Many famous writers like Paul Bowles and William Burroughs visited Tangier and even called it their home. Tangier was also the world’s first and famous gay resort – a role it maintains to a lesser degree today. The city is very popular with tourists and Moroccan holiday makers as it has beautiful beaches to entertain them. Tangier has three sources of wealth; the port, Cannabis and ferrying would-be immigrants. This beautiful city is energetic, very likeable, extremely individual and has an enduring peculiarity.

Accommodation

Tangier has many hotels and pensions in either the Medina or the Ville Nouvelle. The city has two campsites: Camping Miramonte and Camping Tingis. Both are situated close to the city center and in walking distance of several beaches. They are safe and convenient.

Things to See & Do

The beaches

The beaches are a big attraction in Tangier with people enjoying camel rides, windsurfing, acrobatics and football. The beaches here have a number of beach bars that are only open in the summer. Most of them offer showers, deck chairs, food and drink and provide cabarets at night. Click here for general information on the beaches in Morocco.

Place de France

Place de France is a small French-looking square right in the middle of the Ville Nouvelle with many friendly, inviting street cafés.

The Grand Socco

Visit the Grand Socco Market Square with its good street cafés and absorb the city life. The market sells everything including arts and crafts, fruit and vegetables and plain old junk.

The Mendoubia Gardens

Enjoy the inviting shade that surrounds the Grand Socco Square in the midsummer afternoons. This garden contains a fascinating banyan tree that’s over 800 years old.

The Caves of Hercules

The Caves of Hercules are situated 14km west of Tangier in the Cap Spartel area. It is a place of great beauty and archeological significance.

Cuisine & Nightlife

Tangier’s nightlife is not really something to get excited about, although there are a few good bars and discos and some of the cafés in Grand Socco Square stay open all night. If you’re looking for a basic inexpensive restaurant or café you’ll find what you’re looking for in the Medina. If a fancy meal is more your style, then Ville Nouvelle is the place to be.

Getting Around

Tangier, like most Moroccan cities, consists of a Medina and a Ville Nouvelle that makes it very easy to move around. Grands taxis are allowed to carry up to six passengers; they are quick and efficient and are a good value for money. Petit taxis can be caught almost anywhere in town. They may not carry more than three passengers and are metered. Petit and Grands taxis increase their rates at fifty percent after 8pm at night. City buses are very useful; they operate between the airport, the train station, Grand Socco and the Caves of Hercules. Click here for further information on getting around in Morocco.

The Caves of Hercules

The Mendoubia Gardens

Place de France

Cuisine - Mechoui

Tangier Beaches

Available at Gargyle for $135

Refined and elegant, the Perrelet EVE respects an aesthetic harmony very close to the bewitching Perrelet Diamond Flower. The mysterious deep black ceramic case contrasts with the sensual experience of the white ceramic version.
A touch of originality runs along the bezel engraved with the initial “P.”.

The glass back reveals a remarkably decorated automatic movement with its unique finish and its rotor set with a crystal engraved with Perrelet. The white or black lacquered dials are embellished with Arabic numerals and mirror appliques in the shape of petals. This subtle combination of precision and finesse seem to offer a different spectacle, depending on the lighting or the angle of observation.

There is a surprising alternative to the magnificent ceramic bracelets – a black or white structured rubber strap, fitted with a steel folding clasp.

Valued at $1695, the Mayfair Steamer Extra-Large Trunk is available at Restoration Hardware

This 1774 Ebony Rugato Calfskin Upright Trolley is available for $2,338.00 at Forzieri

This year’s new Haute Joaillerie models tell the tale of an enchanting time in which watchmaking magic is admirably expressed through that of the decorative arts.

The genius and the interpretive talent of the jewellery craftsmen exercising their art within the Manufacture set a glittering stage for Haute Horlogerie.
The expertise of the masterwatchmakers is matched by the virtuoso skills of the gem-setters: these authentic artists excel in clothing watches with the mysterious snow-setting and meeting specific aesthetic demands such as those involved in decorating reversible cases. Echoing time-honoured traditional methods, the constant quest for perfection and innovation pervades each and every gesture and makes each watch unique because it is magnified by the human hand.

These specialised crafts that have found their way through time and continue to enrich the Jaeger-LeCoultre heritage reveal the mysterious beauty of watches that are transformed into jewellery creations that become genuine works of art sublimated by inspiration and the love of detail.

In the workshops of the Grande Maison, art is a vocation, and magic is second nature.

Price: $2,730.00

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The new branch of Slim’s Soumaya museum, named for his late wife, is expected to open in November.

It will be the second museum opened by Slim, whose over $50-billion empire includes Latin America’s leading cell phone services provider, adding to an initial public collection in the Mexican capital featuring works by painters Salvador Dali, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and others.

The museum, designed by son-in-law Fernando Romero, is a six-story, chimney-shaped structure covered in shiny panels.

It will be the anchor of a new development, including offices, apartments and retail, that Slim is building in western Mexico City with an initial investment of $750 million.

Leading a tour of the new museum on Tuesday for reporters, Slim said the museum’s lobby would feature a piece by Rufino Tamayo, one of Mexico’s best known painters.

Entry into the museum will be free.

