The surprise I got on my first trip to the city of Tetouan, located at northern morocco, very close to the Spanish city of Ceuta, it is not at all a tourist city.
I mean that it is not a city where tourists abound as happens, for example, in Marrakech.
What's more, I assure you that you can spend a full day in Tetuan and you will hardly see any westerners.
So what Tetuan It has a very important tourist argument to visit it, its medina, which in 1997 was declared Heritage awarded by the Unesco.
In my most recent trip to Tetouan I have had the opportunity to return to visit its medina, a complicated labyrinth of alleys and passages where I think it is easy to get lost if you are not properly accompanied.
All the information in detail
History of the Medina of Tetouan
Precisely in the medina the origin of the city of Tetuán is found, since it was in the 15th century when this labyrinth was built fortified enclosure with the aim of controlling the rebellious tribes of the Rif.
At the end of that century Tetuan received the immigration of the so-called andalusia, Muslims and Jews who left southern Spain to flee the Inquisition, after the end of the Reconquest.
With a fortified perimeter of five kilometers, in the Tetouan medina They were opened seven doors, which are preserved today, the oldest being known as Bab Mkabar, facing north.
These doors were historically closed at night for security reasons, a custom that continued during the time of the spanish protectorate from northern Morocco, between 1913 and 1956.
After the declaration of independence from Morocco, a part of the wall was demolished to “open” the medina towards the so-called Expansion, the old Spanish colonial neighborhood.
What to see when visiting the Medina of Tetouan
However, when you decide visit the medina of Tetouan, the normal thing is that you enter through one of those historic doors that separate it from the old Spanish Quarter, which was built during the time of the protectorate.
Of course the Tetouan medina You can visit it on your own, but the first times I have visited it, I preferred to do it with the company of a guide.
And after the experience, if you really want to get to know it and discover its most hidden corners, I consider that it is essential to do it this way, but that is, making sure that it really is a authorized tour guide, and not someone who offers to accompany you.
As we enter the medina, our guide reminds us that it is Heritage and, as he tells us, it is somewhat smaller than the famous medina of fes, but consider that the Tetuan is more pretty.
Because? For its configuration of alleys and passages, and for its better conservation and cleanliness.
I still don't know the Fez, so I have no opinion on the matter, but the truth is that the Tetouan medina It is a large labyrinth in which covered passages abound and where the different trade neighborhoods.
Kasbah of the medina of Tetouan
A recommended way to start the visit is go up the old way kasba, a military fortification that was used by the Spanish in the last era of the spanish protectorate.
Currently, the kasba It is closed to the public, as its great deterioration led to some walls falling not long ago during a visit by tourists, causing the death of a Muslim guide.
After climbing steep stairs that get lost in narrow alleys, you will reach the height of the kasba, from where you will have good panoramic views of the city of Tetouan and its medina.
In this upper area of Tetouan, Together with the medina wall you find the great expanse of muslim cemetery of the city, an area where the Jewish cementary.
Oldest door in the medina of Tetouan
From this area you will once again access the interior of the medina through the Bab Mkabar gate, the oldest of the Medina of Tetouan.
During your walk through the medina of Tetouan, in various corners you will find ceramic plaques with tourist information in Arabic, Spanish and English, pointing out prominent places such as mosques, hamanes o zauias (Islamic schools).
This is because in the rehabilitation of the medina the Junta de Andalucía.
You will also see numerous points of the water channel network whose origins date back to the 15th century, and which is one of the peculiarities of the Tetouan medina.
This underground channeling network provided drinking water to houses, buildings, public fountains, mosques or hamams, and a good part of them are still in use.
Tanners' neighborhood in the medina of Tetouan
Of course in your visit of the medina you will be able to know the tanners' quarter, with the curious area where the skins are worked, which will later make it possible to manufacture numerous products.
Except on Fridays, a Muslim holiday, in your walk through the Medina You will find a great atmosphere in the numerous souks selling different types of products, which will contrast with the numerous solitary corners and alleys that make up the great labyrinth of the medina.
Of course, if you go to visit it on a Friday, a day of prayer in Muslim countries, you will find numerous establishments closed, specifically, in the goldsmiths' quarter, where gold and silver products stores follow one another.
You will also see some alleys with Jewish names that correspond to the ancient Jewish quarter of the medina, now barely inhabited by six families of that religion.
And, of course, in your visit of the medina There may be no shortage of establishments where they will try to sell you rugs, a real ritual.
In short, the medina must be a essential visit If on your trip to Morocco you come to Tetuan.
It maintains all its exoticism and on your walk, almost certainly if it is not in the summer months, you will not find any Western tourists.
Photos of the Medina of Tetouan
Here you have more photos of the Medina of Tetouan, with its most outstanding corners.
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