A small Look at a Large Country

Algeria is the largest country in Africa.  About two thirds of the country is desert, with only one third inhabited.  We finally made it to Algiers in our second attempt.  A few years ago we signed up for a Mediterranean Cruise  because it included stops in Tunisia and Algeria.  Unfortunately, those two stops were eliminated for safety reasons.  This year we were scheduled to visit the same two cities.  A few days before our scheduled stop in Tunis, the EU and the US Government advised that travel to Tunisia was not recommended, so Viking eliminated the stop.  We kept waiting for them to cancel Algeria but we did get to go there, but only on Viking scheduled tours.  No private tours or independent touring was allowed.  Even then, our buses traveled in convoy with a police escort before and after.  We never felt threatened.  In fact, people waved and smiled as the buses drove past.  We were there on a weekend, so there were a lot of people on the streets and especially in the area around the huge War Memorial.  A couple of students stopped us and wanted to practice their English.

The War Memorial towers over the city.  It is shaped like 3 large palm fronds, joined at the top.  At the base of each frond there is a statue showing Algerian soldiers from different times in the country's history.

Soldier before French rule

Soldier during French rule

Soldier after Algerian independence

As we drove around the city, most of the buildings pointed out were built when Algeria belonged to France.  There are some boarded up buildings, but not as many as we have seen in Asian cities or especially Cuba.  The city also has a number of parks and monuments.

Botanical garden, built on a drained swamp

Algiers is mostly Muslim, but it does have 6 or 7 Christian churches, including one synagogue which is now a Christian church.

The two most visited sights in the city are the Cathedral and the Casbah.  We only saw these from our bus and at a great distance.

We have seen all sorts of ships in the harbors we have visited.  In Algiers, we saw one we have never seen before - a cattle ship!  We suspected that this was not the usual cargo ship when we saw bales of hay on the deck.  Then we actually saw them unloading cattle.