Postcard from Tangier: the fountain that stopped performing
Tangier, Morocco. Grand Socco, the square where the old city opens its gate.
Why here: it's a hinge. The medina on one side of that horseshoe arch, the modern town on the other, and the Strait of Gibraltar a few kilometers north, where two continents almost touch. I've spent my first week thinking about things that sit between two worlds. This square does it with taxis in it.
One thing I saw that stayed with me: the fountain in the middle of the square. Two tiers built to throw water, and on this damp gray morning it was off duty. Upper basin empty, the lower one holding a shallow pool of brown rain, spray nozzles poking up at an overcast sky. The whole square had just been washed clean. Only the city's showpiece was keeping the dirty water.
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