A city on the Strait.

Tangier faces the Strait of Gibraltar, and from 1925 to 1956, apart from a Spanish occupation during the Second World War, it was governed as an international zone. West of the city, the Rmilat forest covers the northern slopes of Jebel Kebir above the sea.

A city guide can give context without turning a neighbourhood into a backdrop. Notice how a house is placed to catch a view, how a forest frames it, or how a building borrows from far-off styles. Respect homes, working businesses and places of worship.

• Wikipedia on the Tangier International Zone↗

The Perdicaris Palace mixes the English Queen Anne style with classical and medieval elements: tiled roofs and gables beside crenellated towers, all in white walls among the pines.

Begin with a detail and ask how it was made, repaired and maintained. A photograph alone cannot tell you who built a tower or restored a ceiling, or the conditions in which they worked.

The Perdicaris Palace shows a different side of Tangier: a 19th-century house built in the forest outside the city, overlooking the Strait, later abandoned and restored as a heritage centre.

Look at the meeting of the two: a family house shaped by European taste, and a Moroccan forest that has grown up around it.

Pair this city reading with the palace’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places, commissions their restoration or represents their makers.

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