Sunday, October 11th.
We boarded the coach at 8 and journeyed through the foothills of the Aurès Atlas Mountains toward Timgad, Emperor Trajan's bold experiment in urban planning. Founded in 100 CE as a military colony for retired legionnaires, Thamugadi was designed for 15,000 inhabitants, yet prosperity soon burst these boundaries, creating a fascinating study in organic versus planned development. Standing at Timgad's western gate, we could see Roman city planning at its most ambitious. The original settlement follows a perfect grid, its straight streets intersecting at precise right angles like a textbook illustration. Our guide Imen explained how success created its own challenges: the expanding city spilled organically beyond its geometric boundaries, creating irregular neighbourhoods that speak to human nature's resistance to rigid order. We walked the Cardo Maximus past the magnificent Arch of Trajan, through markets where North African grain once fed the empire; the theatre, with its soaring stage backdrop, echoes still with centuries of performance under the African sun. Our afternoon brought us to the mysterious royal Mausoleum Immedghassen, a circular stone monument predating Roman conquest. Built for a Numidian king whose identity remains lost to time, this tomb stands 18 metres high on 60 engaged columns, a reminder that Rome built upon foundations laid by earlier civilizations. Then we took the coach back to the city of Constantine. I noticed that there were no traffic lights or stop signs in any of the towns we drove through although there was plenty of traffic. Surprisingly it just works and people give way when necessary. We stopped at the Les Palmiers restaurant for a traditional meal of spicy wheat soup, and a pasta and chick pea mix with lamb on top. It was quite good and we left full. When we got back to the hotel I went for a 40 minute walk to a view point I’d heard about where you can see the two most famous bridges in Constantine lit up. Then back to blog.
