Morocco Travel Guide

BAR

BAR

BAR

Offline map Google map ( El-Minzah, 85 Rue de la Liberté; wine from Dh50; 10am-midnight)
Long the establishment’s drinking hole of choice, this el-Minzah landmark is a classy relic of the
grand days of international Tangier. There’s a pianist tinkling away; when he takes a break, it’s
likely the Bee Gees will croon instead. Women are more than welcome, and the adjacent
restaurant-wine bar is equally good.

Pilo

Offline map Google  map (   cnr Ave Mexique &   Rue de  Fès)    A   party   atmosphere  pervades    these

two floors of local colour, underscored by some high-energy music and festive lighting. Recently
redecorated, it sports red walls and year-round Christmas decorations. Women can feel
comfortable here, though the working girls are upstairs.

Americain’s Pub

Offline map Google  map (   Rue al-Moutanabi;    noon-2am)  Don’t   be  fooled  by  the name:   this    pub

is outfitted as an authentic part of the London underground, with white tiled walls, ubiquitous red
trim and signage far more authentic than the Bobbies would appreciate. It’s the perfect place to
hide: there’s no street number, and the phone is out of order.

Hole in the Wall Bar

Offline map Google  map (   Rue du  Prince  Heretier;   beer    from    Dh18;    11am-midnight) For

chuckles only, walk up Rue du Prince Heretier from the Terrasse des Paresseux one-and-a-half
blocks and you will see a pair of swinging black doors, Old West style. Welcome to the
smallest bar in Tangier, if not the world. Beer only.

PAUL BOWLES IN TANGIER

Perhaps the best-known  foreign writer  in  Tangier was the American    author  Paul    Bowles, who died    in  1999,   aged    88. Bowles

made    a   brief   but life-changing   trip    to  Tangier in  1910,   on  Gertrude    Stein’s advice, then    devoted the next    15  years   to  music

composition and criticism   back    home.   In  1938    he  married Jane    Sydney  Auer,   but they    were    never   a   conventional    couple  –   he

was an  ambivalent  bisexual    and she was an  active  lesbian.    After   WWII    Bowles  took    her to  Tangier,    where   he  remained    the rest

of  his life.   Here    he  turned  to  writing amid    a   lively  creative    circle, including   the likes   of  Allen   Ginsberg    and William Burroughs.

During  the 1950s   Bowles  began   taping, transcribing    and translating stories by  Moroccan    authors,    in  particular  Driss   ben

Hamed   Charhadi    (also   known   by  the pseudonym   Larbi   Layachi)    and Mohammed    Mrabet. He  was also    an  important   early

recorder    of  Moroccan    folk    music.  This    has,    until   very    recently,   been    held    exclusively,    on  78rpm   records,    at  the Library of

Congress    in  the US.

Thanks  partly  to  Bernardo    Bertolucci’s    1990    film,   Bowles’ best-known  book    is  The Sheltering  Sky (1949), a   bleak   and

powerful    story   of  an  innocent    American    couple  slowly  dismantled  by  a   trip    through Morocco.    His other   works   include Let It

Come    Down    (1952), a   thriller    set in  Tangier;    The Spider’s    House,  set in  1950s   Fez;    and two excellent   collections of  travel  tales:

Their   Heads   Are Green   (1963)  and Points  in  Time    (1982). A   Distant Episode:    the Selected    Stories is  a   good    compilation of

Bowles’ short   stories.

There   is  a   dark    and nihilistic  undercurrent    to  the Bowles’ writing as  fellow  writer  Norman  Mailer  describes,  ‘Paul   Bowles

opened  the world   of  Hip.    He  let in  the murder, the drugs,  the death   of  the Square...the    call    of  the orgy,   the end of  civilization’.

Other   commentators    have    tried   to  link    aspects of  Bowles’ life    to  his writing.    Bowles  autobiography   Without Stopping    (1972;

nicknamed   ‘Without    Telling’)   sheds   little  light   on  these   matters.

The official    Paul    Bowles  website is  at  www.paulbowles.org.