Tangier

In one of the most beautiful bays of the Mediterranean, Tangier is the only city where you can swim in both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Despite the major construction site that has reigned there for several years, this mythical city that has attracted generations of writers and travelers is full of small historical treasures. The medina and the kasbah offer the traveler a guaranteed change of scenery. Dar-el-Makhzen, the sultan’s palace, is a very interesting visit. Let’s also highlight the fishing port of Tangier with its cries of seagulls, its arrests of fishermen: a real festival of sounds and colors!

tangier

Museums

Museum of the American Legation, whose building was granted to the United States in 1821 by the Sultan Moulay Suliman served as a consulate of the United States and a later legation, as well as a high traffic post for the intelligence agents of the Second World War and a Peace Corps training facility. Today, its courtyards and narrow corridors serve as an elaborate museum that demonstrates relations between the United States and Morocco and the Moroccan heritage, including a wing dedicated to Paul Bowles, where you can see the documents and photographs of the writer donated to the museum by the gallerist and friend of the writer Gloria Kirby in 2010.

Fondation Lorin (Musée de la Fondation Lorin), Rue Abdallah Ben Hachimi 44. An art museum, or maybe rather an archive related to the history of Tangier opened in 1930 in a former synagogue. In addition to art, there are newspapers, photographs and posters on display.

In popular culture

Main article: Tangier in popular culture

Espionage

Tangier has been reputed as a safe house for international spying activities. Its position during the Cold War and during other spying periods of the 19th and 20th centuries is legendary.

Tangier acquired the reputation of a spying and smuggling centre and attracted foreign capital due to political neutrality and commercial liberty at that time. It was via a British bank in Tangier that the Bank of England in 1943 for the first time obtained samples of the high-quality forged British currency produced by the Nazis in “Operation Bernhard“.

The city has also been a subject for many spy fiction books and films (see Tangier in popular culture).

Gallery

  • Panoramic view of Tangier
  • The Palace of Justice, c. 1900
  • The Palace of Justice, 2015
  • Jewish Cemetery
  • Souk
  • City walls
  • Religious pluralism in Tangier (two churches and one mosque)

Notable landmarks

American Legation entrance

Mohammed V Mosque

Anglican Church of St. Andrew

Hotel Continental

The old town is still surrounded by the remains of what was once more than 1,829 metres (6,000 ft) of stone rampart. Most of it dates to the town’s Portuguese occupation, with restoration work later undertaken at different times. Three major bastions were the Irish Tower (Bordj al-Naʿam), York Castle (Bordj dar al-Barud), and the Bordj al-Salam.