I learned from Spain that it was a good idea to pack the night before lol so this time I didn’t forget anything. J A group of us headed to the train station and grabbed a taxi outside of the gate. The ride was pretty fun (I love the public transportation in different countries!) and along the way we passed a big demonstration – I’m not sure what was going on but there were TONS of people all sitting down listening to a guy yelling into the air horn.
We got to the train station at 850 and lucky us the next train to Marrakech was at 850! We rushed to buy our tickets then went over to the platform. It was really easy to spot, not because of the sign reading “Marrakech” but because of the huge crowd of SASers! Of course after all our rushing the train ended up being about 1 ½ hours late. By the time the train came we had both the 850 train and most of the 1050 train there waiting to board. Needless to say the train was PACKED.
The way the train is set up is a long narrow hallway where you can barely squeeze by people and on one side is a room that seats 8 people comfortably. & there is 2nd class and 1st class (but I never made it to first class). The train arrived and everyone started to head to the doors – then right when im in front of the door I feel people just pushing me out of the way to get in the door (while the train is still moving). But that’s normal for the trains in Morocco, so I’m told. I caught on and pushed my way on with my friends. It was pretty interesting! When we got on the train it was PACKED already – all the compartments where full and the hallway was full of people. So we just set up camp and dealt with the fact that we would be standing for the ride. We didn’t end up getting a seat for about the 1st hour into it but eventually people started getting off and places to sit started filling up.
The train ride was about 4 hours long from Casablanca to Marrakech and I slept on and off for most of the ride once I sat down. It was so hot! Once we arrived and got off the train the heat seemed like it multiplied by 10! It wasn’t so bad though because it wasn’t humid (or UMID lol dad). I was just so happy to be there. The group grabbed a few taxis to get to the medina (old town) which is where our hostel was – it was just a quick ride away. On the way I noticed there were much more motor bikes then there are in Casablanca and even saw one that had a family – mother, father & daughter in front – on it!
Arriving at the medina was really cool! The entrance had a HUGE street lined with horse drawn carriages that lead into the enormous open square called the Djemaa el-Fna square (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djemaa_el_Fna). It was filled with orange juice stands, henna, snake charmers & monkeys. Off the square in every direction you could see the shops multiplying (they are called the souks)! They are never ending. & the shopping is endless and EXHAUSTING!
Our first adventure was to find our hostel the directions where in the form of a scavenger hunt – and it really was! But the directions where spot on. They reminded me of something out of Alice in Wonderland – with the winding alleyways & little remarks like “you’re almost there!”. The hostel was AMAZING!! It’s called Equity Points Hostel – It was gorgeous we lucked out! Once we were settled in 6 of us (Shannon, Kate, Shelley, Loryn, Elouis & I) went out and spent most of the evening exploring the markets and getting some good deals. But before we hit the shops we had the most amazing ice cream at Café Argana. SOOO yummmmy! I got the coffee flavor – so delicious! (I put a picture up of it on facebook!)
When it got closer to dusk the food vendors started setting up and within just a few hours the whole market transformed, the whole Djemaa el-Fna square was a completely different world! It was packed with locals & tourists there was not one spot you could see that wasn’t alive! We got dinner at a roof top restaurant in the medina and watched the sunset over the Djemaa el-Fna square and it was such a beautiful view with a mosque in the background, the wave of people & the hustle and bustle of the markets. One cool thing to see was an old man surrounded by a huge crowd of locals- after asking around I found out he was one of the story tellers that are known to be in the square. Over the course of the our dinner the crowd grew so big! We spent the rest of the evening hanging out and taking it easy –wandering- then went back the hostel after another stop for some mint tea & more ice cream ;)
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