Tangier
Where Africa Almost Touches Europe
From Andalusia to Tangier
Whitewashed villages like Vejer or Medina-Sidonia, rolling hills, olive groves, a plate of tapas in a shaded courtyard, one last glance across the landscape, then the road leads south to Tarifa.
Among dunes, Moorish walls and small concept stores, often run by newcomers blending surf culture with design and craftsmanship, Tarifa reveals a character all its own, part Bohemian, part Andalusian history. Just 14 kilometers separate the shores. In Tarifa, the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean. It is here that Europe meets Africa across the water. The ferry to Tangier takes just an hour. As the ship docks, sounds, scents and colors seem subtly realigned, familiar and yet entirely different. Suddenly the air is filled with the scent of mint tea. Just a few nautical miles and everything feels changed.
Tangier
Here the continents are divided only by a narrow stretch of sea.
On clear days, the Spanish town of Tarifa appears so close across the water it seems almost within reach. But Tangier is far more than a geographical border. It feels like a place suspended between worlds, and even between times.
The Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans once valued its location, later it became a center of Islamic culture and learning. In the 16th century, the Spanish, too, were drawn to its charm. For centuries it remained a meeting point of cultures, a refuge for writers, artists and free spirits. Matisse, Paul Bowles, Jean Genet, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, William S. Burroughs and the Rolling Stones all passed through. Today, the city has reinvented itself, quieter perhaps, but still with the same magnetic pull, drawing in curious travelers and creative minds.
The medina feels timeless, with its whitewashed houses and narrow alleys.
In the hills above, the air carries the scent of salt and jasmine.
It’s easy to think of Paul Bowles, the American writer and composer who spent nearly his entire life here until his death in 1999. His famous novel The Sheltering Sky was written here, and his home became a gathering place for writers like Burroughs and Capote.
Bowles once wrote,
Tangier is more New York than New York.
And William S. Burroughs wrote:
Tangier is a place where the past and the present exist simultaneously, where anything can happen and usually does.
Villa Mabrouka
Nestled in a lush garden above the city lies Villa Mabrouka. Once the private refuge of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. In Les Paradis secrets d’Yves Saint Laurent et de Pierre Bergé by Jacques Grange, we read how the two purchased the villa in 1997 and asked Grange to design it. The idea: a slightly eccentric Englishman from the 1950s settling in Morocco. Each room was given its own color, one blue, a salon all in yellow like a stage set for a Tennessee Williams play.
“Here in Morocco, both in Marrakesh and Tangier, I found again the climate of my childhood,” Yves said. “The vegetation brings me great peace.”
Today, Villa Mabrouka is an elegant boutique hotel with just twelve suites, lovingly restored by British designer Jasper Conran. The atmosphere is effortlessly chic. Light-filled rooms blend Moroccan craftsmanship with French esprit and a hint of English country house charm, just as Yves Saint Laurent originally envisioned it. It might sound like an eclectic mix, but when surrounded by handmade tiles, fine fabrics and custom-made furniture, it all feels just right. Everything is thoughtfully chosen, nothing overdone.
Two pools, one carved into the rock, the other lined with emerald-green tiles, offer calm and views of the sea. The garden, designed by Madison Cox, is filled with bougainvillea, orange trees and agapanthus. The experience is so complete, so sensorial, it invites you to linger for hours, immersed in scents and color.
A place that captures a feeling of life found only here, even for those familiar with Yves Saint Laurent’s work and world.
What lingers is not just his style, but a longing for beauty, stillness and retreat.
Tangier is not a city to be explained. It must be experienced.
Those who come often stay longer than planned.
And if not, it lingers in them until they return.
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Leyla
