Day trip to Tangier (طنجة)

With one week left before session one students head back to the states, students had their last excursion of the program, Tangier. 

Tangier (or Tanja), has a long history due to its strategic location. When you visit the city of Tangier, you can see it was influenced by its many neighbors and invaders, throughout it’s history. For some time, Tangier was deemed an “international zone” and was divided among various countries (for example: France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, etc.) and to this day, there are many buildings that are still property of foreign nations. Fun fact: Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States as a legitimate nation and the first American embassy was in Tangier. The old embassy still stands till this day but now it is used by Tangier academics and locals for workshops and conferences.

Tangier was an international zone from 1912 and ended shorty after its independence in 1956. When people think of Tangier, most picture it during the time of the “international zone”, when foreigners flooded into the city and it is known for its “anything goes” period. During this time writers, socialites, artists and others came to Tangier to exchange ideas or have lavish parties, which were very common in the city and made the city world known.

The Tangier we know today continues to be a major tourist site but most importantly known for trade and is among one of the most important ports in the world.

Upon arrival to Tangier, students visited the Hercules Caves. The legend of Hercules caves is that, the Roman god himself, slept in the caves for one night during one of his many journeys. The caves are most well known for one of its two openings that is shaped like the “map of Africa”, facing the sea.

After their visit to the Hercules caves, students visited Cap Spartel, the most northern point of Africa, just 8 miles from Spain. On a clear day when you visit Cap Spartel, visitors can see the south of Spain.

Once students ate lunch at a traditional Tangier seafood restaurant, we were greeted by our guide, Mohammed. Mohammed was born and raised in Tangier and took the students on a tour of the old medina. On the tour students got to walk through the old medina/Kasbah and learned more about the history and culture of Tangier. Tangier is a well-known film location for many famous films like the Bond films, Inception but also was the inspiration for many artists, for example the modern artist, Matisse. The tour ended at the main square of the old medina at Cinema Riff, a place that used to be a meeting place for Tanjawi (or Tangier local) intellectuals.