Bienvenue à Tanger! The city on Morocco’s northern coast has earned a certain reputation as a favorite playground for Western counter-culture writers, bohemians and other non-conformists. In the mid-20th century, none other than Barbara Hutton, Paul Bowles, William S. Burroughs, Tennessee Williams, the Rolling Stones, Yves Saint-Laurent and many other celebs made the city their temporary or permanent home.
Today, the typical Western visitor is a day-tripper, taking a break from beach holidays on Spain’s southern Atlantic coast, the Costa de la Luz. The ferry from Tarifa in Spain takes just over an hour to Tangier.
Crossroads of Cultures
Tangier’s unique strategic location at the northernmost tip of Morocco, close to the Strait of Gibraltar, has made it a crossroads of cultures and civilizations for centuries. The first settlers are thought to have been the Carthaginians, followed by the Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Portuguese, Spanish and French. This diversity is reflected in the city’s architecture, people, languages, art, music, food, etc.
In the middle of the 20th century, the city was governed by European allies as the Tangier International Zone, semi-independent of Morocco. This status, which lasted for more than two decades, shaped the city’s image as a cosmopolitan haven where supposedly anything was possible.
A Popular Film Location
The city hosted many consulates and diplomatic missions and eventually became a popular setting for crime and spy thrillers. This image was echoed even decades later by films such as “The Bourne Ultimatum” (2007) and the James Bond episodes “The Living Daylights” (1987) and “SPECTRE” (2015), which used Tangier as a backdrop.
