Fez city a cultural heritage Morocco

Fez el Bali, the old town of Fez, is one of the biggest medieval cities in the world and one of the jewels of Morocco. This immense medina is classed as a Worldwide Heritage Site by UNESCO. Secret corners abound, giving the impression of life in another time.

Pass through the Bab Boujeloud, one of the fourteen gates in the ramparts of Fez el Bali, and you enter a fascinating world where clocks seem to have stopped long ago, around the year 808 AD, the year of its foundations. It was then that it became the first capital of the Kingdom under Idriss II. Improved under the Almoravid (1061-1147) and Almohad dynasties (1147-1248), Fez grew and became an important political and commercial centre in the 13th century under the Merinids. In the 19th century, King Moulay Abdallah made it the spiritual and cultural heart of Morocco.

Fez a cultural heritage

Twelve centuries of history have fashioned this magnificent imperial city. Several of the country’s most beautiful buildings can be found in this very cosmopolitan centre.

The Medina alone, unchanged since its origins, covers 330 hectares. It is a disconcerting labyrinth made up of 9,400 tortuous alleys, where it is a pleasure to lose yourself.185 mosques and nearly 500 palaces can be found there, including some of the gerns of Arabo-Andalusian architecture. Important works are taking place that will restore this fantastic heritage site to its former glory.

Tetouane: ‘Daughter of Granada’

The Daughter of Granada You see these Berber women again, deep in the heart of the Medina at Tetouane, the equally fascinating and historic centre of this elegant city east of Tangier. In the Berber language Tetouane means ‘open your eyes’, probably refering to its rapid construction in the 15th century by Andalucian refugees. Exiled from Southern Spain, these Muslim and Jewish settlers brought with them a sophisticated architectural and decorative tradition evident in the elaborate wrought iron balconies, ornate plasterwork and gleaming tiles. Tetouanis call their city ‘Daughter of Granada’, and the well maintained formal grandeur of the buildings fronting wide straight Iberian-style streets contrasts vividly with the disorder of the miniscule alleys of the Medina fascinating but hectic, with every kind of commercial and craft endeavour. Yet its inhabitants, given a smile and a « Bonjour », are fulsomely warm and welcoming.

The pace really slows down in the charming, sleepy little town of Asilah, beneath which the sea laps at 16th century Portuguese ramparts. Its Palais Raisuli was the headquarters of the notorious bandit Ahmed el Raisuli who succeeded in extracting a handsome ransom for the Times correspondent Walter Harris who he’d kidnapped but who became his friend. The palace of the pirate-pasha is now the competitions venue for painters, poets and musicians every August. Asilah is famous for its murals, painted on every available space during its two week cultural festival.
Tetouane, Asilah, the lovely town of Chechaouan, and of course Tangier itself, are the main lures away from hotel, pool and beach for travellers to this region. Nowadays another kind of visitor is drawn to this beautiful coastline where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, and Spain almost touches Morocco. The cosmopolitan yachting fraternity has begun to appreciate how different the two worlds are.

Marinasmir, Morocco’s first leisure marina provides an exciting contrast as a pleasure destination to some of the marinas in southern Spain. Expertly managed by Marina Marbella, the port provides all the modem requirements and necessities for luxury boats to more comfortably and safely, yet with the charm of North Africa just outside the gates. The adjoining 4km of beaches are almost emerald Caribbean. The port itself has many international and local restaurants; there are also clubs and pubs – but in the greatest possible Moorish taste, as the style is strictly traditional. Visitors in July and August will enjoy meeting the Moroccan jet set from Rabat and Casablanca, when BMW’s and Sea Rays motor boats play elegantly, with just a hint of Gucci or Paris on the piers. Every August Marina Marbella put on a gala Moroccan night with a huge flotilla of boats enjoying bedouin tents, snake charmers, camel rides, traditional dancing, couscous, mint teas and open fires.

For those not living on board, elegant and still reasonably-priced villas and flats built in the modern Moorish style are one alternative.
Lovers of beach holidays without crowds and with all the creature comforts should take a close look at the Hyatt Hotel at Marinasmir.lt boasts a river-like swimming pool through the links gardens, leading almost to the sandy beach via a spectacular ha-ha waterfall. Located just a pebble’s throw from the fun of the Marina, guests can enjoy barbecues on the panoramic terraces at lunchtime and dine portside in the evening – and there’s a lively piano bar and international restaurant too. The hotel is a real swinger in July and August, but for the other months it makes a tranquil and luxurious getaway.

The secret is out – the whisper is that this part of the North African coast is the new Cote d’Azur. It’s no secret that the official Tangier ‘season’ begins on April 1st and ends on November 15th, but my advice is to go there soon – at any time of the year.

Tangier, a city « by invitation »

Party Invitations There is a secret Tangier, a city « by invitation », of which you might not be aware, unless you know the right person, and have been ‘properly’ introduced. « The most interesting things about Tangier the average tourist doesn’t get to see;’ I was told time and time again, and was blessed to be initiated into a few of them by kind residents of the artistic community. There’s no ambience more redolent of the expatriate love affair with Morocco than David Herbert’s home, but that enchanting house and garden are not advertised, and in any case have only a few bedrooms.

