The Marrakesh Express revisited

Good evening. “We wanted something thoroughly and uncompromisingly foreign – foreign from top to bottom…nothing anywhere about it to dilute its foreignness - nothing to remind us of any other people or any other land under the sun. And lo! In Tangier we have found it ...” So wrote Mark Twain in 1867, capturing a fascination with Morocco that has endured to this day. A century after Twain passed through on his Victorian Grand Tour, a new wave of writers, artists and musicians, from Jack Kerouac to Jimi Hendrix, came in search of enlightenment and, fuelled by copious amounts of hashish, found it more often than not.
In the 21st century, Morocco has found popularity with a new kind of traveller; one in search of yoga retreats, surf breaks, walking holidays and long weekends in riyads tastefully converted into boutique hotels. But what of the fabled “magic” which made it such a compelling destination in the 60s and 70s? Does that still exist? Kevin Rushby wanted to find out, so he boarded a train at Kings Cross and travelled south to Spain, catching a ferry from Andalucía to Tangiers, travelling on to Casablanca and Marrakech by rail.
In their 1969 hit Marrakesh Express, Crosby, Stills & Nash sang about “travelling the train through clear Moroccan skies”. But rather than “animal carpet wall to wall” and “coloured cottons in the air”, our writer is greeted by air-conditioned carriages on punctual high-speed trains. The snake charmers are still to be found on Djemaa el-Fna square, but it’s not until he gets deep into the Atlas Mountains that Kevin has his “Mark Twain moment”. In September, shortly after his visit, Morocco was hit by a devastating earthquake that caused widespread destruction and loss of life. Despite this, the country still saw record visitor numbers in 2023 – a testament to its enduring popularity – and has set about rebuilding its infrastructure so that a new generation of travellers can have their own “Mark Twain moment”.