Wednesday, October 7th.
I slept pretty well with a sleeping pill. We having break at the hotel buffet, we left this morning by coach for a city tour of sites in Algiers. We were encouraged to take only a day pack and leave our main luggage in storage here at the hotel in Algiers as we are flying south for two nights this evening before returning to the same hotel. Today we started our exploration of the city at the Martyrs’ Square, the monument to the soldiers who died during the revolutionary war for independence from France, 1954-62. We visited the tranquil Botanical Gardens of El Hamma where we saw the enormous ficus tree famous for being in the first Tarzan movie. Then we drove to the labyrinthine Casbah which was constructed by the Ottomans in the 16th century. Here centuries-old traditions are maintained through the narrow alleys lined with whitewashed houses and small shops. This UNESCO heritage site reveals itself slowly as we descended down the winding paths revealing hidden courtyards, ornate doorways, and glimpses of the daily life of the current occupants. The maze-like streets were meant to confound invading armies. That changed during France's 130-year presence (1830–1962) when they installed their elegant wide boulevards which allowed for easy access of vehicles and soldiers. We visited the 17th-century Ketchaoua Mosque which stands as one of the Ottoman period's finest surviving monuments, while the remarkable Palais des Rais— three interconnected palaces guarding the seafront — rewards exploration of its secret chambers and terraces. We stopped for lunch beside the palatial Grand Post Office in its early 20th-century Moorish revival grandeur. I stayed with George and our local guide Zaki, and we had lunch at a little kiosk where we had a pita stuffed full with two eggs, French fries and an unidentified meat. Then we regrouped and went to visit the Djamaa el Djaazair or Great Mosque of Algeria. It is the third largest in the world, behind Mecca and Medina, both in Saudi Arabia. Construction was finished in 2019 and cost 890 million euros. It is elegant, symmetrical, geometric and not overly ostentatious. It has the world's tallest minaret at 265 metres or 869 feet. Then we drove to the airport for our early evening flight south to Ghardaïa (departing 18:55, arriving 20:25). We had about 90 minutes before boarding, which I used to type up the trip so far. Then we were loaded onto a bus to take us to our plane; but we stood crammed in it for at least 20 minutes before it drove about 15 minutes to our propeller plane. They only opened one door of three, to let people off the bus and walk across the tarmac to board the plane from the rear. Half way through another plane came towards ours and the bus door closed and we drove around our plane while the new plane taxied into position before our bus could re-circle the plane and allow us to finally get off and board the plane… bizarre. The flight was about two hours on a four seat wide plane. I was surprised as we flew over the Atlas Mountains heading south into the desert that I could still see many lights of settlements in what I assumed would be a vast open desert. When we arrived we were met by our coach and driver but had to wait 10 minutes while the police found a driver to escort us to our hotel… apparently this is a tradition that has carried on since the civil war of the 90’s. We arrived at the Belvedere Hotel at 8:30 and we were served a quick chicken dinner before we headed off to our rooms for the night.
