Tangier (Tanja in Arabic, Tánger in Spanish) is Morocco's northernmost major city (population 1 million), on the Strait of Gibraltar at the precise point where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea — 14 km across the water from the Spanish coast at Tarifa, making it the closest point between Africa and Europe and the meeting point of two continents, two oceans, and (in the 20th century) the most concentrated intersection of cultures in the world. Tangier's defining historical period was the International Zone (1923-1956): under the Convention of Paris (1923), Tangier was excluded from the French and Spanish Protectorates of Morocco and governed by an international committee of European powers (France, Spain, Britain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and later Sweden and the United States) with its own separate laws, no import duties and no income taxes. The International Zone attracted a cosmopolitan population of diplomats, artists, writers, spies, smugglers, tax exiles and exiles of all kinds — the most permissive jurisdiction in the Western world for 33 years. The American and European expatriate literary colony that settled in Tangier in the International Zone period and its aftermath produced the most concentrated literary output of any expatriate community since the Paris of the 1920s: Paul Bowles (author of "The Sheltering Sky", 1949 — the defining Tangier novel; Bowles lived in Tangier from 1947 until his death in 1999); William S. Burroughs (wrote "Naked Lunch" in Tangier 1955-1958); Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote and Francis Bacon all spent significant time in Tangier in the 1950s-60s; the Rolling Stones recorded in Tangier. The Cap Spartel (the westernmost point of the African continent, where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, 14 km west of Tangier) and the Caves of Hercules (the sea cave carved by neolithic people and the Atlantic wave action, with the famous Africa-shaped opening facing the ocean) are the most dramatic natural landmarks in the Tangier region.
Tangier Medina (the old walled city — smaller and more labyrinthine than the Fez or Marrakech medinas; the medina covers the hillside above the port, bounded by the Portuguese-era sea walls (rebuilt in the 19th century); the Petit Socco (the Zoco Chico — the small cafe-lined square in the heart of the medina that was the social centre of the International Zone: the cafés where the drug dealers, the spies, the writers and the merchants of the International Zone met for tea and intrigue; the Café Central (still operating, the most historically significant café in Tangier — Burroughs, Bowles and Ginsberg drank coffee here while writing); the medina streets (the souks selling the Rif mountain cannabis pipes (the sebsi), the Moroccan leather goods (the Tangier babouche slipper in white and yellow), the argan oil products, and the fresh fish from the Atlantic port below)); the Grand Mosque of Tangier (the Friday mosque built on the site of the 17th-century Portuguese Cathedral of the Holy Spirit — the palimpsest of colonial occupations that defines the Tangier urban fabric).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideAmerican Legation Museum (the Museum of the American Legation in Tangier — the only US National Historic Landmark located outside the United States; the building was gifted to the United States in 1821 by Sultan Moulay Suliman as the American Diplomatic Mission — Morocco was the first country in the world to formally recognise American independence (December 20, 1777, when Sultan Sidi Muhammad ben Abdallah formally acknowledged the United States as a sovereign state before France and before any European power); the American-Moroccan Treaty of Friendship (1786) — signed in Tangier — is the longest-standing unbroken treaty in US diplomatic history (240+ years); the museum collection: the paintings and archive documenting the American presence in Morocco from 1777 to 1961 (the year the American Embassy moved to Rabat when Moroccan independence moved the diplomatic focus inland); the Paul Bowles collection (the letters and manuscripts donated by Bowles to the museum; the Bowles room is the most important archive of the Tangier literary scene in the world).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideGrand Socco (Place du 9 Avril 1947 — the large square at the northern entrance to the medina; the gateway between the medina and the French and Spanish colonial Ville Nouvelle; the Grand Socco was the main market square of the International Zone era (the weekly rural market where the Rif mountain women in their distinctive red and white striped futa (the traditional cloth wrap of the Jebala tribe of the Rif mountains) sold their produce in the International Zone period); the Mendoubia Gardens (the garden flanking the Grand Socco with the 800-year-old dragon tree (Dracaena draco — the ancient specimen considered the oldest in Morocco, its multibranched canopy spreading 15 m in diameter; the dragon tree produces a red sap called "dragon's blood" which has been used in medicine and dye since antiquity); the Friday morning market (the rural market in the Grand Socco that continues the centuries-old tradition on Fridays only — the Rif mountain women still bring their produce and embroidery to the square).
