h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It seems to me to be out of date, out of touch, and focuses on really irrelevant facts and history. I am London born and live in London, but am Moroccan in origin, and I visit Morocco (Tangiers) every year. Tangiers is today one of the most relaxing, hassle-free places to take a break in all the places I have been in the world. What's more it's just 3 hours from the UK by plane.

In my view you have to be a pretty dim person to be able to get in to any sort of trouble in Tangiers, if you are there for vice / cheap drugs and get into trouble then to be honest you asked for it.

Tangiers has become a very modern city, people are great, sure many want to make a buck, but Morocco is not quite made up of the rich and well to do set as in Europe / US, life a little hard for many out there, the same could be said for a hundred other destinations.

What's more, I feel that when talking about cities in Morocco, we must not forget hat the country as a whole is well served by transport links and one can simply decide one morning to venture to another city if they wish, visiting Tangiers (or any other city in Morocco) doesn't mean you have to stay there.

Countless times when in Tangiers I have got up in the morning and decided I want to spend the day in, say, Tetouan or Chefchaouen. Or, spend a couple of days down south in Marrakech or Essaouira. I must say, however, whenever I return to Tangiers, I feel this breath of fresh air and calm as soon as I enter the place.

In short, Tangiers todY is cool, calm, well developed and very largely free of any ill-trades (at the time kept alive mostly by non-Moroccans) it may have attracted in the past.

I found your post interesting because I, like yourself, am a Moroccan although not homegrown!

I'm in Tangiers as I write this and tend to agree with you about the notion that Tangiers may very well have the negative reputation portrayed by the original h2g2 review, becuase of the influence of foriegners or the ex pat community that resided here during the post war years.
My one problem with the Tangiers of today is that, from what I can see, it still clings to the inherited debauched past, only these days it seems to be populated by, either the indigenous visitors from other Moroccan cities desperate to become part of a global community being fed by McDonalds and listening to loud and, to be frank, long since outdated, european dance music, or the vast majority of the returning diaspora on holiday from Holland, the UK, France et al.

I decided to come to Tangiers on holiday for a couple of weeks to get a little rest, but I regret that decision now as it seems that, like New York, New York it is a city that never sleeps. That's ok for the younger crowd who are searching for excitement, but I strongly suggest to anyone considering visiting that they should avoid the months of July and August if like me they are trying to get away from it all and get any sort of sleep!

Just so I don't sound like Victor Meldrew (ie miserable old git) I agree that due to the excellent transport provision in Morocco, Tangiers is the perfect starting point for anyone wishing to travel on within Morocco, experiencing the history & culture of this wonderful country.

I'm going to come back later on in the year (insha'allah) as I found it a totally different place when I last visited a few Octobers ago, but for the time being let me finish by saying that I hope that Tangiers and all the other major cities in Morocco eventually find their own identity and stop this ridiculous and sad clammering for membership of the Starbucks/Mcdees lifestyle that so blights most of the big cities of the developing world.

A very tired and bleary eyed Adel72.

Ta ra.