Tipasa, Algeria’s ancient melting pot, faces an uncertain future | Hacker News Reader

Tipasa, Algeria’s ancient melting pot, faces an uncertain future

atlasobscura.com

65 pointsdiodorus20 comments

I am from Algeria. I've been to Tipasa multiple times when I was a student in Algiers, the capital, since it was a very short ride. Tipasa has a truly magical coast, with all the amazing Numidian, Roman and Byzantine ruins, but also the sea. While there, you observe the blending of the mountains, the rocks, the beautiful, calm and shining Mediterranean sea and all the temples and the ruins. It takes you to another dimension of feelings and relaxation. It was a very good place of inspiration for me.

Algeria is a kind of a hidden gem. There are many other impressive sites and much larger and better preserved Roman cities. Few minutes from my hometown, Setif, there is Djemila [1]. The preserved arches, basilicas, bathes, theatres and markets is just super impressive.

A larger and bigger site is in Batna, a neighboring city of Setif. The site is called Timgad [2], usually the preferred place for cultural events. Timgad is definitely one of the greatest world heritage sites, absolutely on the same order of Pompeii.

Another impressive city is Constantine [3], or equally Béjaïa and also obviously the The Casbah in Algiers [4].

On the Sahara side, there is the Tassili [5] and The Hoggar mountains.

edit: typos

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dj%C3%A9mila [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timgad [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine,_Algeria [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casbah_of_Algiers [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tassili_n%27Ajjer

It's very difficult for Americans to travel there. But I got the visa once, and went to Oran and Algiers.

I had to send my passport via Fedex to the Algerian consulate in NYC and cross my fingers. There are strange rules about whether you have to send it there or to Washington DC, based on which US state you live in (no one in the US cares about this).

Beyond that, it can be difficult for Americans to understand French with any unconventional accent, let alone understand Arabic at all. I know enough words to count and understand what the police say.

Completely anecdotal, but doing it in-person in NYC was pretty painless for me. Walk in with paperwork, wait 2 weeks, pick up visa. I’ve heard of others having difficulty though, particularly over mail.

Everything went fine for me too, but it was difficult to figure out what to do from California. Sending my passport to them that way made me nervous, though.

Yeah, plus the consulate in NYC is pretty empty, at least when I’ve been. I once was able to get a two year visa in under an hour in and out, although my father is Algerian and half my family still lives there, so it was likely a special case for them.

Why don't you get an algerian passport?

I've heard the paperwork to get a military service exemption is not worth it unless you're visiting frequently

The Algerian system is known for its highly notorious and absurd bureaucracy that makes no sense in most of the cases. It's a very sad thing. Even within the country, the level of bureaucracy and administrative burden is astounding. It's on another level that still baffles the mind of every Algerian to our day. A reminiscent of the communist era that largely defined and still defines every aspect in the country.

Nevertheless, Algerians are very welcoming and they are very happy to see other people visit them. We hope that things will change very soon. However, it's hard to have a positive hope with the corrupt, mafioso political system governing the country.

It’s more difficult than countries that America has visa-free travel with but pretty standard for countries that we’re touch and go with. Russia required me to deliver my passport in person to their embassy in Washington DC. I cannot mail it. I needed to pay a handler with a very convenient relationship with the Russian embassy a bunch of money to be the “intermediary”. I’ve paid less for flights than I did to get a Russian visa.

I've never tried to go to Russia, but the process you describe is the way to go if you can spare an extra $100.

For example, it's much easier to get a Chinese visa by paying this company across the street from the Chinese consulate in SF than it is to go there. I think everyone that speaks Chinese knows how to work the system, but I don't speak it at all.

They turned me down for having a bent corner on my passport, lol, after taking my money. I just gave up and used the company across the street for my second try.

When I was applying for a Chinese visa, one of the (allegedly) most reliable sites for this country was some weird site that looked straight out of 1998. Funky colored text randomly placed. Improperly scaled images everywhere. Only one page but so long that printing it out would be like 50 sheets of paper, all just full of weird info about one Chinese guy who did some odd thing decades ago and had banquets and stuff.

People online said they made multiple trips to the embassy and paid loads trying to get it done in person. Some random internet comments said this shady-ass site could do it cheaper, faster, and with no questions. They were right.

Felt like I’d never get my passport back when I sent it off, though.

Yeah, I applied once and was never given an answer, just come back next week.

But I'm a journalist so that's understandable.

Tassili has been on my list for a long time, can’t wait to get there sometime soon.

My family is from Béjaïa and I can attest to that as well, it’s a beautiful old city.

Don't forget all of Mzab valley. The architecture there is incredible, not to mention a culture that has lived in harmony with the environment for a 1000 years.

Hello from Tunisia, friend.

Whenever Tipasa comes up, I always think of Camus's quote from "Return to Tipasa":

> But in order to keep justice from shriveling up like a beautiful orange fruit containing nothing but a bitter, dry pulp, I discovered once more at Tipasa that one must keep intact in oneself a freshness, a cool wellspring of joy, love the day that escapes injustice, and return to combat having won that light. Here I recaptured the former beauty, a young sky, and I measured my luck, realizing at last that in the worst years of our madness the memory of that sky had never left me. This was what in the end had kept me from despairing. I had always known that the ruins of Tipasa were younger than our new constructions or our bomb damage. There the world began over again every day in an ever new light. O light! This is the cry of all the characters of ancient drama brought face to face with their fate. This last resort was ours, too, and I knew it now. In the middle of winter I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.

This is beautifully written thanks for sharing.

Touche, someone who advocated colonialism and apartheid waxing poetic about injustice and the land he's colonizing.

I visited Tipasa on a trip to northern Algeria a few years back. It, and so many of the ruins across the country, are pretty incredible, Pompeii-level sites that are mostly sitting there empty.

There’s very little tourism in Algeria, though, which might explain the lack of investment in their historic sites. If you get the opportunity to see them soon and you’re up for a bit of adventure, I’d recommend it.

That sounds amazing and well worth the visit. As someone who has become disenfranchised with the over tourism that happens on the European side of the Mediterranean, finding sites that you can actually go and be a part of instead of stare at from a distance through perspex is a novelty and well worth seeking out.

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