Tetouan

Flowing down the foothills of the Rif Mountains in a dash of whitewashed cubist homes and Berber cottages, Tetouan is a masterstroke of Hispano-Moresque majesty. Its buildings, clad in arabesque filigrees and threaded with bustling souks, exude an Andalusian rusticity coupled with an earthy North African ambience. They belie a long and tumultuous history that has seen the comings and goings of Barbary pirates, Castilian invaders, Moorish exiles and Spanish reconquistadores to name just a few: a haze of influences that makes the medina’s UNESCO tag entirely deserved. The latter is packed with local craftspeople, a medley of magic carpets and tanned leatherwork, and handwoven fabrics, while further west the Spanish white washed architecture of Ensanche gives the town a different flair.

Between the sprawling city Kasbah and the myriad mosques and minarets that cluster here, Tetouan tour guides also reveal to keen travellers the wealth of Iberian--Mudéjar sites, from the grand Royal Palace to the ochre-coloured central church. And further afield rings of orange and almond and cypress groves encompass the city, eventually feathering out to the windswept beachfronts of the Tingitana Peninsula, where the enchanting fishing towns of Martil and Mdiq are kissed by the breezes of the Med.