Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
But because of Tangier's “international zone” status, Morocco's previous king (Has-
san II, who ruled from the 1960s through the 1990s) effectively disowned the city. He
made a point to divert all national investment away from his country's fourth-largest city,
denying it national funds for improvements. Over time, Tangier fell into a steep decline.
It was a neglected hellhole for a generation. The place made me nervous; I once called it
“the Tijuana of Africa.”
But the city changed radically in the first decade of the 2000s…and so has my assess-
ment of it. When King Mohammed VI took the throne in 1999, he reinvested funds to help
Tangier become a great city again. The difference is breathtaking. While Tangier is still
exotic—with its dilapidated French colonial and Art Deco buildings giving it a time-warp
charm—it's much more efficient, people-friendly, safe-feeling, and generally likable.
Checking into Hotel Continental, I was greeted by flamboyant Jimmy, who runs the
shop there. Jimmy knows every telephone area code in the US. A few years ago, I had
told him I was from Seattle. He said, “206.” Now I tested him again. He said, “206, 360,
425…new area codes.”
Hotel Continental had me looking for the English Patient. Gramophones gathered dust
on dressers under mangy chandeliers. A serene woman painted a sudsy figure-eight in the
loose tiles with her mop, day after day, surrounded by dilapidation that never went away.
