Saturday, 10 Feb. Much nicer city than Algiers. More organized. Well, as organzed as a city can be that has a deep gorge running through its center. The “City of Bridges” is an apt nickname.

First was a tour of the Palace of the last Dey, before France’s takeover. On the exterior it’s not unlike any normal large residence. But the interior has a host of different mosaics, wall paintings, courtyards and doors. Fantastic doors, in my opinion. Hand carved, with slightly off right-angled corners. There were various features in the palace that were unusual enough to separate it from all the other palaces I’ve visited. Well worth the visit. (An aspect of courtyard fountains I didn’t know: one purpose was to make enough noise to drown-out confidential conversations.) As with everything else in Algeria, the condition of the palace was poor and undocumented.

From the palace we headed to the cliff wall, then walked alongside. Through two tunnels that had openings along the walls. The opposite side had a man-made walkway, no longer in service, that looked frightening. Far below was a simple bridge, then around the corner we met a pretty top-level bridge, built by the French in 1912. Great views, though a heavy cloud cover diminished its beauty. Also, very sadly, the walls were covered in trash. It was already clear that trash was a country-wide issue, but the fact that people would throw trash into an otherwise beautiful gorge was disturbing.

After crossing an impressive pedestrian bridge (and climbing up five stories to reach ground level), we had lunch at a restaurant seemingly cut out of the cliff’s wall. It was very crowded (Saturday) and service was horribly slow. Over two hours. Food was okay. Following lunch we walked through the casbah. This one was alive with activity. An inordinate number of shops sold women’s clothing. No carpet shops.

From there we toured the streets where metal is beaten into trays, teapots, etc. Dozens of small shops, all at work (Saturday). I printed a photo of one older man and got a small tray and bracelet for the effort.

I skipped dinner, choosing to buy some snacks and rest my much-improved leg.