Saturday, February 4, 2017

Two days, two continents

February 4, 2017


Most mornings on all of the cruises we have ever taken, we awaken in the morning already docked at that day's port of call. Thursday we did not sail into Algiers harbor until 10:00.  It was one of the most beautiful harbors we have visited. The city is built up the side of the hill that surrounds the harbor and many of the buildings are in a french style architecture which makes sense because Algiers was a French colony when most of the building occurred. Unfortunately, what appeared beautiful from a distance was not so shiny up close. As we bused around Algiers we saw signs of poverty but the people were friendly. The visit was quite interesting.  It turns out Algiers is new to the tourism game. Our cruise was only the second time Viking had docked in Algiers and our ship was the largest cruise ship to visit in many years. Algiers was very controlling in regard to our visit. No one could leave the ship unless they were with one of Viking's official tours. Our tour was a two hour "Highlights of Algiers" tour.  Our bus was in the first group of five that left the harbor. As with Tunis, we had a police escort with our buses the entire trip. The only stop we made where we were allowed to leave the bus was at the "Memorial of the Martyrs," a tower commemorating those who had lost their life during the Algerian war of independence with France. It is a lovely tower with three facsimiles of palm leaves leaning against each other to form an obelisk.  It would have been even more impressive if it had not had a cell tower at the top.  Really. The rest of the tour was drive-bys of places like the Parliament Building, City Hall and several important and historic Mosques. We did notice that as our motorcade of buses moved about the city, many of the locals smiled and waved at us as we drove by. Obviously, tour buses are still a novelty in Algiers.  After the tour we decided that Algiers needs to develop more places of interest if they are to expand their tourist industry.  We left the harbor as the sun was setting behind the hill and the lights of Algiers were coming on. The Muslim call to worship was sounding all over the city.  The view from the top deck of our ship was even more beautiful then this morning's. Sadly, we were now aware of the reality behind the facade.

This morning, Friday, our ship was docked in Valencia, Spain.  None of the ship-offered tours interested us so we decided to go into Valencia on our own.  The ship offered a shuttle from our pier to the historic center of the city, about a 15 minute trip.  We were both excited at the prospect of being on our own.  We don't do guided tours well.  We often go where the spirit moves us, usually resulting in unique and unexpected experiences.  We were delighted to find Valencia to be a very clean city, at least the part we visited. The city center was a warren of narrow streets that went in all sorts of different directions. We stepped into several churches that were beautiful, much like those we had visited earlier in the cruise.  We also went into the Central Market.  Much like markets of this type in other cities around the world, this market featured many stalls selling fresh meat, seafood, fruits and vegetables. Like the rest of Valencia, it was very clean. The rest of our time in Valencia was spent leisurely strolling the narrow streets, visiting lots of interesting shops.  On our return trip to the ship we drove by the Casa de Cultura (House of Culture) which was actually a small campus of three striking contemporary buildings that serve as a cultural center for the city. These buildings were examples of Valencia's effort to combine the contemporary with beautifully preserved historic buildings. It is a city we would would happily return to.

Tomorrow we arrive in Barcelona and disembark the ship first thing in the morning.  We will spend the next four days exploring what for us will be a new city.

See you soon.

Algiers, Algeria

Memorial to the Martyrs, Algiers

Central Market, Valencia, Spain

Valencia, Spain

Casa de Cultura, Valencia, Spain

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