Cafe in Tangier; photography by Anouar Majid

by Anouar Majid, Tingitana, December 3, 2014

Say what you may about Tangier in Morocco, anyone who doesn’t know its cafe life and culture is missing out on the soul of the city. Cafes in Tangier are hard to describe; people gather in them, singly or in groups, talk about everything, and while away their days and nights to make room for the next cafe visit. Customers do read a lot of papers in them and, on occasion, as in these pictures I took around 10: 20 am on January 3, 2014 at the legendary Grand Cafe de Paris, even smoke cigars in the process.

Morocco is a nation of cafes. But the main reason Moroccans go to cafes is to talk and comment on everyday experiences; this is how communities are forged and cemented. Moroccans are different from Westerners in this sense—conversations to them are pure literature and theater. Who needs to write, read, or watch plays when one can experience literary euphoria orally?