Best Petit Socco Cafés in Tangier — Coffee in the Old Interzone

The Petit Socco (Zoco Chico, the 'little market') is a small, sloping square deep in the Tangier medina that became mythic during the mid-20th-century International Zone period, when Tangier drew writers, spies, smugglers and adventurers from across the world. Paul Bowles, William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and the Beat writers haunted its cafés, and the square's old café-terraces — with their worn tiles, wrought-iron chairs and slow, watchful pace — still carry that faded, timeless atmosphere. Nursing a coffee here as the medina passes by is one of Tangier's essential experiences.

The drink to order is mint tea, poured from height into a small glass over a bushy sprig of fresh spearmint and plenty of sugar, or a strong café noir or café cassé (coffee 'cut' with a little milk). Alongside, cafés serve simple breakfasts of bread, olive oil, olives, eggs and pastries, and the terraces are as much for people-watching and conversation as for the food. The rhythm is unhurried; you are meant to sit for an hour, not rush.

Come mid-morning or in the golden late afternoon, take a terrace seat facing the square, and simply watch. From the Petit Socco you can walk up to the Grand Socco and the Kasbah or down toward the port, but the square itself is the destination. It is a living monument to Tangier's cosmopolitan past, and the best-value seat in the city is a café chair with a glass of mint tea.