Terrasse des Paresseux ("Terrace of the Lazy Ones" — the promenade at the top of the Boulevard Pasteur overlooking the Tangier Bay, the port and the Strait of Gibraltar beyond; the most famous viewing platform in Tangier — the place where the International Zone residents sat in café chairs to watch the ships passing through the Strait, the most strategically important waterway in the world (approximately 100,000 ships per year transit the Strait of Gibraltar — every ship between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean passes within 14 km of Tangier); the view (on clear days: the Spanish coast at Tarifa, the Rock of Gibraltar, the Spanish town of Algeciras, the green hills of Andalusia; the distance is so short that cars on the Spanish motorway are occasionally visible with binoculars); the sunset over the Atlantic (the sun sets over the Atlantic Ocean from this terrace — the most westward sunset visible from any café in the Tangier area).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCap Spartel (14 km west of Tangier centre — the westernmost point of the African continent (the most northwestern tip of the Maghreb; the Atlantic Ocean on the west and north, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean beginning 1 km east of the cap); the Cap Spartel Lighthouse (1864 — the first lighthouse built to guide ships into the Strait of Gibraltar from the Atlantic; funded by multiple European maritime powers simultaneously as a neutral aid to navigation; the lighthouse sits on the cliff edge above the precise point where the two bodies of water meet; the physical difference between the Atlantic and Mediterranean water (the Atlantic water is slightly cooler, less dense and lower in salinity; the two water bodies can sometimes be visually distinguished by a line of turbulence at the meeting point where the currents from the two seas collide)); the beach below the cap (the Plage de Cap Spartel — the first beach on the Atlantic side of the African continent from the Strait; the water is the full Atlantic, arriving from the open ocean without the Mediterranean warming effect — cooler and more vigorous than the Tangier Bay beaches).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCaves of Hercules (Grottes d'Hercule — 3 km south of Cap Spartel, accessible on the same taxi trip; the sea cave system carved by the combined action of neolithic human quarrying (the cave was used to cut circular millstones since prehistoric times — the circular quarry marks are still visible in the cave walls) and the ongoing Atlantic wave erosion; the cave has two openings: the land-side entrance (the large arched entrance used by visitors) and the sea-side opening (the famous Africa-shaped aperture facing the Atlantic — when viewed from inside the cave, the opening exactly matches the outline of the African continent silhouette; this is the most photographed single aperture in Morocco); the mythological connection (the Greek mythology places the cave as the location where Hercules rested before performing his 11th labour (stealing the golden apples of the Hesperides) — the "Pillars of Hercules" (the Rock of Gibraltar and Jebel Musa/Ceuta Mountain) frame the Strait that Hercules allegedly cut as he separated Europe from Africa).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTetouan (40 km east of Tangier — the UNESCO World Heritage medina (1997); the "White Dove" of the north; historically the Moroccan city most deeply influenced by the Spanish colonial presence (Tetouan was the capital of the Spanish Protectorate zone of Morocco 1912-1956); the medina (one of the best-preserved in Morocco — the 15th-century walled city with the predominantly Andalusian-influenced architecture (the Moors who left Andalusia after the 1492 Reconquista settled in Tetouan in large numbers and the city's architecture, music (the Andalusian music tradition of northern Morocco (ala music)), cuisine and artisan crafts retain the Andalusian influence 500 years later)); the artisan quarter (the Tetouan medina has the highest concentration of active craft workshops in northern Morocco: the marquetry (wood inlay), the zellige (the mosaic tile), the leather tanning and the embroidery); the Place Uta el-Hammam (the central square with the fountain and the Saturday market).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTraditional Moroccan dinner in Tangier (the most authentic Northern Moroccan dining experience): the pastilla (the bastilla — the quintessential Moroccan festive pastry: the thin warka (warqa) pastry layers (thinner than filo, made by dabbing the wet dough onto a hot plate) enclosing a filling of shredded pigeon (or chicken in the modern version), almonds, egg and the sweet-savoury spice combination of cinnamon, saffron and sugar; the top dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon; the contrasting sweet-savoury element is the most distinctively Moroccan flavour profile in the cuisine); the mechoui (the slow-roasted whole lamb — the traditional Moroccan feast dish; the lamb seasoned with cumin, coriander and butter and slow-roasted in a sealed pit for 4-5 hours until the meat falls from the bone at the touch); the Moroccan mint tea ceremony (the gunpowder green tea (Camellia sinensis) mixed with fresh spearmint (naana) and generous sugar, poured from a great height into small glasses to create the characteristic foam — three glasses are traditional: "the first glass is as gentle as life, the second is as strong as love, the third is as bitter as death").
