Marrakech and overnight train to Tangier

April 8, 2024

We were up at 7 and enjoyed a decent hotel breakfast. Loads of yogurt, good bread, olive oil, and laughing cow-like cheese. Not my favourite cheese, I’ve got to say, it’s just one step up from Velveeta. There was fresh-squeezed oj. Interestingly, there was no fresh fruit. That would prove to be a theme throughout Morocco- we'd occasionally get offered raw vegetables are breakfast, but never fruit.

We met the group at 9 am to go get our bikes. The last two riders have joined - a father and son from Brisbane, Russell and Lochie. They were a day late in arriving thanks to Iberia Airlines. Our group has folks from England, Ireland, Canada, and Australia. Why no Americans, do you suppose?

We also met the final two members of our crew, Youssef the cycling tail guide, and Marwan the driver of the SUV towing the bike trailer.

The bikes are Cannondale cross bikes, quite new, with good Vittoria gravel tires. Time will tell if the bikes are any good - the shifting seems pretty clunky. Mine fits, at least. I added my own spiky mountain bike pedals and my Garmin Edge, just to track where we’ve been.

We are a big group of 16 guests plus two guides, and we take up a lot of real estate on the road. Everyone seemed to be pretty comfortable cycling in traffic. There was a minor skirmish between a guy on a motor scooter and one of the Haileys. He tried to rally drive around her at an intersection but laid down his scooter. She didn’t get knocked off her bike and was fine. The man then chewed out poor Youssef, our tail guide, who had nothing at all to do with the incident.

It was fascinating and a bit intimidating to bike through parts of the Medina, between the food stalls, motor bikes, pedestrians, and the donkey carts.

Here we are getting lectured about safety, I think. For good reason! It must be stressful to guide this trip, and have the first day of biking in busy traffic. The wall behind us is one of the King’s palaces, I think. He has many of them.

We started out biking on a wide street. It wasn’t long until the fellow on the white scooter crashed as he tried to dart around one of our group members. She didn’t fall, and nobody got hurt.

Then we entered the Medina. It wasn’t easy to bike and take photos at the same time. Concentration was required.

We arrived back to the hotel around noon and had til 1 pm to shower and exit our rooms. We then had the whole afternoon to do what we wanted before catching our overnight train. Lunch was ‘tacos’ which turned out to be a shawarma-like sandwich with fries inside. And fries on the side too.

We then explored the nearby Carrefour grocery store, which was full of fabulous local and European products. Amazing nuts, dates, spices, oranges, fish, and meat. My favourite was almonds coated in fennel seeds. There was a liquor department locked up tight for Ramadan.

After shopping, we spent a couple of hours lounging by the hotel swimming pool, mostly reading. Dinner options were limited due to Ramadan. The hotel Nicoise salad was adequate, but not terribly Nicoise-like.

We left the hotel at 8 pm for the short walk to the beautiful Marrakech train station. Like everything we’ve seen of Marrakech, the grounds and facility were very tidy. The station was busy with people heading home for the end of Ramadan, which should happen tomorrow night if some key person spies the crescent moon, and then the Ministry of Islamic Affairs agrees. Our train left at 9 pm for the overnight trip to Tangier, four to a sleeper car. Not fancy, but the sleeper car was clean and comfortable. While we slept, our bikes were being driven to Tangier by Youssef and Marwan.

Signage in Arabic and French. French isn’t an official language of Morocco, but it’s widely spoken.

The whole group, ready for our overnight train ride.

We were in four-person sleeper cars, good only for sleeping. The beds didn’t fold up. This photo was taken in the morning, getting ready for arrival.

Our only flat ride of the trip. But traffic and obstacles made it the spiciest.

Today's ride: 19 km (12 miles)
Total: 19 km (12 miles)

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Rachael AndersonWhat a great day!
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