Ultima estación, Tarifa, Spain
Tarifa has got duende.
You can feel it too. Just lay in the dunes and remember this crazy mix:
- It's here where Sade shot her videoclips
- It's where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean
- It's where Europe meets Africa
- It's where the Christian world meets the house of Islam
- It's here where singer Ana Torroja sejourns, or daughter Bush comes on a holiday
- This beautiful part of the sea is the main entrance gate for Colombian cocaine and Moroccan hashish.
- The statue of Jesus Christ greets and welcomes Africa. The light houses and speed boats are there to keep illegals out.
The nec plus ultra for surf and history
- It's here that the expression 'nec plus ultra' comes from ('nothing further beyond')
- It's here that you will find the Pillars of Hercules
- Under that idyllic sailboat, one of Nato's submarines may be watching
Do you see Tangier, that city in the distance? 11 of the terrorists bombing the Madrid railway in 2004 came from here.
The invasion of the Costa de la Luz
It is here where a romantic couple enjoying the deserted beach got the fright of their lives: all of a sudden they were surrounded by helicopters, war ships, boats rolling tanks on the beach...
And 3 months later Kuwait was liberated. The dress rehearsal was here.
Can you grasp that all of the above can co-exist in one spot?
That our lives are shaped by history, economy, military, poetry, fun, science, scenery, sports.
Then you certainly have got the Tarifa duende.
'Tener duende', loosely translated, means having soul.
In Andalucia it stands for a heightened sense of authentic emotion.
Facts and figures of Tarifa
Inhabitants: 18,000
Surface: 420 sq km / 162 sq miles
Postal Code: 11380
Dialing code: (+34) 956
Belonging to: the province of Cadiz in the region of Andalucía
Official language: Spanish
Photo by Gaspar Serrano. Send us your photos.
