Ghardaia in central Algeria is an ancient city that has preserved much of its beautiful mediaeval 100-year old architecture. Very much a product of the harsh Sahara Desert, it has excellent access to water (almost sweet tasting) through an ingenious collection of underground channels and produces superb dates.
As part of the heritage-listed M'Zab valley, the ancient mosque and large market square are glorious sights. Sadly, with much tension between the few western visitors and the Algerians when I was there, photos were a no-no (even walking around was a little uncomfortable) and so this is my sole photo of this remarkable ancient desert city.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Photo of the Week: Ghardaia (Algeria)
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11 comments:
Ghardaia was certainly an intriguing town. Nowhere did I feel more out of place with its strict Islam dress than on the day (as a Backpacker) I just "had" to wash my clothes, leaving me with nothing else to wear than a pair of shorts!! You can imagine the looks I received. I even got pinched by a fully shrouded local women. I did feel awful but had no choice with all my long pants being washed. The joys and wonderful experiences back-packing offers! ;-)
@kirsty: Good to hear someone who has visited. You are very very brave being in shorts in such a conservative city. I loved its architecture.
It can be difficult not being able to take the pictures you want of such a beautiful place...it's torture to me! At least you have one!
@sherry: It was a shame not be to be able to snap a few more photos but at the end of the day, the local population were not keen on that and that can only be respected.
I'd be interested to read more about the tension you felt; why it was the case and what is was like traveling in such an environment. Do you have any previous posts about it?
@anil: A good idea for another article.
Pity you couldn't get a few more pictures but the ones you got were awesome!
@spencer: Too uncomfortable to take photos but a special place.
I love these old arab towns, but not if the welcome is cool - that's unusual when Muslim hospitality is legendary
@heather: I think Algeria has had a burst of decidedly anti-western feeling from the government. My udnerstanding is that this is more in the past than the present though the middle east/northern Africa is going through uprisings in a couple of countries at present. Will be interesting to see how Egypt and Tunisia pan out.
im from ghardaia contacte me hamza-1986@live.fr for more pictures
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