On the slow train from Marrakech to Fez

This was the day of the holiday that nobody was looking forward to very much.

The four hour journey down from Rabat to Marrakech had been hot and uncomfortable so the prospect of taking seven hours to go all the way back and then on to Fez was not promising.

In the end everything worked out more or less fine. The one problem was that while we had first class tickets we did not have reservations for specific seats whereas some other passengers did so some of us got moved on after having found a good seat. I lost my window seat early on and had to move to a middle seat in another compartment.

The ride was a lot more comfortable this time, either the air-conditioning was better, or it was a little cooler or we were all more used to the heat by then.

The other thing that helped was the observation area at the very back of the train with reasonably clean glass on three sides.

Obviously the view was the much the same as on the way down but the greater comfort and the better viewing facilities made it seem better.

Apart from the view I had a wealth of podcasts to entertain me and the seven hours passed easily enough.

I had packed a little to eat and drink but we were all getting touches of icky tummy so I played safe and just had a croissant and a few sips of water. I do not eat much at lunchtime anyway, and eat even less in the heat, so that was not a problem and I preferred to be safe rather than sorry.

We stopped a few times to allow people to get on and off and to allow other trains to pass. These were opportunities to take more photos while keeping an the guard to make sure that the train did not sneak off.

We arrived in Fez in much better mood than we feared and the day was actually rather good. It was restful and interesting and I wanted a holiday where I was busy some days and not on others.

We arrived in Fez late in the afternoon and it was a short coach ride from the station to our hotel in a modern part of the town. I was still not hungry so I stayed in the hotel and finished what I had bought for my lunch. The hotel had good wi-fi so I spent the rest of the evening catching up with things, like making sore I had the latest Archers podcasts.

Tomorrow would be another day and one best faced rested.