Algeciras Attractions
The port of Algeciras lies near the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula on the west side of Algeciras Bay, opposite Gibraltar. It is an important ferry port, with services to Ceuta and Tangier in North Africa. The Roman Portus Albo was re-founded by the Moors in 713 under the name of al-Gezira al-Khadra (''green island''). It was captured by Alfonso XI of Castile in 1344 and destroyed by Mohammed V of Granada in 1368, so that it has preserved only scanty remains from that period. After 1704, when Gibraltar became a British possession, Algeciras was resettled by Spaniards from Gibraltar.
Town Hall
The only building of any note in Algeciras is the Casa Consistorial in Calle Regio Martínez, built in 1897, in which the international Conference of Algeciras was held in 1906. The conference met after the first Moroccan crisis of 1905-06 which was sparked off by the German Emperor Wilhelm II's provocative visit to Tangier. Germany was seeking to counter French policy in North Africa and win influence in Morocco, but at the Algeciras conference these aspirations were rejected and France and Spain were recognized as having control over Morocco.
