Ceuta in two days: what to see besides the eclipse

Ceuta is a border city with more than two thousand years of history packed onto a narrow peninsula: Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, the Visigothic kingdom, the Umayyads, the Portuguese and Spain. All of it in a territory you can cross on foot in a morning. And it remains a city of four communities — Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Hindu — living in the same town centre, their places of worship a few streets apart.

The Royal Walls and the San Felipe moat

This is the monument that defines the city. A defensive complex raised across the isthmus, with a navigable moat — the only one in Spain, and one of very few in Europe — physically separating the Almina peninsula from the continent. You can walk it, cross its bridges and take a boat along it. If you only have time for one thing in Ceuta, this is it.

Monte Hacho and the San Antonio viewpoint

Two hundred metres at the end of the Almina, with views of the Strait, the Spanish coast and Morocco in a single turn of the head. It is the best place to grasp the geography of all this: from up there you can see why this peninsula has been contested for two millennia. The fortress is a military zone, but the area around the San Antonio chapel is accessible and that is where the viewpoint is.

The Parque Marítimo del Mediterráneo

A complex of saltwater lakes, pools and gardens beside the sea, designed by César Manrique, the Lanzarote artist. It is the best way to get through August's hot hours without leaving the city, and architecturally it is a piece that in another city would be the main attraction.

The old town: four temples and a walk

• The cathedral and the sanctuary of Our Lady of Africa, at the heart of the old town.
• The Muley el Mehdi mosque, its dome visible from much of the city.
• The synagogue and the Hindu temple, evidence of the other two historic communities.
• The Casa de los Dragones, a modernist building with four dragons on its corner — the most recognisable urban photograph in the city.
• The Arab baths and the archaeological remains threaded through the street plan.

The Strait as a spectacle

You do not need a monument: the Strait is one. From Ceuta you watch cargo ships file through one of the busiest sea lanes in the world, with the Spanish coast opposite and the Moroccan massif to the west. Cetacean sightings are common in the Strait and there are operators on both shores. And at sunset, with the light going down the Atlantic side, you understand why the ancients thought this was the end of the world.

A two-day plan that works

And if you have a spare day: Tetouan and Tangier are close, and both are worth a trip in their own right. Before counting on it, check border crossing conditions in the days beforehand: they can change, and your plan should not depend on it.

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