Roman ruins of Tipaza

After lunch, we continued to Tipaza, which is chiefly remarkable for its ancient ruins.
The city was an old Punic trading-post conquered by Ancient Rome. It was subsequently turned into a military colony by the emperor Claudius.
Later, it was called Colonia Aelia Tipasensis and reached a population of 20,000 inhabitants in the 4th century.
It was an important Christian hub during the last centuries of Roman governorship, with three basilicas.
Tipasa was destroyed by the Vandals in 430, but was reconstructed by the Byzantines a century later. At the end of the 17th century, the city was demolished by Umayyad forces and reduced to ruins.
In the nineteenth century, the place was settled again. Now it is a town of nearly 30,000 inhabitants. It is an important tourist place in modern Algeria, mainly because of the Tipasa ruins.
Here we walked around the Archaeological Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is considered one of the most exceptional complexes in the Maghreb. Here we saw the amphitheatre, theatre, and wandered on the Cardo Maximus and Decumanus Maximus down to the sea front.Read more