We started our North Africa trip in Algeria. Algiers, the capital, was our first stop. Algeria, like its neighbors around the Mediterranean, has known many empires and dynasties over the years. These include the ancient Numidians, the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, many different Arab and Berber dynasties, Spaniards, Ottoman Turks, and finally, the French. Of course, there were smaller entities operating here as well, such as the Barbary pirates in the 1500’s. All these prior dynasties give a hint as to why Algeria has seven UNESCO world heritage sites. Then, the French were here for 132 years, from 1830 until 1962 and it took eight years of fighting to get the French out of Algeria and for Algeria to achieve independence. It surprised me to learn that the fighting and independence happened in my lifetime.

Algeria is the largest country in Africa and the tenth largest in the world. Yet over 90 percent of the people in Algeria live on only 12 percent of the land since the Sahara Desert covers 90 percent of Algeria. Most people live along the Mediterranean coastal zone. Yet despite a small portion of Algeria being arable land, they produce lots of crops. They grow wheat, citrus crops, dates, figs, cherries, grapes, and they even make wine. But their biggest exports are fossil fuels, including petroleum, natural gas, and ammonia. Nearly all Algerians are Muslim and predominantly Sunni.

Algiers is a big town of about five and a half million people. It extends along the bay for miles but it’s more known for having a High City and a Low City. The city goes from the minimal coastal flatlands up high into the hills. It’s also a wild mix of the very modern and the very ancient, meaning many centuries ancient. I can’t say that I loved our time in Algiers but then I’m not really a big-city guy. At any rate, this post is from Algiers with just a few highlights.

The first photo is one that I took from our hotel room. It gives an idea of Algiers. But though we were only a couple of blocks from the Mediterranean, it seemed impossible to walk there. The way was blocked by steep gullies, highways, and every sort of blockade to pedestrians. Algiers is hilly and curvy, and was often disrupted over the centuries city.

The next photo is Vicky and our group sitting in a café in the low city area. It looks like we could be in France in a StreetSide café.

Looking up from the low city, you can see the high city with both old and new buildings.

This is the old Kasbah in the High City. It’s a UNESCO world heritage site. We walked through these buildings plus many other narrow, winding streets. We visited shops, and tried some fresh bread and some pizza with Soumia, our guide.

This was on an excursion along the coast of Algiers. It’s beautiful along the coast but most buildings and houses are in pretty bad shape and need lots of reconstruction, which I’m sure will get done, considering such a great location.

The next photo is a street in the Low City. I was standing in front of the Ketchaoua Mosque which is at the foot of the Kasbah. It was an interesting street to navigate.

This photo is just to give an idea about many of the streets in the Kasbah in the High City. The streets were often steep and narrow.

Our guide, Soumia, is drinking water from one of the few remaining street water fountains for people to get their water. She took a drink but we passed on the opportunity.

Doors were a big deal in north Africa. I took a lot of door photos but most were wood while this one was metal.

The last photo was the Martyrs’ Memorial and museum. It’s in the shape of three palm leaves, sheltering the eternal flame. The memorial commemorates the Algerian War for independence from the French. It was a brutal conflict and visiting the memorial and museum was both highly informative and highly depressing.