Reuters

Christie Wo is impatient with all the cheesy gossip about her in newspapers and magazines: which billionaire is she dating? Which celebrity function is she attending? She wonders why people don’t pay more attention to her empire – the luxury merchandizing empire she has meticulously built.

Wo is president and CEO of Charmonde Luxury Limited and Charmonde Watches Limited. She’s wowed the adepts of the watch industry and in the process shaken up the male-dominated watch trade. Her rise to success has been exceptionally quick. One doesn’t acquire the accolade, “the Queen of Timepieces”, sipping mochas at the Chouette flagship shop in Central. That is what she was doing however, on a rainy afternoon recently, as she reflected on her stunning rise for China Daily.

“I was more into arts than business when I was small,” she admits. “I adore the beautiful and fine stuff, not just watches.”

An old boyfriend told her she would be a success in business, saying she had great public relations skills.

He was right. She was named Distinguished CEO of the Year in 2005, Mediazone’s Business Woman of the Year in 2007, the World’s Outstanding Chinese Award, Honorary Doctorate in Business Management from Armstrong University in the US. The list gets longer. She sits on the boards of several corporations. One of the qualities that distinguishes Wo is her innate knack for knowing what sells.

Before she really got started on her climb up the ladder, her own sense of what she liked and didn’t like told her that the ladies’ watches on the market weren’t very inspiring.

“Women buy watches with two purposes, as accessories and as value-added investments,” Wo commented. “In my view, the right watch is one that reflects your personality.”

She thought good timepieces should work together with ladies’ fashion and didn’t think the luxury, name brand watches at the time did that very well.

Wo’s idea was to make watches and fashion work together. She started going to fashion shows, tuned in to next season’s colors, patterns and styles.

She knew her dream was going to demand a lot of capital. She wasn’t born into a rich family. Wistfully, she turned to her own carefully assembled collection of watch treasures and sold it.

“I used to buy a watch if I liked the watchmaker’s brand. Today, I’d rather be the agent for the watchmaker,” she said, with a laugh.

Today Wo sells the image of prosperity and stylishness.

It took a while to get there. She was no overnight success in the watch trade.

She worked hard, sold hard and made plenty of mistakes; survived those along with the other trials that found her along the path.

Wo signed on as exclusive agent in Hong Kong for one well-known company. The contract was abruptly terminated when the brand chose to appoint a listed company as its sole agent instead.

The watchmaker had hung Wo “out to dry”, as the saying goes. She had made advertising commitments. There were billboard and magazine covers organized. Wo believed she had no alternative but to fulfill those commitments – and since she had no capital, chose to be her own model.

What started out looking like a last ditch effort for survival proved a stunning success.

“During the month I appeared in the advertisements, none of the shops had more than five watches left,” she recalled. Wo has become the icon of the company.

Wo was hurt by the setbacks but bears no grudge. She declares herself grateful for all the challenges she had to overcome when starting out. “Whatever does not kill you makes you stronger. If they had been good to me, I would not have left them and started my brand,” she noted.

Her confidence was not shaken by the reality. After the major setback, Wo set about, in 2008, establishing a Chinese luxury brand, Chouette. “Who says only Europe can produce luxury items or watches?” she said with characteristic self-confidence. “I know it’s a difficult task and people may think I’m living in a dream.”

Her dream however proved to be no illusion. Since her company was founded only two years ago, her empire has expanded to the mainland, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Her aim is to become firmly entrenched on the mainland, with a target of 200 sales locations over the next three years.

Wo calls Chouette a lifestyle brand. Chouette’s mascot is an owl which she says symbolizes wisdom and beauty. Chouette presents a contemporary- meets-classic approach to attainable luxury with desirable items for everyday living. Whatever she does next, Wo has boosted the prestige of avant-garde luxury products which she has introduced to the chic modern women.

Wo is passionate about her work. She spends more than 10 hours a day at it. “I enjoy doing my job. If you love your job, you will see miracles. If you don’t, you will end up sitting on your sorry butt and accomplish nothing.”

To many, Wo is a success based on the scale of her business. She doesn’t think a favorable public report card is a true measure of success. “The first victory is considered successful, what about the second and the third time?” she queried. At times, people question her ability due to her stunning looks. “They think I can do this and that because I’m pretty and ignore hard work,” Wo said.

Wo accepts the comments targeted at her, positive or negative. “I do not feel humiliated or angered by people’s rude comments. I am thankful to them. People talk about you because they know you exist. If you’re nobody, they won’t give a damn whether you pee on the street,” she said.

As a faithful follower of Vajrayana Buddhism, Wo reads Buddhist literature for solace and communicates with the living Buddha, seeking guidance when something is bothering her. She once asked her master how she could control her insatiable ambition. The answer came to her that the endless pursuit of fortune is “greed”. “Beating your competitors should not be your ultimate goal. Your goal is to work your best so as to help more people,” was her understanding.

“You’re lucky to be the champion once. If you strive for the infinite victory, you won’t be happy about it,” he taught her.

Talking about her short-term goals, Wo says she wants to start a family and for her brand to achieve worldwide popularity within five years. Other than that, she wants to extend a helping hand to as many people as possible.