North Africa ‘Plus’ Travel Diary

2011

 

Friday in Algeria is the day of rest.  And so it was for us too.  We were able to catch up a little on sleep, rising at 8:30 am, having a leisurely breakfast, and then resting for most of the day before flying to the southern city of Ghardaia in the evening.

With shops closed and the centre of Algiers relatively uncrowded, we used the opportunity to explore the streets of the city on foot.  Both the guidebook and Badjou had warned us to stay out of the Casbah (the old but interesting part of the city) because of the dual risks of mugging and getting lost, so we elected instead to take a circular (or, more precisely, a long elliptical) walk of about five kilometres through the French downtown area, including the lower edge of the casbah.

From a distance, the French colonial architecture that dominates Algiers is exquisite.  Built on quite steep hillsides with just a narrow coastal strip, the French architecture is authentic, ubiquitous and original, with virtually no intrusion of modern structures to degrade the architectural integrity of the city.  Up close at street level, the buildings are not quite so elegant, as many are in various states of sad disrepair and are strewn with litter and rubbish that seems to have been accumulating for decades.  The pervasive smell of strong urine in the streets also does nothing to enhance any feeling of elegance.

Our walk began from our hotel, heading north along several streets that looked very important on the map, but which were in fact surprisingly narrow.  After a couple of kilometres we reached the area known as the lower Casbah, which was more open and supposedly more affluent that the inner Casbah that we are yet to see.  The word ‘affluent’ may have been stretching the truth a little, but there were certainly some beautiful old buildings that musdt have been marvellous in their day, mainly of French origin, interspersed with mosques and small shops.  The shops were all closed, but the mosques were very busy, with crowds of worshippers (all men from what we could see) spilling out into the lanes and the streets as the amplified words of the imam’s message were beamed into the mosque’s surrounds.

The northern limit of our walk was the Palais des Raïs, a collection of large, restored waterfront houses, joined together to form a single compound that is now the Centre des Arts et de la Culture.  It is also just across the road from a Very Important Secure Police building, as I found out when I accidentally pointed my camera in its direction.  There are armed police outside every government building in Algiers (of which there are many), and so I didn’t particularly notice the large number of police orbiting the parklands around this particular building.

And so it was with some surprise that I found myself confronted by two police officers who wanted to look at the photos I had taken.  As it turns out, the building that I hadn’t even noticed was just visible at the edge of a photo I had taken of two ladies resting in the shade of a palm tree beside the street, and so with all-round good humour, I deleted the image, and everyone was happy.  I was even wished a pleasant ‘bon voyage’ by the police as we parted company.

The number of armed police in Algiers is enormous - it MUST be a major employment sector in the economy here - but we have found them generally relaxed and pleasant, even if their boredom means that we become the centre of their attention from time to time.  Fortunately, I have been following the usual rules for travel in North Africa - don’t photograph any government buildings (knowingly, anyway), or port facilities, or armed police or soldiers.  The good news is that there are many other very photogenic things to attract my attention.

We returned to the hotel using a slightly more direct route, a main road.  There were government buildings the whole way, and as a consequence, very few photographic opportunities.  In some places, the government buildings were so significant that the footpath had been closed with barricades, and we had to walk on the roadway instead.  Fortunately, being Friday, the traffic was much easier to negotiate than usual, and we survived without being hit, run over or knocked down by any passing car or truck (so much good news for today!).

It was early afternoon by the time we returned to our hotel.  Every cafe had been closed during our return walk, so we refreshed ourselves from the hot walk with some very welcome watermelon and mineral water at our hotel, followed by a Friday rest, enjoying the refreshing sea breeze that blew gently into our room from the Mediterranean, together with the incessant sound of the car horns below.

Our evening flight to Ghardaia was scheduled to depart from Algiers at 6:40 pm, arriving in Ghardaia at 8:40 pm.  An oasis that is situated on the northern edge of the Sahara Desert, our accommodation in Ghardaia is described as “traditional”, which I assume probably means no internet connection.  For that reason, and as it will be a very late night anyway after we arrive, get luggage, go the our accommodation and then have dinner, I decided to upload today’s diary entry a little earlier than usual - like right now, about an hour before leaving Algiers.  The internet connection here in Algiers might be very shaky, but at least it exists.

Day 12 - Algiers to Ghardaia, Algeria

Friday

24 June 2011

Today’s Bonus Images