I was also invited to the private home of Anne Lambton, who gives select lunch and dinner parties for specialist travel agents such as Annie Austin, whose company Secret Homes and Gardens – also offers Special Garden Tours to Morocco. Similarly, Tangier Revisited invites their customers to private lunches and dinners in Tangerine homes as part of their art and furnishing buying trips. Guests can see for themselves how individual artefacts can be put to the most ingenious and beautiful of decorative uses and give them ideas and inspiration for their own places back home.

Real Moroccan Cuisine Terroir was prepared for a stimulating group of international guests that day by Anne Lambton’s cook. The lovely Villa Palma, high up on Vielle Montagne, is a covetable example of indoor/outdoor Tangier lifestyle, plant-filled and decorated with Anne’s needlepoint work with its Iion-theme imagery.

In the evening I was escorted into the heart of the Medina to an extraordinary home owned by Australian-born Barry Stern. A serious art collector, Barry has brought together antique and contemporary works from all over the world, and took me on an hour-long tour of his miniature Moorish palace, in which he holds parties rumoured to rival those of Barbara Hutton (who used to pay guests to go away when she grew bored), or Gore Vidal, Tennessee Williams… Yves Saint Laurent – any of the celebrities who chose to create a home in Tangier.

Tangier history in Morocco

Drawn by the light of North Africa, the oriental architecture of Tangier, her warm people – and not least by the temperate climate – painters, musicians and authors have settled in this riveting city since the 1920′s.

Artists from Delacroix onwards, including Matisse and Van Dongen – right up to Francis Bacon – have painted here. I was shown Degas’ signature from 1899 in the guest book of the unmissable Hotel Continental.

Famous – and at times controversial- as a gay resort, it drew Oscar Wilde, Truman Capote and Joe Orton amongst myriad others. Tangier was the inspiration of the Beat Writers of the Fifties, such as William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, and home to an occasionally outrageous, often bizarre, always colourful floating community of exiles, refugees and expatriates. Though the American author Paul Bowles may have immortalised Tangier’s disreputable aspect – and has become a legendary figure in the Tangier city, still living there in utter seclusion – Moroccan resistance fighters found refuge in Tangier, achieving the expulsion of the Spanish and French. It is this gloriously rich pageant of past lives and times that makes the city so addictive.
Visiting the city today you have no excuse to lie and fry on the beach – there’s the thoroughly Mediterranean alterative of art galleries, museums, as well as people-watching from cafes and bars or on the evening Pasco – that see-and-be-seen ritual so beloved of southern European towns. Part of Tangier’s questionable contemporary reputation is that it is perceived as seedy and run-down, and indeed some of the famous cafés and hotels have seen better days decoratively. But for me that’s part of their hugely atmospheric charm – shades of early James Bond movies and even earlier Bogart/Bacall classics. The terraces of the Cafe Hafa, overlooking the Strait, are by no means smart, but this was the haunt of the Rolling Stones in their prime, and of Seventies hippies. Dream on, along with the snoozing cats.

Morocco Tangier’s Medina Moorish architectural

Drawn to Tangier Barbara Hutton, the Woolworth heiress – she who had the streets of Tangier’s Medina widened to allow her Rolls Royce access to her palace – may no longer be giving away her silk underwear after a day’s use, but there’s still a high-flying international community treating Tangier as home, rather than as a secondary residence, inter-marrying and – in several cases – leaving their properties to Moroccans on their deaths.

In the poetic gardens of the English Church of St Andrew, where Moorish architectural details meet English country churchyard, I found the tombstone of the British writer David Herbert, inscribed simply « He Loved Morocco« . I was taken to his house by another Briton, who with his partner have established an active outlet for contemporary Moroccan art – the Tanjah Flandriah Gallery. Herbert’s house was willed to Jdaoudi Noureddine, who cared tenderly for Herbert until his death – « like I would look after my baby sister », our Moroccan driver commented. Now Noureddine and his family tend and live in a complex of three homes (one of which was built for them by Herbert during his lifetime), receiving guests in two of them. The main house is a symphony of fashionable Moroccan style, with its Moorish arches revealing one vividly painted room after another, local fabrics and furniture, and one of the most peaceful gardens imaginable. We sipped mint tea outside in February, while bright little birds twittered, and pink bougainvillea already clambered luxuriantly over the coral-coloured walls.

Tangier city of secrets in Morocco

The Tangier city had a reputation for intrigue during its years as an International Zone, a glamour that attracted artists and heiresses alike. Juliet Highet goes behind the scenes to find the secret places of Tangier and its coast.

« That African perdition called Tangier:’ remarked Mark Twain about the oldest continually inhabited city in Morocco, the original gateway to Africa from Europe, controlled by a rollcall of different powers down the millenia.

Just 15 kms across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain, and at the western entrance to the Mediterranean, Tangier has always been an alluring prize. Like a Paul Klee painting it sprawls flat-roofed in shades of white and grubbier grey across low hills and around a very useful port, its skyline elegiacally pierced by minarets, domes, and Christian spires – as well as satellite dishes and TV aerials. For this is a quintessentially eclectic, tolerant city, immediately to the north of the Rif mountains which separate Tangier’s more Mediterranean culture from the rest of Morocco.

Controlled at times during its history by the Portuguese, the Spanish and the British (the latter briefly and somewhat ignominiously), it was considered too hot to handle during the first part of this century, and so from 1912 to 1956 it was declared an International Zone. It was during this period as an International City, misruled by foreign consuls and lacking regulations, that Tangier acquired its awesome reputation for intrigue and indulgence – drooled over by a rich corpus of literature, film and art.