Marrakech Express

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.

Peter Millar