The North

1. Tangier

Tangier (also known as Tanger or Tanja) looks splendid from the sea, an amphitheater of blue-and-white houses overlooking the bay, interspersed with minarets and palm trees. Gone are its golden days as the "International City", when it attracted millionaires and inspired artists. The Tangier-born writer Tahar ben Jelloun compares his city to "a lady who no longer dares to look at herself in the mirror". But Tangier has kept an air of individuality, if not eccentricity, and has plenty to offer, from its medina and evocative bars to the beautiful landscape around it.


The Petit Socco was the centre of nightlife at the time of the "International City"

The best way to approach Tangier, like any port town, is undoubtedly from the sea


Looking over the Strait of Gibraltar, controlling the entrance to the Mediterranean and the easiest crossing from Europe to Africa. Tangier was always of great strategic importance. From the 1920s until Morocco's independence in 1956, it flourished under its special designation of International City". Its easy tax laws and free-port status attracted hanks and other businesses, and in turn an influx of foreigners. Most of the city's income now comes from the passenger port and, less officially, from the Rif cannabis trade.
The Grand Socco (place du 9 Avril 1947) links old and neo Tangier. Flanking the square are the Mendoubia Gardens - look for the beautiful banyan tree that's said to he more than 800 years old. On nearby Zankat salaheddine and Zankat el-Oualili is a food market where Rifians sell their produce. The 19th-century Church of St Andrew on rue d'Angleterre reveals a blend of Moorish and English styles. The American journalist Walter Harris is buried in its cemetery alongside many other foreigners who made the city their home, including the British eccentric David Herbert whose tombstone, in contrast to his flamboyant lifestyle, reads simply "He loved Morocco. Along the same street the small Musee d'Art Contemporain de la Ville de Tanger fills the former British consulate with Moroccan art.
The U.S created its First embassy hack in 1777 in La Legation des Etats-Unis (Old American Legation), a fascinating palace containing historical exhibits of the city as well as paintings by Americans in Morocco, including James McBey and Oscar Kokoshka, plus works by Morocco's first painter, Mohamed ben Ali Rbati. The Bab Fahs leads from the Grand Socco into rue des Siaghin (silversmiths' souk) and the Petit Socco, once a centre of prostitution and intrigue, but now much quieter with jewellers' shops and cafe terraces. A stroll through picturesque alleys and streets leads to place de la Kasbah. offering panoramas over the straits and the Moroccan and Spanish coasts.
The kasbah, an administrative area and palace since Roman times, rises to the right of the square. It had always been home to royalty, but from the 1920s it became a play-ground for foreign millionaires attracted by Tangiers decadence, lawlessness, drugs and homosexuality. Among those tempted were the writer Richard Hughes, who built an oriental palace within the kasbah, and the Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, who flew friends in from around the world to organise lavish parties at her palace.
Dar el-Makhzen, the 17th-century sultan's palace. houses the Musée de la Kasbah, divided into the Ethnographic and the Archaeological museums. At the entrance to the main part of the museum, dedicated to Moroccan arts, is the Beit el-Mal (the old treasury). The ethnographic museum has fine ceramics from Fes and Meknes, while the small collection of mosaics and objects from Volubilis dominates the archaeological section.
From the kasbah gate, rue Asad ibn Farrat leads past stunning Moorish villas to the residential area of Marshan and the Palais Mendoub, a former home of the American publisher Malcolm Forbes (1919-90), which also housed his collection of tin soldiers. The nearby Cafe Hafa, where Paul Bowles and his friends often hung out, enjoys commanding sea views.
The Bay of Tangier stretches between two capes. To the west is Cap Sparta, known to the Romans as "the Cape of Vines". Past the lighthouse, built in 1864. Robinson beach overlooks dangerous waters where the Atlantic meets the Med. On the spit are the Grottes d'Hercule, natural rock formations enhanced by centuries of quarrying. To the east of Tangier is Cap Malabata with many old villas, as well as new hotel complexes. The Villa Harris, built by the flamboyant travel writer Walter Harris, can he visited through the Club Med complex. Widely travelled as the Morocco correspondent for the British newspaper The Times, he was one of the first foreigners to enter the sacred city of Chefchaouen, as described in his book Morocco That Was (1921).


This opening in the Caves d'Hercules resembles Africa

Read All About It

Some of the rich literature written about the International City will help enliven it even more. Try:
Let It Come Down by Paul Bowles (1952) Enderby by Anthony Burgess (1968) Naked Lunch by William Burroughs (1959) Tangier, City of the Dream by an Finlayson (1992)

TAKING A BREAK

The terrace of Gran Café de Paris on place de France has been popular since the 1940s and is still a great place to see and be seen, particularly in the late afternoon. Near by is the luxury El-Minzah hotel, whose splendid Caid Bar attracts wealthy expats. For sea views head for Café Hafa in the Marshan area.

One of the six entrances to Tangier's kasbah quarter