Ancient Civilizations/Arab Spring

The Alhambra

Granada, Spain; Tangier, Morocco; Ghazaouet, Algiers, Bejaia, Skikda, Annaba, Algeria; Palermo Sicily.  Two weeks.  About 70 fellow travelers (yes they used the phrase that used to mean communist dupes) on a ship called Corinthian and numerous buses.  Four lecturers on board: diplomat, archaeologist, college professor, historian plus one guest talk from the current Algerian Ambassador.  Three staff facilitators to herd the others plus local guides, police, crew and local bureaucrats.

Why?  I have wanted to see Morocco because of old movies and Sharon the
Alhambra from her architecture class;
plus one of our nieces is married to an
 Algerian born man. And we got a big
 discount.

From pre-reading, "A Traveller's History of North Africa" by Barnaby Rogerson.  Carthage, founded 814 BC, destroyed by Romans in 146 BC.  St. Augustine becomes bishop of Hippo Regius 391 AD, finishes City of God in 427.  Vandals invade two years later.  Byzantine conquest in 522.  Prophet Mohammad moves to Medina in 622 unites Arabs ten years later.  Tariq conquers Spain in 711 and all of Maghreb subdued in 909.  Granada falls 1492.  French invade Algeria in 1830, Ottomans rule Libya in 1835, replaced by Italians in 1911.

Courtyard of the Alhambra

 Spanish 1492 add on 

The Alhambra.  Fortunately unlike most of the civilization ruins we looked at Isabella and Ferdinand tried to one up the Sultans with a roman knock-off and didn't level the palace.  Apparently a french general came close.  Was delighted to hear that the Sultan not only entertained visiting heads of state, but also V.I.P.'s, "very important poets".

The Maghreb minus Tunisia, Mauritania and Libya.  It seems that while some parts of the world are opening up, others are closing - hopefully not for too long.  Best not to wander too far from the coast either.  Full police escort in Algeria bracketing our buses, annoying commuters, keeping us safe from each other.  Plenty of escort in Morocco as well.  Only border control in Spain and Italy.  Envious of other folks on the trip who have been to Libya and Tunisia and ... seems like almost everywhere - first night's dinner table:  "How many countries have you been too?"
"Oh,  40 something,"
" 46,"
" I never counted.  Wait, I think 36." 

Tangier, Morocco

Entertainment with sweets and mint tea

Morocco, "nice house"

Morocco "regular housing"

When we travel Sharon is braver socially and gastronomically.  I tend to be more abrasive than usual when stressed.  Apparently sculptors, according to the guide at the museum, signed their work, at least of males, hidden underneath the testicles.  I didn't look, but Sharon did.

Also in Tlemcen there was the contrast between the apparently sparsely used luxury hotel on the hill, reportedly built by one of Qaddafi's sons, and the way normal people lived.  Picture below of people in town is noteworthy in that only men seem to hang around with nothing to do on a weekday afternoon.

Hotel on the hill

Afternoon in Tlemcen

Randomly I was struck by a few things.  This area of the world has been contested for thousands of years and contains impressive archaeological evidence of historical civilizations.  Generally each was marked by destroying their predecessors religious sites by building theirs on top.  The Roman gladiators were relative select performers in shows that highlighted criminals and common people being torn apart by exotic animals and each other.  I keep wondering what it says about our species that it was such popular entertainment.  The suspicion being not much separates modern society from the Romans.

Our state department characterizes Algeria as a police state.  Compared to other countries I have visited we saw relatively few armed soldiers and police, but we did have a police escort and needed permission each time we left the boat.  Algerians, particularly the kids were friendly like most everyone else you might meet.  However I understand at least one young man flipped the group off with the European full arm salute and our bus had rocks thrown at it.  I learned the latter from the ship's captain who explained it as a reaction to the former American ambassador being on our trip.  I could understand people being pissed off just by the disruption our police escort caused to their commute.  They cleared the far right lane in heavy traffic moving commuters out of the way and cutting off people trying to enter the highway as they escorted our three buses.  

Yes I would recommend the trip but I wish we had been able to go to Libya and Syria and as always had more time.  Following are a sample of additional pictures.  The final leg of the trip was a flight back from Palermo.  A separate trip to Sicily is now on the wish list.

 A sampling of a few more pictures from the thousand I took:

Algiers Harbor

Basilique de St. Augustine from Hippo Regius ruins

Djemila Theater

Me at Luxury Hotel in Algeria (lunch, didn't stay there)

Sharon at Morocco lookout 

Zayyanid (Berber) last stand against Ottomans