Top Five Tangier
Located where Africa meets Europe , on the northern tip of Morocco Tangier has long been an international city. Given it’s strategic geographic location at the entrance to the Mediterranean at the Straits of Gibraltar, it has been fought over and occupied by occupying and competing powers over the centuries .as an entry point to Morocco it has been a popular destination for both travellers and artists as well as those interested in Morocco’s history .
Here are our top five sites:
1. Kasbah Museum:
This former sultans palace in the heart of Tangier’s kasbah showcases Moorish architecture particularly the intricate ceramics so much a part of Moroccan artisanship.
2. The Kasbah:
Dive into the hilly back alleys and lanes of the kasbah to bargain for trinkets, carpets clothes and antiques . Plenty of would be guides will want to guide you . Take a break with a mint tee at Cafe Central. Cafe Gibraltar or Cafe Colon.
3. St Andrews Church:
The British were key players in Tangier until the early 20th century and this church was as a meeting
place for its expatriate church going community . It’s eclectic architecture featuring Mudejar and Moorish motifs underscores its role as a cross cultural meeting point as other Christian denominations as well as Jews and Moslems could pray here. Numerous Btitish expats who lived and died in Tangier are buried in its beautiful small garden cemetery.
4. American Legation:
Morocco was as the first country in the world to recognise the United States after its war of independence with Britain. And Morocco then became the site of the first American representative office in foreign lands.
It was located in Tangier and the American Legation as it’s known , founded in 1821, is still in the city today .The site has become a museum charting the history of the connection between the two nations.
5. Villa Harris:
Take a taxi ride through the new Tangier and then along the coast past it’s old fort to the home of the legendary London Times correspndent, Walter Harris, who entertained locals, expats artists and spies here in the early 29th century . Villa Harris is now an art gallery for contemporary artists set in a park, known as Park Harris.