Tangier

Tangier's mystique is derived from its status as an International City where the glitterati, the rich, the adventurous and the curious crammed in to escape the hundrum realities of their lives in the USA and Europe. Artists, writers, aristocrats and scoundrels haunted the bars on the Grand Socco as the last saxaphones of the Jazz Age faded into the Muessin's call to prayer.

Something of that ambience still lingers in the steep cobbled roads that wind up from the harbour to the Grand Mosque, and the Medina is still the same maze of twisting lanes washed by the smells of mint, mimosa and kiff.

Tangier (or Tanger) boasts two main beaches in the town and several secluded coves and beaches within easy reach by car or taxi. From Tangier it is worth visiting the Rif mountains, Tetuan (a market town with Andalusian overtones) and Chefchaouen (a charming mountain town with white and blue washed buildings and winding pebbled lanes). The good-natured and quiet village of Asilah, 45 minutes from Tangier, with its fort and Greeky whitewashed houses is also well worth an excursion. It has several excellent fish restaurants, and every August artists use the whitewashed walls as canvas during the Festival of Asilah.