Yesterday, we took a day trip out of Tangier by taxi. Our destination, about 13 miles away, was the Cape Spartel Lighthouse on the most northwestern point of Africa.
This is one of Africa's great lighthouses as it marks the southeastern entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar from the Atlantic Ocean and the western boundary of the Mediterranean Sea. The 80-foot-high lighthouse was built by Sultan Mohammed III in 1864. It was collectively maintained by Britain, France, Italy and Spain until Moroccan independence in 1956. It is still in operation today but has been allowed to fall into disrepair and suffers from general neglect and deferred maintenance. The lighthouse today remains an important navigation beacon and generates four white flashes every 20 seconds that are visible for a range of about 30 nautical miles.
We gain admittance to the tower and climbed up the spiral staircase with its old iron railings to the very top where the view was simply beautiful.
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