Tangier has reputation for intrigue, a place people go to to start a new life, where artists, writers and musicians loitered. But this is not what defines the city, it is a city filled with a great depth of history beyond this. Tangier (ancient Tingis) was already an old city before Paris or London even existed. The likes Kerouac, Bowles, Burroughs and The Stones are a slender sentence in the War and Peace sized novel that is Tangier.
Expatriates ranging from dandies to those with a thousand yard stare rub shoulders with Berber men in djellaba’s and they bargain in the souks side by side. The acquiescence extends to writers and musicians, who, over generations, sat in these old cafes, out of the gaze of the day. One can sit in these French-style cafes in and near the Petit Socco and read and ruminate too, while sipping mint tea or espresso. You could be in the South of France or Spain but then you hear the haunting tones of the call to prayer, and despite the proximity to Europe, you realise you may be far from home.
There are the intermittent throngs of day trippers who arrive en masse, looking for a glimpse, a selfie and a souvenir then back on the last ferry to Spain again, or back on the cruise ship. For 20 minutes the square and cafes are crowded, and noisy, then the quirky dignity returns.
At night restaurants and retail stores are busy, cafes are occupied, the streets are humming as vendors appear from the shadows, set up stalls selling clothes and shoes on the footpath and then, after a frenzy of bargaining, they disappear back to the side street shadows just as quickly as they appeared.
Tangier has many gifts bestowed upon it, such as a strategic locale, the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, a rich history and culture and rich architecture – from European colonial facades to the beautiful old winding Medina streets to decorative Mosques. It mixes Africa with Spain and France, Islam with Western style, and despite all of these wonderful things, the best gift you receive from Tangier is the chance to find your own anecdote and find a way feature in the city’s extensive, long narrative. It’s just waiting to be written.
J_Alan 