One of the world’s least-visited capitals is finally opening up

I hear voices. Faint yet incessant voices. They’re outside, and they’re getting louder, filtering across the waves from somewhere in the still tar-like darkness of the prelude to dawn.

As the cruise ship edges ever closer to the North African coastline, with the golden lights of the city beginning to twinkle into life in the distance, I can finally discern the words drifting across these far reaches of the Mediterranean. “Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar”.

By the time I transfer from the comfort of my bed to the early morning chill of its open balcony, it’s now clear that this is adhan, the melodic Islamic call to prayer recited from multitudinous mosques on shore to summon Muslims to their five daily obligatory prayers.

It’s a stirring, if somewhat haunting, arrival in Algiers, the enigmatic capital of the equally enigmatic North African nation of Algeria, and the kind of momentous entrance only made possible by ship.

By the time the vessel berths beside Algiers’ crowded and captivating corniche, which is dominated by handsome, whitewashed Haussmann-like apartment buildings symbolising the city’s turbulent French-colonial rule, the sun has risen and the call to prayer is completed.

But in this still dim morning light, the green, red and white “Welcome to Algiers” sign in English and Arabic lettering above the terminal is still glowing brightly.

Welcome? Perhaps.

Although Algeria is now the largest country by size in Africa, due to Sudan’s split into two nations, it remains a mystery for Western travellers with only a relatively small number of tourists annually visiting its capital city of three million souls, let alone the republic as a whole.

With visitor numbers dwarfed by neighbouring North African destinations such as Morocco and Tunisia, our ship’s visit is effectively part of an effort by the Algerian government to introduce more foreign visitors to its considerable and largely unseen treasures.

Many of those who do visit the country, described as “one of the tourism world’s undiscovered gems” and which has previously relied on the proceeds of its immense gas and oil reserves to drive its economy, are members of the Algerian diaspora visiting loved ones.

Under an armed guard – with the local authorities perhaps spooked by the death of a Swiss tourist in 2024 – shore-going passengers are transported by coaches in convoy to Algiers’ principal, albeit sadly disintegrating, attraction.

The tour of the city’s UNESCO World Heritage-listed kasbah begins, sensibly, at the citadel atop the hill overlooking the city, making walking easier.

Home to as many as 50,000 people with origins that can be traced to the 16th century, it cascades haphazardly down towards the considerably more ordered, French-designed corniche.

As we enter the Kasbah, the largest old walled city in North Africa, we pass baskets of freshly baked baguettes, a telltale legacy of the French rule that ended bloodily in 1962, when Algeria achieved independence after a savage war with its colonial rulers.

The further our group plunges into the kasbah, with its inherent but mesmerising drabness relieved by the creativity of local street artists – some of it political, some simply decorative – it becomes more obvious why the Algerians chose to fight the French military within this tumbledown maze.

The Battle of Algiers, the acclaimed 1966 Italo-Algerian co-produced film depicting Algerian rebels’ fight for independence between 1954 and 1962, was shot here in a grippingly realistic documentary style.

There’s a sense of another, albeit less bloodthirsty, battle brewing within the kasbah. Its citizens seem to prefer its authentically crumbling condition to the repair and restoration that the growth of tourism, and perhaps pressure from UNESCO, will likely help finance and encourage.

As it stands, and it’s barely still standing, Algiers’ extraordinary kasbah is a crumbling capsule of its country’s rich yet troubled history. It’s been a privilege to have explored this teetering marvel while it remains intact and free from the inevitable creeping gentrification that more tourists like me will surely engender.

THE DETAILS

CRUISE
Viking’s 16-day “Malta, Morocco & the Mediterranean” cruise, begins and ends in Barcelona, with visits to, among other destinations, Valletta, Tunis and Casablanca, from $12,695 a person. See vikingcruises.com.au

FLY
Etihad Airways flies from Australia to Barcelona via its Abu Dhabi hub. See etihad.com

The writer travelled as a guest of Viking Cruises and with the assistance of Etihad Airways.