For travellers going north or south, the port of Tangier is the gateway to a continent. People go to, or through, what the Arabs call Tanja largely because it is the only spot where Africa almost touches Europe. Being only 38 miles from Gibraltar, it is an easy excursion for visitors or residents along the Costa del Sol who can embark at harbours or airports on either Spanish or British territory.

The popularity of Tangier is also due to its beaches and climate, for the breezes where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean never let the temperature exceed 26oC yet the town is warm well into October when the minimum is around 16oC.

If this sounds like a familiar cocktail of sea, sand and sun, the real kick is basking in the notoriety of a peep at Tangier's shady history. There is a certain cachet about sending a postcard showing the white-walled, flat-roofed, palm-fringed houses clinging to the hill above the port, and franked with Arabic squiggles next to the French/Spanish version: Tanger.

So old is the city that gave its name to tangerines that it is mentioned in Greek myths. The geographical Pillars of Hercules (rocky Gibraltar and its Moroccan counterpart) are named after the hero who, it is said, parted the continents after slaying Atlas and bedding his wife, Tingis.

Once the Moors were expelled from southern Europe the Portuguese crossed to Tangier, which was awarded to the British when Catherine of Brogans married Charles II. Although the fever-ridden garrison left shortly before Gibraltar was taken, one way or another there is an Anglo-Saxon legacy - as witness the church of St. Andrew.

Tangier became a haven for corsairs along the Barbary Coast (so called because Berbers as well as Moors formed Morocco). The eventual tribal unrest inland - plus the Kaiser's visit - brought about a France-Spanish protectorate. The British insisted that Tangier should be a completely international zone, and so it was from 1906 until six months after the entire sultanate became the Kingdom of Morocco in 1956. Hankering after its cosmopolitan status, Tangier got back its pre-war status of a freeport in 1962.

Few know about the city's dim past, but the news has spread that anything went, as regards money and morals, until a crackdown by the city-fathers. Their aim is to encourage package-tours and placate Moslem purists, but that too means a conflict of interest. Thus, mosques like that of Sidi Bouabid, with its garishly tiled minaret, cannot be visited, and it is unwise to photograph too closely the women of Tangier who, veiled or not, usually wear an overdress down to their ankles.

Even today, however, the nightlife is unmatched anywhere in North Africa except Cairo. Bars and beach-clubs open until the small hours - a hangover from the extravagant era before and during the two world wars.

Playboys, refugees and adventurers of all kinds gravitated to the city, a hotspot that was called the "ragamuffin city" by Truman Capote long before the East End gangster, Ronnie Kray, sampled its forbidden fruits.

The now faded cafes were the rendezvous of literary figures like Oscar Wilde, Andre Gide, Jack Kerouac, Tennessee Williams and Ian Fleming, whose undercover work gave him ideas for 007. Cecil Beaton photographed the white-washed alleys and brooding arches, while the bright lights lured various artists from Henry Matisse to Winston Churchill.

The old town and central beach (now crowded with Moroccans in summer) were frequented by the likes of Errol Flynn, Tallulah Bankhead and Marlene Dietrich, who had starred in the 1930 film Morocco. At least three film titles include the name Tangier, but, like the Foreign Legion romances from Hollywood or French studios, all were shot elsewhere.

Guides and graybeards still recount the wild parties of the Woolworths heiress Barbara Hutton, who had steep, old streets widened for her Rolls-Royce. Tourists gape at her Villa of Sidi Hosni which General Franco had wanted to buy. Formerly it housed a Moslem mystic inside the sultanic compound, which is now a museum. There she would hold court amid camel-drivers and belly-dancers. Listen for the cry "Woolworth's price" from the hawkers with their hand-beaten daggers and toy camels.

The compound, or kasbah, is the highest of the historic buildings on a tour of the old town (medina), a triangular maze overlooking the sea. Getting lost in the medina is compounded by the street-names, written in either Arabic, French or Spanish.

A must is the museum at the bouganvillea-covered villa of the millionaire Malcolm Forbes. He collected 100,000 toy soldiers, including some on Arab steeds and often arrayed them for battle.

This museum overlooks the long empty beach that may seem inviting, but the Atlantic breakers make it risky. The best sands merge into the Mediterranean approaches to the east of modern Tangier. The long boulevards are for shops, banks and hotels, but the smell of intrigue lingers all over the city. Still gracing the Place du Faro is the Cafe de Paris where spies traded wartime secrets.

Tangier may not have Casablanca's shops, but it is a good place for bargains in copper, leather and carpets. It has plenty of cafes, complete with croissants, but the preferred drink is mint-tea, although even some Moslems drink the local wines and beers. The favourite meat dish in North Africa is couscous with steamed semolina, while kebab is often served with chips in cheaper eating-places.

So if you decide to follow Bing Crosby and Bob Hope On The Road to Morocco, the easiest and most alluring gateway is anglophile Tangier.

TANGIER FACTFILE

History: Tangier has been fought over since it was settled by the ancient Greeks and Phonecians. Among those who have occupied it are the Vandals (5th century), Byzantines (6th), Arabs (8th), Berbers (8th), Fatimids of Tunis (10th), Almoravides (11th), Almohades (12th), Merinids (13th), Portuguese (15-16th), Spanish (16th), British (17th) and French (19th). All of these influences have created a town with a character quite unlike that of other Moroccan cities.

Transport: The bus and railway stations are a short walk from the jetty, all of which make Tangier a useful centre for excursions. There is a ferry to Algeciras, a catamaran to Gibraltar and coach to its counterpart, the Spanish enclave of Ceuta only two hours away. Trains from both the port and town stations go to Fez and the romantic and historic Marrakesh up in the High Atlas.

Accommodation: There is a great range of facilities available to visitors. Lodgings in and around the medina tend to be more basic than some of the newer hotels in the new city.

Top Attractions: The Petit Socco, the focal point of life in the medina, with its cafes and restaurants. It is easy to sit for hours absorbing the atmosphere of an area which was once the sin and sleaze centre of the city.

The kasbah: Built on the highest point of the city. The gate opens on to a large open courtyard that leads to Dar el Makhzen, the former sultan's palace which now serves as a museum. The building boasts some beautifully carved wooden ceilings and a marble courtyard.

Sussex-based John Burke is a former tourist guide and Reuters correspondent. His work has been printed in at least 20 publications and he hascontibuted to four travel guide books.

Published in Travel Africa Edition Two: Winter 1997/8. Text is subject to Worldwide Copyright (c)