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Travel Story

Untouched Tarifa

Tarifa, on Spain’s southern coast, is a windsurfing mecca. But there's plenty to see beyond the beach in an old town brimming with character that is the gateway to Morocco

Most conversations in Tarifa begin with the wind.

Someone will scratch their head, look out the door and tell you the Levante’s in today. Either that or the Poinente.

You don't have to ask.

And anyone who has been there longer than two days will know the score – the Levante, a strong, gusty wind from the east, means good windsurfing.

Tarifa, at the southernmost tip of Spain, is a well-kept secret for anyone but windsurfers and kitesurfers. Enthusiasts travel thousands of kilometres to spend a week on the coast, just out of town, windsurfing and kitesurfing any number of the locals’ hot spots. When they're not on the water, they're talking about it; and if they're not doing either they're sleeping.

The place is so well set-up for the sports, windsurfers and kitesurfers can take a pensionne in town and catch regular cheap buses out to the bays, or they can doss down at campsites beside the beach, and car-parks right in front of the best spots.

There are several major windsurfing companies with schools, equipment for hire, bars and accommodation but their presence hasn't ruined the roughish charm of the place.

Roads into most beaches are still dirt and those beaches are long and quiet, even in peak season. Though that can often be because of the wind. On a big afternoon, the sand whips and lashes and anyone who isn't in the surf isn't on the beach either.

That's when the old section of Tarifa township comes into its own. The walled-off settlement harks back to 709, when Islamic explorers, including their leader Tarif ibn Malluq, arrived from Morocco.

The castle and walls that still stand today are relics of the 1200s, when Moorish invaders strengthened the settlement to fend off other adventurers.

Today, the town is a warren of crooked cobbled streets, full of authentic Spanish restaurants and bars, old churches and homes tucked in amongst pensionne accommodation.

In the mornings – too early for most tourists sampling the Spainish lifestyle of siestas and late nights – locals flock to the under-cover fruit and fish market, the tiny bread shops and grocery stores. Old women sweep the maze of streets leading to the ancient settlement’s gateway, its harbourside castle and biggest churches.

The old town isn't large but you can happily explore it for hours on end. We stayed for 10 days and spent every evening in a different restaurant or tapas bar. In most the fare was excellent – plates of ham, calamari, mussels, olives or tortillas washed down with sangria or cervecas.

Off the main street tourists can eat alongside extended Spanish families, and a meal which starts at 10 p.m. can finish in the early hours of the morning.

The old town's architecture is a tangle of Spanish and African styles. A friend from Barcelona guided us through the streets one night, pointing out brightly tiled seats and gardens, an indication of Tarifa's strong link with a very close foreign neighbour.

Morocco lies just 14 watery kilometres south of Tarifa. On a good day, homes beneath the snowy peaks of the Atlas Mountains look close enough to swim to, or at least windsurf. Boat trips to Tangier run daily, so tourists can experience Morocco's international port and the tiny townships beyond.

We took an early ferry for a low-key, two-day tour of the city. It’s an easy option for anyone with limited time and patience – the local operators have the place stitched up with Tarifa's tourist office and its handful of travel centres offering only information relating to the one and two day tours. The flipside is the tours are cheap and allow for plenty of free time.

We were whisked through customs and taken on a quick bus trip out of Tangier, to where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean. A walk through Tangier's frantic marketplace ended in lunch, a Morrocan band and the keys to a spacious but economical beachside hotel.

We spent the rest of our time exploring the busy streets – an amazing assault on the senses. Morocco, even an international city at the tip of it, is dramatically different to Spain. It's not just the Muslim culture – the most obvious sign of this being men-only bars and women clothed from head-to-toe – but the rich natural colours and scents of the marketplaces and the collection of healers and spell-makers in the market squares.

Back in Tarifa, a distinct taste of Spain was awaiting us. We docked and headed out to the town’s bull ring, the site of deft, dance-like skills or blatant cruelty depending on whom you ask.

The Spanish love their bullfights and it’s nowhere more obvious than in the faces of elderly men and women in the crowd, or the cheers of boys as they scramble for a bloody ear tossed up into the crowd by a bullfighter.

Several streets give way to dry coastal terrain beneath hills topped with rows and rows of windmills. It's not just windsurfers and kitesurfers who appreciate the Levante or the lighter, westerly Poinente – the stiff breezes also help generate the country's electricity.

Back to recreation, Tarifa companies offer beginner and advanced classes in both windsurfing and kitesurfing, and in surfing during the winter. Classes run for two hours and are physically demanding but a great excuse for an afternoon spent lazing beachside watching the experts.

Most days, bays are awash with sails and kites. Hundreds of windsurfers visit Tarifa in any given week, and the numbers are bigger when the winter waves bring swells better suited to surfers.

The town is also a base for mountain biking and canyoning trips in the hills 50 kilometres inland, and on still days surfers trade sails for diving equipment.

With that much activity on hand, it’s amazing Tarifa hasn’t suffered the same fate as most other coastal towns between Malaga and Spain's southermost tip. The coastline is one big concrete jungle – we travelled four hours by bus from Malaga’s international airport to the outskirts of Tarifa with increasing anxiety about our choice of holiday. There's very little written information about Tarifa, and we expected the worst.

The Levante has saved Tarifa on two levels. There's no trace of a McDonald’s here, no high-rise luxury apartments and no package tours. But there is ample opportunity for action or, alternatively, a tranquil stroll through the streets to your favourite tapas bar for a long, slow luncheon with the locals.

DETAILS:

The closest airports to Tarifa are in Malaga and Seville, 200 km north. Buses run regularly from both cities and rental cars are also available for a reasonable price. Cheap flights can often be booked from London. There is plenty of accommodation, from pensionnes to hotels, many of them advertised on the internet.