First Post Covid Trip to Algeria: Travel Days

 Travel days to and from Algeria are long and tiring… there is no direct flights to the states so one needs to transit in Europe somewhere, I chose Paris. I did not like Charles De Gaule airport … but that is just me others may like it. I thought that using buses between terminals was old and out dated. I love taking pictures from the planes during take off and landing and sometimes inflight … here are some:

Sunset somewhere, note the location of the plane wing

Flying through clouds with lights on

High above Newfoundland, strange landscape below

High above somewhere ….

Another sunset high above the clouds

Landing with the flaps way down

On the ground … 

Another sunset pic

Landing in Newark with New York City in a distance

First Post Covid Trip to Algeria: (11) Final Day

 My last day in Tizi Ouzou was spent recovering from a head cold i caught from all the people around me who were sniffling and sneezing. It was a nasty bug that made me nervous about my scheduled return flight the next day. In the afternoon, my nephew returned from Bejaia and asked me if i wanted to go with him to Tizi Ouzou and take the newly added téléphérique or aerial cablecar and then go for a hike in baloua high above Tizi Ouzou. Off course, i said YES to his invitation so we were off to Tizi Ouzou. We first parked our car near à téléphérique stop then went on to buy tickets and we were off. We had a smooth ride up and down the same route. I was happy to see Tizi Ouzou add another means of transportation around town. I hope this will grow in popularity and new lines will be added in the future. 

After the téléphérique experience we went to Redjaouna,  high above Tizi Ouzou, to enjoy some views of the valley below. When we got there, the views were indeed awesome. We took many pictures from various locations, it was breathtaking !! We then went inside the religious site where Sidi Baloua once prayed and lived. He is buried on the grounds of his worship place and people come in large numbers to visit this site and ask for blessings.

Once this visit over, we headed home to rest.. the vacation is over!!!

A View From Redjaouna, high above Tizi Ouzou also known as Sidi Baloua

A thin cloud or mist covers Tizi Ouzou as seen from Sidi Baloua

A view of the cemetery high above Tizi Ouzou 

A mosque high above Tizi Ouzou, Radjaouna

The grave of Sidi Baloua, in Radjaouna 

Goats roaming around high above Tizi Ouzou

First Post Covid Trip to Algeria: (10) Matoub Lounes

 Today was supposed to be a light day in terms of things to do, so I scheduled a meeting with a friend on the campus of the university of Tizi-Ouzou. It has been a long time since I set foot on this campus so it should be emotional. In addition to this visit, my brother in law wanted me to visit the village of Taourirth Moussa and more specifically the memorial and grave site for the iconic and revolutionary singer and freedom fighter: Matoub Lounes. Given that i needed to watch my time carefully. The meeting on the campus of Hasnaoua was brief; i walked through the campus at a fast pace and did not recognize a lot of the buildings; a lot of new additions. Many new colleges and departments were added since my days in this place. My most vivid memories of this campus were the days of the Amazigh spring when we took over campus operations and threw out all the government bureaucrats. This action set a sequence of events  that ended in an army crackdown on the students and a total shutdown of the university. This became known as the Amazigh spring of 1980. I was a foot soldier in the movement and was called upon to guard dorms at night as well as other duties. These memories were flashing in my head as I walked around campus. My friend and I then headed to a coffee shop near campus and chatted on various things going on at the university. Before long, I had to say goodbye to my friend and head home to meet my brother in law. After a light lunch, my sister and her husband and I headed to the car and left for Matoub’s grave site. The drive was slow as we had to deal with some steep roads and sharp turns, however the views were spectacular as we got higher and higher in altitude. Before long we reached the village of Taourirt Moussa and more specifically the grave site and memorial for Matoub Lounes. Here are pictures from today…

