Tangier Morocco, it is said, has a magic. This is not a magic that is immediately evident to the day tourist. Maybe it would be more fitting to say it ‘had’ a magic.

It has a fascination, yes. For many it is a culture-shock as 35 minutes after leaving Europe you are on the African continent and the contrast can be quite overwhelming. It takes at least a day to acclimatize, to feel comfortable in the small narrow shopping streets of the Medina where bargaining is a way of life, and to adjust to the number of beggars – who beg but do not hassle you as can happen in Europe (and as I have experienced in both Amsterdam and Paris).

To me, any ‘magic’ is somewhat ‘passée’, only to be conjured up by reference to the past when Tangier Morocco was the hub of the international community of famous artists (Matisse, Delacroix, McBay etc.) and writers (Paul Bowles) and films stars (Barbara Hutton) who lived and worked here…. but they are long since gone.

Tangier Morocco was not a favourite place of the former King, Hassan II, who died in 1999, and it fell into a state of tatty disrepair from which it will take a long time to recover. Other cities in Morocco modernized rapidly over the last ten years. Tangier definitely got left behind. However, that is changing (slowly) largely because of the interest of the new, young King, Mohamed VI. It will take time, but as a regular visitor over the last ten years, I can see and feel the changes, although today the amount of dirt and plastic-tat is still a major eyesore. Nonetheless, Tangier Morocco is a place that grows on you (me!). You need to stay longer and in the right hotel in Tangier Morocco with sufficient comfort and cleanliness and to have the right contacts in order to see the best and avoid the worst. Get one of the shopkeepers to take you up to his roof terrace (where he will probably offer you a mint tea) and look out over the higgledy piggeldy rooftops through an incredible maze of TV aerials up to the mosque and maybe you, too, will then experience a certain fascination.

Don’t judge Morocco just on Tangier. Go south. Marrakech is now the in-place with fabulous Riads, restaurants and designer goods as well as film stars and film crews. The High Atlas offers breathtaking scenery. Visit Ouarzazate, Taroudant and Erfoud to give you the feel of the real Morocco, and in my view you cannot fail to be entranced by the sheer aesthetic beauty of the Gorges du Dades, the Kasbahs and the desert.

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My opinion on Tangier
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