Taza

Understand

Taza has always been of high importance because of its strategicly favourable location as a passage between the Rif and the Middle Atlas.

Taza is divided into two parts: the Medina (Taza-Haut), built on a plateau, and the Ville Nouvelle(Taza-Bas) in the valley, set up by the French after the occupation in 1914.

At the Medina the more "touristic" sights of Taza are located: the Great Mosque ("Jemaa el-Khebir"), the Medersa Bou Abul Hassan, the Andalusian Mosque and the souks with the "Jemaa es-Souk", the Market Mosque.

The heart of the Ville Nouvelle (Taza-Bas) is the Place de l'Indépendance. From there you can easily access the two main shopping streets, the Avenue Mohammed V and the Rue Allal Ben Abdullah. Here you find all sorts of shops and cafés. Most of the cafés are only visited by men, but there are somewhere you can feel comfortable as a woman. In the morning and at noon you will meet the Tazi women, who do their shopping and errands. In the early evening the streets of the city are full of men and women, but later the streets are left to the men.

The young Tazi you will meet at the cinema or in one of the local internet-cafés, where they enjoy an evening out to chat and meet their friends. Like all over the world also in Taza surfing the web and chatting has become a common pastime. So more and more internet-cafés are opening, mainly in the Ville Nouvelle.

See

thumb|Medina of Taza thumb|Medina Walls thumb|Marinid chandelier from the Great Mosque of Taza

Buy

thumb|Souq in the medina An advantage of shopping in Taza is the fact that it is not as overrun by tourists as the larger cities in Morocco. You can take your time and enjoy the calm and the ambiance of small town life.

At the Medina you can get what most tourists take home as souvenirs: arts and crafts or the typical Moroccan "babouches" and clothing. The main shopping streets in the Ville Nouvelle are the Avenue Mohammed V and the Rue Allal Ben Abdullah. Here you can get everything, that you need for everyday life.

At the corner of the Place de l'Indépendance, not far from the Hôtel du Dauphiné, there is a bookstore. You can also buy French and Arabic books at a small tent-like stand near the central market ("marché central") and the Mouritania mosque.

Eat

There are not many options to eat in Taza.