Tangier

On a clear day you can see the Spanish coast from the terrace of Café Hafa, open since 1921. Cargo ships cross the strait all day long. The medina drops towards the port in narrow staircases, and the east wind blows there for days at a time.

Tangier looks at two continents, and the city has always played on it. International status until 1956, writers in exile, smuggling, and for fifteen years now a port that has changed everything.

Café Hafa has been open since 1921. Its terraces step down towards the strait, you drink mint tea sitting on the ground, and on a clear day the Spanish coast is visible to the naked eye.

The medina drops towards the port in narrow staircases. The Petit Socco is its centre, with cafés whose furniture has not changed in fifty years.

The east wind blows for days at a time and empties the beaches. The west wind brings damp. People here know which one is coming before it arrives.

The Marshan district keeps the consuls' villas and a Punic necropolis cut into the rock, facing the sea. It is a twenty minute walk from the kasbah.