Algiers Algeria

Flew here from Madrid on Nov 29th. I was the only female in 1st class. Some minister was amongst us because they had police escorts pick us up in 2 separate mini vans. It took me a while to get through immigration even with the visa. The guy was acting as if it was his 1st day and kept going out of his stall asking other officers questions. They reviewed my Letter of Invitation and list of hotels I m staying. He had me stand aside while he processed 2 other people. By then the line got long since the other people were bussed in from the plane. He finally stamped my passport
There are 2 downtowns in the city of Algiers. The Casbah and the new part, that the French build that is all French style(but a century old now). The latter was where a lot of foreigners were wintering during the French occupation and the Algerians were not allowed in this area. Now it is the new downtown where the shops are and the place to be. We walked around people watching(it was Sat which is their day off- Sun is the 1st day of the Muslim week). We walked along the promenade, had coffee, watched the boats come and go, along with a ferry from Marceille France. Then we took the metro back 2 stops to where we parked.

On Dec 6, after I flew from Ghardaia to back to Algiers I had a tour of the Casbah with Younes. It was just a fortress and not that interesting. The next morning before my afternoon flight to Tunis we visited the Botanical garden. It was very interesting since it had trees from all over the world instead of flowers. It also had a fake jungle where some Tarzan movies were filmed in the 30s.Leggi altro