Marrakech Express: On and Off The Rails in The Sultans' Kingdom

by Peter Millar

Back in 1969 when Morocco’s ancient capital was a hashish-clouded hippy mecca, Crosby, Stills and Nash recorded their cheesy (and hopelessly inaccurate) foot-tapping anthem ‘Marrakech Express’. A generation on, award-winning journalist, author, and one-time glamrock fan Peter Millar uses what is now the country’s best visited tourist destination as the embarkation point for a literally reverse-engineered train journey through this still exotic, diverse and challenging North African country, struggling to maintain its unique blend of tradition and tolerance in the turbulent winds of the Arab spring. From the snake charmers and food stalls of Jamaa el Fna, Millar takes us to the ancient walled city of Fez, the wineries of the Meknes valley, cosmopolitan Casablanca, tacky Tangier, and the anomalous Spanish exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, squatting on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast like a counterpoint to British Gibraltar. A rip-roaring, anarchic, hilarious and also deeply informative trip through North Africa that will entertain and lift the lid on everything you thought you might have known.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

232 pages, Paperback

First published August 12, 2014

About the author

Peter Millar is an award-winning British journalist, author and translator, and has been a correspondent for Reuters, Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph. He was named Foreign Correspondent of the Year for his reporting on the dying stages of the Cold War, his account of which – 1989: The Berlin Wall, My Part in its Downfall – was named ‘best read’ by The Economist. An inveterate wanderer since his youth, Peter Millar grew up in Northern Ireland and studied at Magdalen College, Oxford. Before and during his university years, he hitchhiked and travelled by train throughout most of Europe, including behind the Iron Curtain to Moscow and Leningrad, as well as hitchhiking barefoot from Dubrovnik to Belfast after being robbed in the former Yugoslavia. He has had his eyelashes frozen in the coldest inhabited place on Earth - Oymyakon, eastern Siberia, where temperatures reach minus 71ºC, was fried at 48ºC in Turkmenistan, dipped his toes in the Mississippi, the Mekong and the Nile, the Dniepr and the Danube, the Rhine and the Rhone, the Seine and the Spree. He crisscrossed the USA by rail for his book All Gone To Look for America and rattled down the spine of Cuba for Slow Train to Guantanamo. He has lived and worked in Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Warsaw and Moscow, attended the funerals of two Soviet leaders, been blessed six times by Pope John Paul II (which would have his staunch Protestant ancestors spinning in their graves), and he has survived multiple visits to the Munich Oktoberfest and the enduring agony of supporting Charlton Athletic. Peter speaks French, German, Russian and Spanish, and is married with two grown-up sons. He splits his time between Oxfordshire and London, and anywhere else that will have him.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morocco is located on the northern fringe of the great continent of Africa. It is an Islamic country that is maintaining a fine balance between modern culture and tradition. It is full of exotic places and names, who cannot be seduced by the cities of Marrakech and Casablanca, and the sights and smells of the markets.

Starting from the ancient capital of Marrakech, Millar sets out on a train journey around this colourful country. It has not suffered the same fate as other countries after the Arab spring, and comes across as a liberal state. He immerses himself in the places and the people, travelling from the snake charmers and bustling markets of the medinas, to Fez with its ancient walls, to the sea and the towns that sit opposite Gibraltar and to the Meknes valley where the wines are made.

Millar in this book really brings the country to life. As he travels and meets the people you really get a feel for the country and the warmth and generosity of the people, the blend of traditional and ancient, and the fine line that they tread in this balancing act come across. The main point of reading a travel book is to share the experiences that the author has, and to feed the desire to visit. Millar does that in this book, making Morocco a country that I have always considered visiting, a country that I now really want to see.

[Tripfiction · Rating 5 out of 5]

Travelogue set in Morocco (“It’s not a real souk unless it sells men’s underwear”)

“Nothing in the world is quite like Morocco. Research for Marrakech Express took a year and covered everywhere from the Algerian border to magical Fez, cosmopolitan Rabat and crazy Casablanca, not to mention Eid el Adha in Larache” (Peter Millar on TripFiction Facebook).

I wished that this memoir/travelogue had been available when I visited Morocco a couple of years ago. However, reading it now, and having visited the country, it brought my own trip back to vivid life and gave further insights into a culture I really only managed to skim. Peter’s writing is succinct, humorous at times and piercingly observant of life around him.

Peter was inspired to visit Morocco – and specifically Marrakech – because of the earworm song Marrakesh Express recorded by Crosby, Stills and Nash in 1969. It is hard to think of the city without the strains of their ‘foot tapping anthem‘ buzzing around one’s consciousness. And so he takes up the invitation to visit a family in the provincial town of Larache at the time of eid al-Adha (eid al-fitr marks the end of Ramadan, the former occurs 40 days later). And from here he sets off on his journey.

Oddly, Time Out Magazine says of the book: “…this book smells of train travel and will appeal to wanderlusts as well as armchair train buffs“. Unless huge chunks were edited out of my copy (the picture of a train of the cover notwithstanding), there are only tiny sections of the book devoted to actual train travel (we learn the Moroccans are, however, incredibly quiet passengers). It is very much a given that he travels between the cities by train – Marrakech, Casablanca, Fez, Tangier (you choose if you want to add an “s” on the end or not), Meknes, with a few detours along the way (usually by petit or grand taxi, not train) – but his acute observations on terraferma are what really sustain the book.

