Train travel in Morocco is a giant step up from taking the bus. Of course you pay more (especially for Premiere Classe) but the coaches are more comfortable and air-conditioned. Schedules can be a bit of a mystery to non-French speakers but the ONCF employees are a helpful bunch, making sure you get on – and off – at the right places.
We thought that the Meknes-Rabat train was an hour late, only to realize later that Daylight Savings Time was suspended for Ramadan. Rabat seemed like a nice place to break the journey. It is the capital, designed by a French architect to incorporate the old and the new. It also gave us a chance to visit the Mausoleum of King Mohammed V and to pick up some peanut butter, crackers and other emergency provisions for Ramadan.
Guarding the Mausoleum
Information on getting to the seaside resort town of El Jadida from Rabat was sketchy, requiring a change of trains in either Casablanca or Ain Sebaa. While we were trying to figure it out, three travel-savvy women came to our rescue – four if you count Margarita’s gorgeous young daughter, Valentina. Margarita and Verlena are Austrian and Christina hails from the UK. Both Margarita and Christina are married to diplomats and Verlena’s husband is a retired diplomat. Needless to say they know how to get around and they made sure we had plenty of time to get our luggage ready to hop off at Ain Sebaa and find the train to El Jadida.
Portuguese Magazan WHS
El Jadida isn’t a lovely place as beach resorts go, but it draws the crowds from Casablanca. Despite the ocean breeze it was hot and the beach was mobbed, thousands of people and hundreds of umbrellas. Some women wore djellabas while others, younger mostly, sported French bikinis. You could even take a horse of camel ride along the beach. The main draw for us is the small Portuguese Magazan World Heritage site with its formidable ramparts. and we watched kids taking the plunge from the high walls of the magazan.
