Algiers (Alger in French, El Djazaïr in Arabic — population 3.4 million in the city, 5.5 million in the wider metropolitan area — the capital of Algeria and the largest city in Africa outside of Cairo and Lagos) is one of the most historically layered and visually dramatic capitals in the Mediterranean: the city climbs from the Bay of Algiers (the deep blue crescent bay of the Mediterranean) up steep hills to the Casbah (القصبة — the UNESCO World Heritage old city, the most important Ottoman-era urban fabric surviving in North Africa), its white cubic houses cascading down the hillside in layers visible from ships approaching from the sea (the "White City" — "la Blanche"). Algiers was founded by the Berber city of Icosium in Antiquity, conquered by the Arabs in the 7th century CE, developed by the Zirids (the 10th-century Berber dynasty) and then by the Hafsids and the Zayyanids (the medieval North African dynasties), and transformed into the most powerful pirate city of the Mediterranean under the Barbarossa brothers (Aruj and Khayr ad-Din — the two Barbary corsairs who captured Algiers for the Ottoman Empire in 1516, establishing the Ottoman Regency of Algiers that ruled North Africa for 300 years). The French conquest of 1830 (begun with the pretext of an unpaid debt from the Napoleonic Wars and a fly-whisk slap by the Dey of Algiers to the French consul) began the 132-year French colonial period that left Algiers with the most complete example of French colonial urbanism outside of France: the Boulevard du Télemly (the "Promenade des Anglais" of Algiers), the French-built port district (the Basse-Casbah, now the BARDO museum quarter), the French Cathedral (Notre-Dame d'Afrique) and the Jardin d'Essai (the colonial botanical garden). The independence War (1954–1962) and the "Battle of Algiers" (1956–1957 — the urban guerrilla war inside the Casbah that was the model for every subsequent urban insurgency and the subject of the Gillo Pontecorvo film (1966)) shaped the modern identity of the city.
Casbah d'Alger (the UNESCO World Heritage old city (1992) — the most important surviving example of Ottoman-era urban planning in North Africa: the Casbah occupies the steep hill above the port of Algiers (elevation: 0–120m above sea level — the density of the urban fabric on the hillside is one of the highest in the world): the Haute-Casbah (the upper quarter, the most intact medieval urban fabric: the narrow alleys (the "ruelles") between the white-plastered cubic houses, the Mosque of Ketchaoua (1794 — the largest mosque in Algiers during the Ottoman period, converted to a Cathedral by the French in 1832 and reconverted to a mosque at independence in 1962), the Palace of Hassan Pacha (1791 — the most important surviving Ottoman palace in Algiers), the Dar Aziza palace and the Dar Mustapha Pacha palace (1799)), and the Basse-Casbah (the lower quarter, which was almost entirely demolished by the French to create the Boulevard de la République (the straight colonial avenue cutting through the old city) and the port installations).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMakam Echahid (مقام الشهيد — "Station of the Martyr" — the 92m concrete monument on the hill above Algiers (Riadh El Feth plateau — 250m above sea level): the most important monument in Algeria: the three 40m concrete fins (representing the three branches of the revolutionary movement: the political, the military and the diplomatic) rising to a central flame-shaped cupola, with three larger fins (40m each) curving outward to represent the palms of Algeria. Built in 1982 to mark the 20th anniversary of independence. The panoramic terrace (the most complete view of the Bay of Algiers, the city and the harbor from the plateau): on a clear day, the coastline from Tipaza (the Roman ruins 70km west) to Cap Matifou (east) is visible. The underground museum of the War of Independence.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideNotre-Dame d'Afrique (Notre-Dame of Africa — the Romano-Byzantine Catholic basilica built by the French on the cliff of Bouzaréah, 120m above the Bay of Algiers: completed 1872, one of the most dramatically sited churches in the Mediterranean world: the mosaic inscription above the altar reads "Notre-Dame d'Afrique, priez pour nous et pour les musulmans" ("Our Lady of Africa, pray for us and for the Muslims") — the inscription written at the request of Cardinal Lavigerie (the first Cardinal of Algiers, 1867) who promoted the reconciliation of Christianity and Islam in the Maghreb. The basilica contains the venerated Black Madonna of Algiers (a replica of the Black Madonna of Montserrat in Catalonia). The cliff terrace: the panoramic view of the Bay of Algiers, the Casbah and the entire city spread across the hillside.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideAlgerian couscous (the most important dish in Algerian cuisine and the principal dish of the Berber (Amazigh) people of North Africa: the couscous (the semolina grain steamed in a couscoussier — the traditional double-pot steamer — until each grain is separate and fluffy, never clumped: the Algerian couscous tradition distinguishes itself from Moroccan (wetter, with preserved lemons and ras el hanout) and Tunisian (spicier, with harissa and merguez) by the specific combination of chickpeas, turnips, courgettes, carrots and merguez (the North African spiced lamb sausage) in the broth), and the mechoui (the whole-roasted lamb: the Algerian tradition of roasting the whole lamb on a spit over an outdoor wood fire — the lamb basted with smen (the clarified fermented butter) and cumin during cooking: served with bread (khobz) and chermoula (the herb and spice sauce)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMusée National des Antiquités et des Arts Islamiques (the National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Arts — housed in the former French colonial Villa des Pins (the 19th-century colonial villa in the Basse-Casbah quarter): the most important archaeological collection in Algeria: the Roman mosaics from Tipaza, Cherchell, Djémila (the UNESCO World Heritage Roman city in the Algerian highlands — one of the best-preserved Roman cities in North Africa), and Timgad (the Roman colonial city of the 2nd century CE — the "Pompeii of