A short dri­ve from Tang­i­er, Cape Spar­tel is the most north-west­­ern point of main­land Africa, marked by a pic­turesque light­house. Across the Strait of Gibral­tar lies Spain, a gap marked by the Pil­lars of Her­cules in mythol­o­gy.

While at the cape, you will want to see the Caves of Her­cules, a nat­ur­al cave enlarged by years of quar­ry­ing for mill­stones. Its first inhab­i­tants have been dat­ed to 6000 BCE but it’s now as notable for the pat­terns in the rock left by the quar­ry­men.

The cave orig­i­nal­ly opened only to the sea, but lat­er gained a land­ward entrance. That open­ing to the Mediter­ranean is remark­able for hav­ing the shape of Africa.