ZECO TRAVEL TALK

With the first sighting of the North African coast, anticipation of what lay ahead was palpable—and our dockside welcome of fresh dates and live music was just the beginning of the wonderful interactions we experienced. Throughout our entire visit to this country we were received by broad smiles and shouts of “welcome to Algeria!” from passing motorists and local citizens.

In Oran, our guides were so amazing they just about got a standing ovation after our tour. The local people were stopping us on the street to chat and it was very obvious that there is not a lot of tourism here. Paul Harris gave a great lecture prior to us disembarking about how we have this perfect window of opportunity to come to Algeria before tourism catches on. Our entire lecture team is terrific and everyone is enjoying their diversity. In Djemila, everyone was blown away by the Algerian scenery; nobody expected so much green and the Roman ruins were incredible! In Tipasa, we had the huge complex of ruins at this amazing World Heritage Site entirely to ourselves. Algiers’ Casbah is a maze of small alleyways, leaning buildings with French windows, kids peeping through the doors, whitewashed walls with blue awnings.… We went for mint tea at our guide, Masoud’s, sister in law’s house which was filled with tiles and pottery. Sunlight was streaming down from the roof that overlooks the entire Casbah while we listened to the Mosque minarets calling everyone to prayer… such a magical experience.