Villa Perdicaris
A white tower in the woods.
Alae fahmi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Hamza eloudan — CC BY-SA 4.0 · FAYSALBENNIS — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Asmaa MAKHFAOUI — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Remilat berdicares — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Khammal92 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Khammal92 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · SAMI AZAROUK — CC BY-SA 4.0
A broad forest park on the hills west of Tangier, covered in pine, eucalyptus and cork oak and looking down over the Strait of Gibraltar and the ocean, also known as the Rmilat forest. It is one of the favourite places of Tangier's people for walks and picnics at weekends. The park takes its name from Ion Perdicaris, a Greek-American who lived in Tangier from the 1870s and built his turreted villa in this forest, planting trees from around the world. He became famous when the Rif chieftain Ahmed al-Raisuni kidnapped him in 1904, and President Theodore Roosevelt sent warships to Tangier, in what became known as the Perdicaris affair. The white turreted villa has been restored and opens to visitors, with walking paths among the trees around it, rocky lookouts over the sea where people gather at sunset, and small cafés. The park has no entry fee, while the Villa Perdicaris costs a foreign visitor sixty dirhams according to the Ministry of Culture's ticketing site, from nine to five. It lies on the road between Tangier and Cape Spartel, so it pairs with both.
A white tower in the woods.
Sunset over the sea.
Pine and cork oak.
Rmilat forest, west of Tangier on the Cape Spartel road
Ahmed al-Raisuni kidnapped him for ransom in 1904; President Roosevelt sent warships to Tangier, and he was freed after negotiations.