Kasbah Museum (Musée du Détroit — in the Dar el-Makhzen (the Sultan's Palace in the Kasbah district; the palace was built in the 17th century by the Alaouite Sultan Moulay Ismail (the sultan who also built Meknes and the Bou Inania madrasa in Fez) and served as the Tangier residence of the Moroccan sultans until the early 20th century; the building (the typical Moroccan palace architecture: the central courtyard (riad) with the mosaic tile (zellige) fountain, the carved cedar wood ceiling (the honeycomb muqarnas and the painted geometric panel ceilings of the reception halls), the carved stucco walls (the arabesques in relief against the smooth plaster) and the marble floors); the museum collection (the pre-Islamic archaeology of the Tangier region: the Phoenician and Roman artefacts from the Tingis (the Roman name for Tangier — the Roman city was the capital of the Mauritania Tingitana province); the Tingis mosaics; the classical bronzes; the Islamic period artefacts).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Tangier literary trail (the locations of the International Zone writers): the Hotel El Minzah (the 1930 Moorish Revival hotel on the rue de la Liberté — the grandest hotel of the International Zone era; Tennessee Williams wrote "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" at the El Minzah; the hotel bar (the Caid's Bar) was the social centre of the diplomatic and literary community of the 1940s-60s); the Paul Bowles apartment (the Itesa apartment building on Rue Ibrahim Roudani — Bowles's Tangier home from 1957 to his death in 1999; not open to visitors but the building is unchanged since Bowles's residence); Dean's Bar (the Rue Amérique du Sud — the bar owned by Joseph Dean, former British Consul's butler, where Bowles, Burroughs, Kerouac, Ginsberg and virtually every literary visitor to Tangier came to drink; closed since the 1970s but the building survives); the Café de France (the Place de France — the café where the International Zone intelligentsia met for coffee and newspapers delivered from Paris).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideStrait of Gibraltar ferry (the regular ferry from Tangier Med Port (45 km east of the city) or from Tangier Ville Port (the city port) to Tarifa (35 min) or Algeciras (1h30), Spain; the crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar — 14 km of water between the African and European continents; the ferry route is the most symbolically charged short sea crossing in the world: the same crossing made by the Umayyad general Tariq ibn Ziyad in 711 AD (with an army of 7,000 Berber soldiers, beginning the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula that lasted 781 years); the Tarifa crossing (the town of Tarifa in Andalusia — the southernmost point of continental Europe and the point where the two oceans' currents converge; the town of Tarifa is named for Tarif ibn Malluk, the Berber commander of the advance reconnaissance force that preceded Tariq ibn Ziyad in 710 AD); the Algeciras crossing (the Spanish industrial port city with the view of the Rock of Gibraltar from the ferry terminal).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTangier Port fish market and sunset dinner (the fish market at the foot of the Tangier Ville port — the most important fishing port on the Moroccan Atlantic coast (Tangier's fishing fleet (the barques) brings in sardines, anchovies, swordfish, Atlantic tuna, sea bass, bream and the Moroccan signature fish (the sarde — the Atlantic sardine, grilled fresh on charcoal): the Atlantic sardine of Tangier is the best-quality sardine in the world by the assessment of Spanish and Portuguese chefs who buy from the Tangier market for their restaurants); the grilled sardines (the charcoal-grilled fresh sardines served with the Moroccan bread (khobz) and the harissa paste — the simplest and most authentic Tangier meal, available for MAD20-40 at the port fish restaurants); the final sunset dinner at the Terrasse des Paresseux or the restaurant on the Boulevard Mohammed VI with the view over the Strait and the Spanish coast in the last light of the African Atlantic sunset.