Africa" discovered under sand dunes in 1881: the most completely preserved Roman city in North Africa with its original street grid, forum, arches and the Trajan Arch intact), the Prehistoric artifacts (the rock art of the Tassili n'Ajjer — the UNESCO-listed plateau in the Algerian Sahara with 15,000 rock paintings (the most important collection of prehistoric rock art in the world, depicting the "Green Sahara" ecosystem of 6,000 BCE when the desert was savannah with elephants, giraffes and hippopotami)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideJardin d'Essai du Hamma (the "Trial Garden of the Hamma" — the botanical garden established by the French colonial administration in 1832 at the Hamma (the low-lying eastern suburb of Algiers): the 58-hectare park (one of the largest botanical gardens in the world) with a 4,000-species plant collection: the allée de ficus (the famous avenue of Bengal fig trees (Ficus benghalensis) whose aerial roots have created a continuous canopy over the 200m avenue — the most photographed path in the Jardin d'Essai), the palm grove, the aquatic garden and the 19th-century greenhouses (the most important Victorian-era tropical greenhouses surviving in North Africa).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideGrande Poste d'Alger (the central post office of Algiers — the 1910 Moorish Revival building (designed by the French architect Henri Voinot) on the Place Grande Poste: the most important example of the "Néo-Mauresque" (Neo-Moorish) colonial architectural style in Algeria — the French colonial architects of the late 19th and early 20th century developed a "Neo-Moorish" style that combined French Beaux-Arts structure with Andalusian and Islamic decorative elements (the horseshoe arches, the geometric tile (zellige) work, the stalactite (muqarnas) vaulting, the square minarets) to create a specifically Algerian colonial architecture distinct from the purely European colonial styles used in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideChorba frik (the defining Algerian soup — the lamb soup with broken green wheat (frik — the roasted unripe durum wheat with a specific smoky, grassy flavor: frik is to Algeria what freekeh is to the Levant): the soup is simmered for 2–3 hours with lamb on the bone, tomatoes, onion, coriander, mint and the frik: the most common first course at any Algerian family meal, especially during Ramadan), and the pastilla (the Algerian sweet-savory pie with pigeon (or chicken) meat in a spiced almond-cinnamon filling enclosed in layers of warqa (the paper-thin Moroccan pastry similar to filo) and dusted with icing sugar: the Algerian version is slightly different from the Moroccan bastilla in the spice profile and in the use of quail eggs in the filling).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTipasa (the ancient Berber city and Roman port settlement — the most important Roman archaeological site in Algeria and one of the most beautifully situated in the world: the ruins of the colonia (Roman colony established by Emperor Claudius in the 1st century CE) cover the clifftop above the Mediterranean: the Basilica of Alexander (4th century), the Basilica of Bishop Alexander (the largest early Christian basilica in Algeria), the Amphitheater, the Nymphaeum, the Baths and the harbor installations. The cemetery of Tipaza: the tomb of Albert Camus's mother (Camus was born in Mondovi (now Dréan), Algeria in 1913 and grew up in Algiers — he is buried in Lourmarin (Provence, France) but the cemetery at Tipaza, which Camus wrote about in his 1936 essay "Noces à Tipasa", is considered the most emotionally significant of his Algerian places.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBastion 23 (the restored 16th–17th century Ottoman bastion complex on the Algiers seafront — the most important surviving example of the Barbary corsair period architecture in Algiers: the bastion was built as part of the Algiers harbor defense system during the Ottoman Regency (the period of the Barbarossa brothers' control of Algiers (1516–) and the Barbary States (the pirate states of the North African coast that operated under Ottoman suzerainty and dominated the Western Mediterranean from 1500 to 1830 — the Barbary pirates enslaved approximately 1.25 million Europeans between 1530 and 1780: the most significant episode of European enslavement in the pre-modern period). The Palace of Rais (Dar Hassan Pacha): the 18th-century Ottoman palace within the Bastion 23 complex, now a cultural center and exhibition space.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideHammam (the North African bathhouse — the most important social institution in the Muslim city after the mosque: the hammam is the place of communal hygiene, social interaction and physical renewal: the hammam ritual: undress (the towel (fouta) is provided), progress through the hot room (the "harara" — 50–60°C): the kessa (the exfoliating mitt scrub: the hammam attendant (the "kessala") scrubs the entire body with the rough kessa mitt, removing the dead skin in grey rolls (the "kir") that demonstrate the effectiveness of the treatment), then the rhassoul (the volcanic clay mask — mixed with rose water and orange blossom water and applied to the face and body), then the rinse and the cool room (the "bayt al-baroud"). The traditional Algerian hammam in the Casbah (the 16th-century hammam of Sidi Barouk — the most historically significant hammam surviving in Algiers).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMakroud (the Algerian date and semolina diamond-shaped pastry — the most important traditional sweet in Algeria: the dough (semolina, butter and water mixed to a firm paste) is stuffed with a filling of dried dates (the Deglet Nour date — the "Finger of Light," the most important variety grown in the Ziban oasis of eastern Algeria), rose water and orange blossom water, cut into diamond shapes (the "mak' roud" shape in Arabic), deep-fried in clarified butter and soaked in honey). Boulevard Didouche Mourad (the main commercial boulevard of modern Algiers — the "Champs-Élysées" of Algiers: the 2km boulevard running from the Place d'Audin to the upper city, lined with the French-era apartments and the Algerian café terraces).
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