Contained in the tiny nook of Spain that lies in the course of North Africa

CNN
 — 

In historic Greek and Roman legend, the Pillars of Hercules –marking the sting of the identified world – had been mighty columns that after stood both facet of the strait the place the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic.

One was on the Rock of Gibraltar, a pocket of British territory subsequent to mainland Spain, and the opposite was Ceuta, a outstanding outcrop on the North African shoreline.

At the moment, Ceuta is a Spanish exclave, a bit of a rustic solely surrounded by one other, on this case Morocco. And whereas it could solely be 18 miles from the Spanish mainland, this tiny pocket of Europe in Africa is without doubt one of the most uncommon locations on both continent.

Surrounded on three sides by water, Ceuta is protected by excessive medieval partitions, stone citadels and barbed wire that each one trace at its tumultuous historical past.

With an space of simply seven sq. miles and a inhabitants of round 85,000 individuals, this peninsula jutting abruptly into the Mediterranean Sea has been within the possession of Spain since 1580.

However the exclave is greater than only a colonial hangover; with structure, tradition and delicacies mixing influences from each side of the Strait of Gibraltar, this may very well be Spain’s most multicultural metropolis.

“Ceuta was given the title of essentially the most loyal metropolis in Spain,” Mila Bernal, an area tourism workplace consultant, advised CNN Journey. “As a result of the residents determined they wished to be Spanish, not Portuguese.”

Ceuta’s historical past is sophisticated. Standing on the Sixteenth-century Royal Partitions nonetheless surrounding the exclave’s previous city, Bernal defined how the Portuguese conquered Ceuta in 1415 when the Christian Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula swept throughout the Mediterranean Sea and into the Moorish heartlands.

Portugal and Spain had been united underneath a single monarch in 1580, and so Ceuta fell underneath the rule of the Iberian Union till 1640 when Portugal broke away.

The individuals of Ceuta although – who’d largely emigrated from Spanish, moderately than Portuguese, territories on the European mainland – determined they’d moderately facet with Spain.

Prized for its strategic location, town’s historical past stretches again to antiquity, and given its outstanding place guarding the Strait of Gibraltar, each main Mediterranean energy has both claimed or conquered Ceuta.

Phoenician ruins relationship to the seventh century BCE could be discovered subsequent to Ceuta’s cathedral. The Mediterranean seafarers based a small settlement right here as a part of their rising maritime empire. Later got here the Carthaginians and Romans, who wanted to safe the gateway to Africa.

“The Romans believed that Mount Hacho was the pillar of Hercules. This was the top of the world for the Romans,” stated Bernal, pointing on the tall peak overlooking the exclave. “They named town Septum, after its seven hills, which advanced into the fashionable identify ‘Ceuta.’”

View this interactive content material on CNN.com

A monumental bronze statue depicting Hercules pushing apart the good pillars at this time greets disembarking passengers on Ceuta’s Mediterranean seafront.

After the autumn of the Roman Empire, the Byzantines took over Ceuta, and fierce battles had been fought with Vandals and Visigoths for management of the territory.

Within the eighth century, the Islamic Umayyad dynasty swept throughout North Africa, conquering all in its path, together with Ceuta. Arab, Moorish and Berber kingdoms got here to manage town till the Portuguese and Spanish arrived within the fifteenth century, staking a European declare that’s endured for the final 400 years.

The best method to get to Ceuta from Europe is by ferry from Algeciras, a port metropolis on the Spanish mainland throughout the dolphin-filled waters of the Strait of Gibraltar.

Many Spanish individuals make the journey for a trip, and it’s definitely not with out its vacationer sights.

Exploring the territory’s tapas bars and Catholic cathedrals, guests will discover lingering reminders of previous rulers within the form of the Roman Basilica Museum – which incorporates a number of the oldest Christian relics ever found in North Africa – and the Arab Baths and Moorish structure, which wouldn’t be misplaced within the southern Spanish cities of Granada, Cordoba or Morocco’s port of Tangier.

There are hikes to epic viewpoints like Mirador de San Antonio, which provide panoramas of Ceuta, Morocco, and the Strait of Gibraltar. And there are seashores for stress-free and absorbing the solar.

Then, in Benzú, on the territory’s northern coast, there are alternatives to take pleasure in Moroccan-style tea within the shadow of a mosque, hike to previous forts and trendy watchtowers on the border, and proceed onwards to go to the hectic Moroccan metropolis of Tétouan.

Fought over for millennia, Ceuta is formally classed as an autonomous Spanish metropolis. It’s additionally a part of the European Union and is certainly one of two Spanish exclaves on North Africa’s Mediterranean shoreline. The opposite is Melilla, a metropolis additionally of some 85,000 individuals, round 250 miles east of Ceuta, that additionally borders Morocco.

As is likely to be anticipated, Morocco disputes Spain’s sovereignty over each of those exclaves, citing geographical and historic ties with the territories stretching again to the Islamic conquests.

Within the 18th century, the Sultan of Morocco did not take Ceuta after a 30-year siege. One other siege within the early nineteenth century additionally failed.

Within the following centuries, border disputes led to intermittent wars and preventing, till a lot of Morocco was colonized by Spain and France within the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Whereas Morocco gained independence in 1956, Spain held onto Ceuta and Melilla.

It’s a dispute that also runs deep, and in 2023, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez complained to Moroccan authorities when Moroccan maps included each Ceuta and Melilla inside the nation’s borders. The 12 months earlier than, Spanish media reported Sanchez as stating that “Ceuta and Melilla are Spain, full cease” after Morocco had complained to the United Nations that “Melilla is a jail occupied by Spain.”

The tit for tat is countless, however all too usually the dialogue involves a head on the bottom in Ceuta.

Whereas town not marks the sting of the identified world, because it did for the Romans, as an EU outpost in Africa, Ceuta has come to be seen as a gateway to Europe for a lot of migrants in quest of a greater life. As a consequence, the territory’s land border with Morocco is surrounded by watchtowers and barbed wire, which could be seen from the seaside should you hop on a bus from town to the city of Benzú.

Morocco usually makes use of Ceuta as a political bargaining instrument, threatening to open its facet of the border and permitting massive numbers of African migrants to aim entry into the EU. Morocco steadfastly holds onto the declare over Ceuta, however for Spanish individuals dwelling within the exclave, it’s an integral a part of Spain.

“Morocco at all times needs Ceuta,” stated Bernal, earlier than citing certainly one of Spain’s long-held arguments for Spanish sovereignty. “But it surely was by no means Moroccan, Morocco by no means existed till the nineteenth century so how can they reclaim what was by no means theirs.”

Regardless of being a part of trendy Spain, Ceuta’s curious identification displays its North African location. On Playa de la Ribera, the place Spanish holidaymakers take in the solar, the Muslim name to prayer could be heard and minarets seen on the skyline.

On daily basis, 1000’s of Moroccans cross the border to work in Ceuta, and Arabic and Spanish are each spoken on the streets. Church buildings sit alongside mosques, in addition to Sephardic synagogues and even Hindu temples. From 2022, Ceuta declared that Muslim holidays like Eid al Fitr can be public holidays, on par with Christian celebrations within the exclave.

Geographically, Ceuta is in North Africa, politically it’s Spanish, however culturally, parts of each continents and worlds – Muslim and Christian – coexist facet by facet.