.
The number of tourists was enormous (we of course were adding to the number). When I first came here in 1973 Marrakech had tremendous appeal and I found it very exciting. Now it appears to be just another tourist destination.
We had dinner in the main square. At night the centre is taken up by more twee little wagons surrounded by trestles. You choose your wagon and are fed. The wagons with a display of salads and fruit fed lots of of tourists (including us). The wagons which had goat or sheep heads on display didn't.
Our wagon was number 12 Bel Hadj. The food was ok but it was far more entertaining watching the Bel Hadj hustlers/waiters try to solicit custom from the passing stream of visitors.
Number 12 wagon Bel Hadj.
This charming 12 year old girl was doing the rounds trying to sell packets of paper hankies. She needn't have bothered with the hankies. All she needed to do was smile and people (including us) would give her a few coins for a photo.
Walking around after dinner we spotted this fortune teller chatting away on her mobile. Odd how the old and the new mix. We saw may mud brick houses with satellite dishes.
The main square at night.
Most locomotives here are built by Alsthom in Casablanca. This one was built in Japan by Hitachi.
The terrain between Casablanca and Marrakech was featureless. Just flat barren rocky ground most od the time. We arrived in Marrakech at around 15:30.
I taken photos on my previous visit in 1974 and I was sure the station had changed. It will soon change again as a completely new station is under construction.
Main platform at Marrakech station.
The exterior.
We made our way to the centre and found a small hotel for 230 Dhm It was just off the main square. Not the best of pictures but not a bad little hotel.
Marrakech had changed massively. The main square is now paved over and the old dynamic market has been replaced by twee little wagons all selling fruit at the same price.
The number of tourists was enormous (we of course were adding to the number). When I first came here in 1973 Marrakech had tremendous appeal and I found it very exciting. Now it appears to be just another tourist destination.
We had dinner in the main square. At night the centre is taken up by more twee little wagons surrounded by trestles. You choose your wagon and are fed. The wagons with a display of salads and fruit fed lots of of tourists (including us). The wagons which had goat or sheep heads on display didn't.
Our wagon was number 12 Bel Hadj. The food was ok but it was far more entertaining watching the Bel Hadj hustlers/waiters try to solicit custom from the passing stream of visitors.
Number 12 wagon Bel Hadj.
This charming 12 year old girl was doing the rounds trying to sell packets of paper hankies. She needn't have bothered with the hankies. All she needed to do was smile and people (including us) would give her a few coins for a photo.
Walking around after dinner we spotted this fortune teller chatting away on her mobile. Odd how the old and the new mix. We saw may mud brick houses with satellite dishes.
The main square at night.