Our port talk about Algiers was pretty scary. We selected the Casbah Stroll (Casbah is neighborhood) as our excursion and were told to expect bad smells, flies, very uneven streets, narrow passageways, and lots of steps. We were also warned NOT to get separated from our group because we may never find our way out. We looked at each other and decided “what the heck”, we’re going anyway. Turned out to be a great tour. We did have about 6 armed guards walking with us the entire time along with the police escort for the bus. Our guide was a woman who grew up in the Casbah and was happy to be showing us the area she grew up in. She spoke perfect English.
We started at the Bahia House which used to be a family home, now used as a tourist place where we could see what a house in the Casbah looked like. We were served great mint tea and fresh dates on the terrace. The house was probably not what most of the people lived in but we were able to get a feel for how the houses were built, what the rooms looked like and how they were used. We probably walked about an hour through the narrow streets encountering children and adults alike who were all friendly. There were no bad smells and very few flies. We were very glad we participated in this stroll.
Since the first tour was so good, we took a second one in the afternoon. It was a 2-hour excursion of key historic sites through a motor-coach window. We were allowed off the bus only one time to take photos of the 302 foot high Martyrs Monument dedicated to the heroes of Algeria’s 1954-1962 War of Independence. It takes the shape of 3 giant, stylized palm leaves sheltering an eternal flame at the base. This tour was guided by a young girl, who again, spoke perfect English. We traveled all the streets in Algeria and it was interesting but we were happy to get off the bus at the end of 2 hours.