A beautiful view of Amazigh villages perched high above the valley

Another awesome view of the valley

At Matoub’s grave with his portrait in the background

Matoub’s memorial site

Matoub’s car riddled with bullet holes after his assassination

Matoub’s small museum  

Matoub’s mom’s grave near her son’s 

First Post Covid Trip to Algeria: (9) Childhood Village

 Going back to my childhood village is always a very emotional experience as memories of bygone days come back. All that is left of my home village is just that; memories!! Most people have either died or moved on to cities or neighboring villages with better economic and social potential. There are no jobs in my childhood village, that is why people have moved out. This, however, did not diminish my sadness while walking from an abandoned home to the next.. my childhood home being one them. My older sister was with me for this emotional visit … when we arrived at our abandoned home, we felt the weight of the past years on our once stumping grounds.. the home had all the signs of a home about to crumble to ground. We even feared for our own lives just walking through it; walls with wide cracks and ceiling tiles ready to come down… the inner courtyard was the only safe place left. We did not stay there long as we needed to move on. All surrounding houses were also abandoned and ready to collapse so we needed to pay attention at every step. When we reached the last house on the eastern end of the village, my sister decided she did not want to walk any further as the ground was wet and slippery so i decided to go alone to visit my grandfather’s grave under a distant olive tree ..  Once this mission was accomplished, we went back to my sister’s small but newer house for a small lunch and coffee. 

After lunch, it was time for olive collection time so my sister’s husband and i went to one of his olive tree field and started gathering olives both from the trees and those fallen on the ground. It was another emotional moment for me: childhood memories ! The sun was quickly descending in the horizon and so we had to call it the day. We headed back to my sister’s house in Oued Aissi. 

A very emotional day came to an end and with it my vacation was also ending fast …

Narrow pathway in the village with crumbling houses on all sides.

The famous olive tree where we gathered during my childhood 

A narrow passage way between homes in my home village.

Our abandoned childhood home seen from the courtyard 

Another passage way between houses

A view from our village of the far away plains 

The Iconic mountain peak of Thafsa near Agouni Gaghrane

Mountains above our village with the sun peaking from the top

Climbing an olive tree to pick olives

Walking along an old beaten path of my childhood

More olive picking from the ground

Mountains all around my village 

A mosque in Agouni Gaghrane under a giant rock towering over the mosque

First Post Covid Trip to Algeria (8): Village Sahel

 Every year in my home state of Tizi Ouzou a competition is held on cleanliness and hospitality some villages decide to participate with the goal of winning some big money so they can use it towards further improvements of their village.. I find this to be a great initiative and worthy of financial support by the government and private enterprises. Last year the village of Sahel won the competition and so we decided to visit this village… here are some pictures from the visit..

A nice piece of art work of an Amazigh sign in a fist with an open book honoring the people of Sahel

A piece of art work celebrating the traditional Amazigh jewelry 

A beautiful mosque in the middle of the village 

Another piece of art work depicting Amazigh jewelry 

A nice artistic gazebo style area in the village

                              Another piece of art work with an Amazigh language theme

A piece of art work representing an Amazigh women carrying a jug of water on her shiulder

First Post Covid Trip to Algeria: (7) Return of the Sun

 It has been raining since i arrived in Algeria so it is a welcome relief to see the sun finally out, though it is cold … so today we drove around the surrounding hills and just enjoyed the beautiful views of the valley. I went to school here for three years so i do have memories, good and bad, of this place.

General view of Tizi-Ouzou where I did my undergraduate degree

The Oued Aissi Dam near my sister’s house (nearly empty due to drought)

Another view of the surrounding hills near oued Aissi

View from sister’s apartment 

Run off from the Oued Aissi Dam 

First Post Covid Trip to Algeria (6): Just Chilling

 Every vacation has some quiet days where things are slow… today is that day for this one. Got up late, had breakfast then headed to town, Tizi Ouzou. I visited couple of places then headed back home for lunch. After lunch we went to an olive oil cold press factory. It is the most traditional way to extract olive oil from olives. I observed the whole process and also filmed it too.  After that we drove through some small towns and took some pictures of the scenery as well as buildings.. 

Hills around Tizi Ouzou

Tizi Ouzou Suburb 

Berber Style Mosque 

Construction everywhere 

Olives in an olive tree

Olive oil press 

Raw Olive oil coming from the press