Tangier travel guide
Located where Africa meets Europe, Tangier – legendary “interzone”, favourite hang-out for artists, writers and rock stars, compelling refuge for eccentric expats and international spies – is still one of the most vibrant cities in Morocco.
Arriving in Tangier, whether approaching it from Spain and the sea, or over the hills from the south of Morocco, always sparks a frisson of energy and anticipation. With its whitewashed houses tumbling over seven hills into the bright blue Mediterranean and the Straits of Gibraltar, and Spain only 14km (9 miles) away, Tangier rests at the most northwestern tip of Morocco, and Africa. It has for millennia been a vital crossroads – between East and West, Africa and Europe, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean – and has adopted an eclectic and unique set of influences and styles.
Cosmopolitan Tangier
In 1912, after the Treaty of Fez carved Morocco up between Spain and France, Tangier came under "Spanish Morocco". In 1923, the city was granted special status as an International Zone, to be governed by France, Spain and Britain. This arrangement, together with the city’s special privileges as a free port, attracted many European and American expatriates and adventurers.
Although Tangier is as much a part of Morocco as Rabat or Marrakech, it retains a cosmopolitan flavour quite distinct from the rest of the country. It used to have a reputation for seediness, but the city has undergone a transformation in recent years and is a much more appealing place.
The new town is full of history and a relaxed Spanish feel, and the beautiful whitewashed medina overlooking the strait is a fascinating place to explore. Due to the hispanic influence of the past, Spanish tends to be more widely spoken than French in and around Tangier.
Things to see in Tangier
A walk through the Ville Nouvelle
Like all Moroccan cities, Tangier consists of a walled medina, or old town, as well as a modern quarter built during the Protectorate, called the ville nouvelle (new town). At the centre of the ville nouvelle is the Place de France and the tree-lined Boulevard Pasteur, with its cafés and restaurants, banks and travel agencies. A terrace at the end of Boulevard Pasteur has a fine view of the harbour; in the evenings it is a favourite meeting-place for tourists and locals alike.
Off the Boulevard Pasteur, on the Rue Magellan, is Villa Muniria, where William Burroughs wrote Naked Lunch. Rue de la Liberté (Zankat el Houria), the site of the elegant El Minzah Hotel, leads down to the old marketplace of the Grand Socco. In the Institut Français, opposite the Minzah, is the Galerie Delacroix.
Just off Rue de la Liberté, on Rue d’Angleterre, is a large white villa, formerly the British Consulate, which houses the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Tanger, showing works by contemporary Moroccan painters. Also on Rue d’Angleterre is the Anglican church of St Andrew, built in the late 19th century.
Easily accessible from Rue du Portugal is the Old American Legation, a building given to the Americans by Sultan Moulay Slimane, whose government was the first in the world to recognise American independence in 1776. It now houses a small museum on the city’s history. The Grand Socco is the terminus for city buses and has a taxi rank. There are city beaches, but those outside, accessible by car or taxi, are cleaner and quieter.
The Medina and Moroccan Arts
Tangier’s medina is a maze of narrow streets on the hillside above the harbour. Rue es-Siaghin (Silversmiths’ Street) leads downhill from the Grand Socco to the Petit Socco; side streets to the right are filled with shops. The 17th-century kasbah, or fortified precinct, occupies the highest point in the medina, perched on a cliff-top above the sea. Here Sultan Moulay Ismail built Dar el Makhzen, a palace that today houses the Musée des Arts Marocains et des Antiquités, or Kasbah Museum, displaying illuminated Qur’ans, textiles, wood and metal work, Berber carpets, jewellery and ceramics. In the former treasury, the Bit el Mal, rooms overlooking the méchouar (courtyard) house the sultan’s gigantic cedarwood strongboxes that were once filled with gold and gems. Cross the méchouar to the observation point for a spectacular view across the strait to Gibraltar and Spain.
Palais Mendoub and gardens
A 15-minute walk west of the kasbah, along the coast, brings you to Palais Mendoub, former home of the late American billionaire Malcolm Forbes. It was here that he held his $2-million 70th birthday bash, an event that recalled the extravagant parties given by Barbara Hutton in Tangier. The Mendoubia Gardens, opposite the palace, are delightful.
Sea views at Café Hafa
Five minutes further west along the coast in the Marshan quarter is the delightful Café Hafa. Perched halfway down a cliff with marvellous views out to sea, for decades it has been a meeting place for Tangier’s literary intelligensia and expatriate community.
Matisse in Tangier
The painter and sculptor Henri Matisse (1869–1954) lived in Tangier from the end of January to mid-April 1912, and from October 1912 to mid-February 1913. These two brief periods had a lasting influence on his work. Lured to Tangier by the special quality of the light, he initially had to brave several weeks of rain. Yet he completed 23 paintings and some 60 drawings. Obliged to work indoors, he painted the still life The Vase of Iris (February 1912). The bad weather also explains the luxuriant vegetation in Park in Tangier, painted at the end of his first stay. Other works from his time in Tangier are portraits of men, painted with a few strokes of colour, and three paintings of the young Jewess Zorah. There is little doubt that the intense blue that characterises Matisse’s later works was inspired by the sea at Tangier.
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