The Casbah, Algiers, Algeria
- Introduction
April 21, 2017 at 10 o'clock, meeting point at Bab Djdid (Algiers), next to the old Serkadji prison. Several groups were waiting for the beginning of the visits to Casbah. Our group under the responsibility of the agency Djawla 3assimiya, was represented by the guide Kenza (translation - Treasure) accompanied by the his assistant Nesrine (Translation: Wild flower).
- The Visit
The well-organized visit began with the ruins of the Walls that protected the Medina, in the vicinity of the Citadel (origin of CASBAH), which is being restored. Here we hear the story of the foreigners' mosque (Jamaa El Berrani - 1653), initially built inside the Citadel of CASBAH, as well about the various designations of Algiers and their origins, a little of the history of Algiers, and about the typology of the building of the Casbah.
The visit continued along the alleys of the Medina to the downtown of Algiers.
We visited a building in which we had access to the terrace from which we could see the whole Medina of the Casbah, including the whole northern part of the city of Algiers, the bay of Algiers to Tamentfoust and a part of the Atlas mountain range.
We listened to stories and legends, visited some of the Fountains, had lunch in a small restaurant, where we were introduced to the Bogala game, visited some Casbah artisans, the Four Martyr’s house [1], the museum Dar Khadaoudj El Amia (Arts and Popular Traditions National Museum) and the Mausoleum of Sidi Aberrahmene.
Curiosity: The typology of most alleys means that even today, the collection of garbage is done using donkeys, which unfortunately we did not have the opportunity to witness.
[1] – House where were killed the four martyrs Ali La Pointe, Hassiba Benbouali, the little Omar and Bouhamidi. Formerly called the house of the ice because before there was an old vendor who was going to get blocks of ice in the district of the fishery and stood in front of the door and sold cones of flavored crushed ice.
See the images in our gallery!