North Africa ‘Plus’ Travel Diary

2011

 

Despite the late night last night, we (or, more precisely - I) arose this morning at 5:15 am, the music of the large metal castanets still reverberating in my head.  The reason for the early start was that our flight to Algiers was scheduled to depart at 8:15 am, which, working backwards, meant breakfast at 6 am and departure for the drive to the airport at 6:30 am.

Like most our time in Ghardaïa, there was no running water when I woke, and as our light bulb blew last night, no light either.  Our guesthouse accommodation in Ghardaïa had been spartan but adequate, any lack of facilities being more than compensated by the warm hospitality of our hosts and lovely fresh food.  Having said that, after three nights on the thin, spongy foam sheet that had served as a mattress on an all-too-spartan wooden frame above the bare concrete floor, the stiffness of my hip and back told me that I was ready for a good rest in a differently shaped bed in a room with an abundant supply of hot water.  Algiers- here I come!

We enjoyed our breakfast of fresh baguettes and croissants outside in the courtyard under the date palms as the sun rose above the rocks of the bare orange hill nearby.  It was all too easy to imagine what the start of a French legionnaire’s day would have been like during the colonial era, but then reality returned as the car engine started, and we left for the airport with the owner of the guesthouse, Mr Takbout Saïd, at the wheel.

I found flying with Air Algérie to be an interesting experience from a security viewpoint.  In addition to the normal security checks that one would find anywhere in the world, Air Algérie follows the model of accepting passengers’ check-in baggage, and then later as passengers cross the tarmac to board their plane, all the luggage is lined up on the ground, and each passenger must identify his or own own luggage and lift it onto the trolley.  If a piece of luggage is not identified and placed on the trolley, it is simply left behind.  Having performed that task, passengers must file in pairs across to the tarmac in intervals of about half a minute to the plane, stopping twice, once for a pat-down search with hands and a metal detector, and again to have their hand luggage opened and examined physically.  Finally, a soldier armed with a machine gun stands at the side of every plane as it is boarding or de-boarding - I found it all to be quite a significant disincentive for the airport photography I usually enjoy so much!

We were met at Algiers airport by Badjou, who had been driving to Algiers from Ghardaïa since 2:30 am.  Unfortunately, the traffic from the airport into central Algiers was very congested, not only on the major highway but also on the many side roads we tried to take to get around it.  Roads with three marked lanes had an organically mutating chaotic collection of four or five lines of cars, often passing so close to each other that it was difficult not to believe they were touching.  On several occasions, Badjou put his hand out through the open window and swung his wing mirror inwards to create a little more room to pass other vehicles.  On another occasion, the traffic was moving so slowly that Badjou seemed to worry we might be disinterested, so while still driving he got his laptop computer out onto his knees, found and started a movie for us to watch.  Still, it was good to have a local driver negotiating the jungle-like traffic for us - and as the guidebook comments, local drivers know where to avoid the false roadblocks that are sometimes used for kidnappings.

And so, about two hours after landing at Algiers Airport, we reached our hotel in central Algiers - the same place as we had stayed earlier in the week, the Hotel Albert 1ère.  This time we were allocated a larger corner room (room 514) with a 270 degree balcony view over the city and the port - with the incessant tooting of car horns and traffic noise from every direction to match the great view.  Even better, the internet access seems to have been much more reliable than our earlier stay (so far, anyway).

Tim and I had planned a fairly relaxing day today, which was just as well as we both dealt with the accumulated deluge of e-mails that were waiting for us.  Nonetheless, we still found time for a light lunch and an hour-long walk though the streets of the Nouvelle Ville section of Algiers just to the south our hotel, characterised by French era buildings, all uniformly decorated in white with light blue trimmings.  This was a more elegant section of town than the more northerly zone we had explored on foot before going to Ghardaïa, and as a result the buildings were better maintained and the shops were of a more up-market variety.

Although Ghardaïa had been a real highlight of our trip, it was good to be back in Algiers with the promise of an early night, running water and a better bed.

Day 15 - Ghardaïa to Algiers, Algeria

Monday

27 June 2011

Today’s Bonus Images