Map of Africa
An opening on the ocean.
Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · cat_collector — CC BY 2.0 · Hiroki Ogawa — CC BY 3.0 · Lolacolladoarenas — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Pierre Nordström — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Pierre Nordström — CC BY-SA 2.0 · RACHID BAYA — CC0
An archaeological cave on the Atlantic coast west of Tangier, near Cape Spartel, part natural and part man-made: local Amazigh people cut round millstones from its walls, enlarging the cave and leaving the marks of the circles on its walls and ceiling. The cave has two openings, one to the land and one to the sea, and the sea opening is famous for its shape, said to resemble the map of Africa when you look out through it to the ocean, with waves breaking in its frame; it is one of the most photographed views in Morocco. Many legends surround the cave, the best known being that the Greek hero Hercules rested here after splitting Europe from Africa, and that it links by a tunnel under the strait to a cave in Gibraltar. Inside are a statue of Hercules and lighting that picks out its rock formations. A foreign visitor's ticket costs eighty dirhams according to the Ministry of Culture's ticketing site, half for children aged seven to thirteen, open from nine to five. It gets crowded in summer and at weekends, and pairs with nearby Cape Spartel and Achakar beach.
An opening on the ocean.
Circles on the walls.
Between two continents.
Achakar, about fourteen kilometres west of Tangier, near Cape Spartel
Early in the morning at opening and on weekdays; the cave fills up in the afternoon, in summer and at weekends.