In Marrakech he is determined to search out the traditional slow-cooked tanjia (not to be confused with tagine) and does so with the help of Café Clock and Cooking School - the ingredients are sourced in the souk and the whole pot cooks slowly in the furnace that fires up the communal hammam and bakery. ‘The square’ (that is Jemaa al-Fnaa) is the focal point of the city for tourists and he writes: “It is hard not to be overwhelmed by the sheer sensuousness of the experience that is Jemaa al-Fnaa. It is unlike anywhere else you have ever been and are likely to be, a blend of the oriental, the One Thousand and One Nights vision of the Arab world, with the sounds, rhythms, and colours of sub-Saharan Africa mutated into something quintessentially Moroccan, a fusion of cuisines, cultures, con-men and cupidity” (couldn’t have put it better myself!).

If you want to find little gems of information that will enlighten, then this is definitely a book to source for your trip to Morocco. The Berbers for example are thought to derive their name because the Greeks understood anything other than their own language as Bebebebebe, and the name stuck. Or, if you are a man, notice the wry smirking smile of the vendor when you buy red babouches (red is for women, it was Moulay Ismail who decided yellow was for men… choose your colours carefully).

He takes a side trip to Volubilis, a Roman city on the south western edge of the Limes (the Roman imperial frontier) and also a World Heritage Site (I have never heard of it, but would now, after reading this book, choose to visit). There is not only history, but also sampling of the Volubilia Wines and Olive Oil (the latter was the 2006 winner of The Best Olive Oil in the World!). To be honest, there is a thread running through the book and that is Peter’s quest to find alcoholic beverages – and not so hard in Morocco, although it is not served within sight of a Mosque (and usually hidden away from eyes who would find it offensive).

But if it is not Casablanca, Stork or Flag beer that takes your fancy, then there is always the temptation to indulge in the ubiquitously served mint tea, stacked full of unhealthy sugar. Diabetes consequently is rampant in the country. And remember, this is the country that brought you the film: “She is Diabetic and Hypertensive and She Still Refuses to Die“. Oh well, just go easy on the mint tea and enjoy the alcohol (when you can find it).

This review first appeared on our blog; http://www.tripfiction.com/travelogue...

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason I expected this to be a book about a train journey across Morocco and that isn’t really what it’s about . The author does explore different cities in Morocco by various means but trains have very little to do with it . The main theme seemed to be where he could locate alcohol in his travels . I managed to finish the book and learned some things about Moroccan history but can’t say I enjoyed the book or looked forward to picking it up .

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

you could learn a lot from this entertaining and idiosyncratic travel book of modern Morocco . and though i was mislead, or misinformed that this was going to be about trains and train travel in mor. i still enjoyed a lot and learned a lot, for me anyway, about how to find a drink there, the status of the high speed train routes, back ground of the king and politics somewhat, status of women somewhat, farming and urban geography. some of my favorite was the wine growers and wines but the malls, beaches, old towns, travel, accommodations, old women discos, food stalls, traditions, golf courses, all are fun to lean about. no maps, no pictures, no citations, no index.
there was some train ridin' though for sure, so there is that too.
volubilis gris is a good wine to find http://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/...

[Danielle]

Had to stop reading this due to a completely inappropriate comparison of a situation he finds himself in as to that of a Jimmy Saville victim. Then some awful language about gay people and fat women. I have no issue with the word fat, I am fat, I know people who are fat, but you can also tell when a word is being used an insult
Unsurprisingly I did not finish this.

[Kieran Desmond · Rating 3 out of 5]

No Bill Bryson but I did learn stuff about Morocco and I managed to finish it

[Tom Cartledge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and informative when reading up on Morocco. Kind of like a poor man’s Bill Bryson, all the same and good read read on a beautiful part of the world and a fun journey.

[Kevin Revolinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit heavy sometimes on taxi misadventures and finding alcohol. But a decent read. The section of Fez was perhaps the most interesting. The portions of Casablanca made me decide not to travel there as it seems unimpressive compared to other parts of the country.

[Lucy Dodsworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marrakech Express is the story of Peter Millar's trip around Morocco, inspired by the 1969 Crosby, Stills and Nash song of the same name. After starting off in Marrakech he heads out to explore the country. And although he gets around by train, the book is more about the destinations he visits than the actual journeys. It’s a great introduction to Morocco’s chaotic mix of old and new, with a mix of destinations including Volubilis’ Roman ruins, wineries in Meknes, giant mosques in Casablanca and the souks of Fez. Best read along with a pot of fresh mint tea for the full Moroccan experience, the descriptions took me right back to the madness of Marrakech’s medina.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommend for anyone traveling to Morocco. Fun anecdotes that really prepare you for the culture and good explanations of history and the various cities and geography that give a traveler excellent context. Well written, funny and accessible, too.

[World Literature Today]

This book was featured in the Nota Benes section of the January/February 2015 issue of World Literature Today Magazine.

http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2...

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book presented an entertaining, informative look at Morocco from a travelers perspective.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great tour around Morocco, insightful and fun. Still laughing at the man/woman joke on pay 197

[Patricia Wexler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyable read, perfect book before arriving on my first trip to Morocco to get some flavor and history without a boring guidebook approach