Algiers, Algeria

We arrived in Algiers, Algeria, mid-morning yesterday, Friday, April 27, for a 1-day visit.  Algiers, located on the Meditteranean, is a mix of ancient and modern.  It boasts many gracious French architectural accents from colonial days and is known for its botanic gardens.  Districts from the city's pre-colonial Ottoman past rise from the coast up onto the slopes of the hillside beyond.  The city's historic pinnacle is the casbah which sits upon the hilltop.  Described as North Africa through and through, we're told the casbah is a maze of stone warrens, although we didn't get there.

Following 132 years of French colonial rule, Algeria began its fight for independance in 1954.  The French fiercely resisted and the ensuing war lasted until 1962 when France finally agreed to grant Algeria its sovereignty.  Algeria's indigenous population is Berber and the Berber language continues to be widely spoken.  The country's two other predominant languages are Arabic and French.  All the signage we saw is in Arabic and French.

The population of Algeria is 15 million.  Two-thirds of that number live in greater Algiers, which is the country's largest city, and the bulk of the remaining third live in Algeria's two other big metropolitan areas that, like Algiers, lie along its northern shore on the Mediterranean.  The rest of the country, which since the breakup of Sudan is now geographically Africa's largest, is sparsely populated desert.  Oil has for years been the country's economic mainstay, but the government now recognizes that its reserves will not last forever and is trying to diversify the economy.  According to our guide, a fairly recently passed law forbids the importation of any product that is produced in any form within the country.  So, for example, cell phones of any kind can no longer be imported because some version of a cell phone is manufactured in Algeria.  Whether this kind of isolationist trade policy will provide a significant boost to the economy is yet to be seen.

Tourism is almost non-existent.  Although we were given a dock position in the port, there is no facility for processing or receiving cruise ship visitors.  In fact, while we were allowed to go out on organized excursions, no one from our ship was permitted to just explore the city on his or her own.  All buses on a given excursion had to go out in a convoy with police escorts at the front and back.  Passengers were also warned not to photograph uniformed officers or military facilities on risk of confiscation of cameras.

The country has a socialist-style government headed by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika who has held office since 1999 and, despite the fact he is severely disabled from a stroke and is wheelchair-bound, has announced that he will seek re-election in 2019.  A key player in the running of the country is the military which puts a high value on secrecy.

We docked around 10:30 in the morning.  As one would expect, the port is large and spread out.

              

The gangway was quickly set up and the excursion buses were on the pier.

                                            

Janis and I had signed up for a 2-hour motor coach tour of Algiers, but she decided not to go in favor of some time to herself.  Except for a single stop at the so-called Martyrs Monument where we got out of the bus, we were otherwise confined to the bus and, therefore, all of my excursion tour photos were taken from the bus whose windows were filthy (as the photos will attest).  (That said, Algiers is quite a clean city without the street trash that was everywhere in, say, Cairo and Alexandria.)

The views all around were dramatic, in part because of the city's hillside topography and in part because of the varied but interesting architecture.

                                                   
Even though our guide described the part of Algiers that we were seeing as modern Algiers, that is to say the Algiers built by the French as compared with the Ottoman-era casbah, with few exceptions the buildings everywhere looked tired and showed signs of neglect and deferred maintenance.  In fairness, many of these buildings were partially covered with scaffolding suggesting that they were in the process of being rehabilitated.

              

There were also several commercial, residential, religious and government buildings that were in excellent condition.  In fact, most government buildings we passed were either new or old but very well maintained.  And we also passed many attractive public spaces.

                

As I mentioned earlier, our one stop was at the 302-foot-high Martyrs Monument dedicated to the heroes of Algeria's 1954-1962 War of Independence.  The imposing monument, a gift of Canada on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Algeria's independence, was designed by an Algerian architect and sits upon a high elevation making it visible from everywhere in the city.

                             
      

Algeria is a very conservative country.  Because we were in Algiers on a Friday, a prayer day observed in this Muslim country, most businesses were closed.  Nevertheless, there were lots of people out on the streets, although many more men than women, and most, but not all, of the women had their heads covered.

                

As our convoy of buses rolled through the city, people greeted us warmly.

        
      

When we got back to the port we saw that the local tour organizer was being interviewed by a television news reporter.  Our guide told us that there are 5 TV stations in Algiers, one government and 4 independent.  She said no one watches the government station because the programming is boring.

When I got back onboard, I met Janis and we headed for lunch.  I noticed a small group had gathered on the outside deck and was watching something down below, so I went there to check it out.  The attraction was the offloading of livestock from a ship onto trucks.

        

A brief and limited, but nevertheless interesting, introduction to Algiers and Algeria.  A place with lots of history and tremendous potential, but an uncertain future.  We sailed away at 5:30 p.m.  Our next destination:  Cartagena, Spain.