Europe - Oran

Flight to Oran, on a regular Air Algeria flight.
Arrival in the morning. Reception at the airport, then transfer to the hotel and installation in the room.
Departure for the visit of the center of Oran which starts with the monumental Hôtel de Ville, built in 1886. Two good-natured lions, bronze work of the sculptor Caïn, flank the stairs. We will also visit the opera, a building built in 1905. Finally, in the center, we can see the obelisk of the battle of Sidi Brahim crowned by the bronze of the winged Victory. You will then discover the largest Spanish fortification of Oran (2 kilometers of wall), built during the Spanish presence which spanned nearly 3 centuries (1509-1792) almost without interruption. This fortification is part of the Spanish defensive system against the Ottomans who had extended their empire throughout the Algerian territory. After the departure of the Spaniards, the bey Mohamed El Kébir who transferred the seat of the beylicate of Mascara to Oran, will choose the place to build his palace there.
Lunch during visits.

Continuation to the Palais du Bey: Palace built by Mohamed El Kébir to make it the seat of his governorship. The palace consists of three buildings: The diwan where the governor gave audience, the harem which constitutes the residence of the bey and his wives and the building called "Pavilion of the favorite". The bey's palace underwent transformations during the French period (1831–1962). It served as the seat of the French military governor until independence. Near the entrance to the fortification stand, in the middle of slightly more recent constructions, three towers whose construction is attributed to the Merinids: a bellicose dynasty, coming from southern Morocco, contemporary with the Zianid dynasty to which it delivered a long war for the domination of the Maghreb. The Merinids experienced varying fortunes and were able to occupy even Tlemcen, the capital of the Zianids, for a certain time. They took Oran in 1347 and built the first fortifications there. Less than a stone's throw from the bey's palace, on the bend in rue Philippe, stands the Pasha mosque: built just after the departure of the Spaniards, by the bey Mohamed el Kébir who, for political reasons , dedicated it to his Pasha. The octagonal minaret bears witness to Turkish architecture. On the slope of the cliff which dominates the current port of Oran and below the wall, a long promenade was laid out in 1836. We owe its layout to General de l'Etang who said that a city was only not a set of constructions but also green spaces and gardens. There are rare species there. The promenade, nearly 500 meters long, leads to the Vallès ramp which joins the port to the center of the city.
At the junction of the boulevard Front de mer with the ramp Vallès, opens the door of Petit Vichy; pleasant green space. Below, the Green Theater continues to host, every year, at the beginning of August, the international Raï festivals.
Return to the hotel, and during the journey you will be told the drama of Mers el Kébir in 1940.

Dinner at the hotel or in town.
Night at the hotel in Oran.

Oran - Mostaganem

Road to Mostaganem, Phoenician port, then Roman. The Almoravid Youssef Ben Tachfine (11th century) built the Bordj El Mahel there. The city owed its development to the establishment of a strong Andalusian colony. City tour: Avenue Bendehiba Bénaïd, Place du 1er Novembre and its beautiful view of the sea, view of the Merinid mosque of the 14th century, the citadel of Bordj El Mahel restored by the Ottomans in the 18th century. and now converted into a public garden. Return to Oran with a stop at Arzew, known to have been the scene of a battle in 1942, when the Allies fought the troops of the Vichy regime during the Second World War.

Tiaret - ldjddar - Oran

The oldest of the djeddars (named A) dates from the 5th century and has a Latin inscription concerning a high figure, perhaps Romano-African. The construction of the thirteen listed jeddar spans two centuries. The ornamentation presents geometric shapes (rosettes, stars, chevrons), distinctive Christian signs (doves surrounding a chalice), and representations of animals already present in prehistory (cattle, horses, lions, etc.). Some decorative elements are found further north in what archaeologists call “the Kingdom of Altava”. According to Yves Modéran, the three oldest djeddar could date from the 4th and the very beginning of the 5th century, and be the work of pagan princes of Saharan origin, which would call into question the idea hitherto accepted that Rome would have controlled the region until 455. For the other djeddar, those of Jebel Araoui, built from the end of the 5th century to the 7th century, and bearing Christian frescoes, it is accepted that they served as burial places for Christian leaders of a Berbero-Roman state successor to Rome in Mauretania.
The interior plan of djeddar F is complex: two square-shaped galleries, comprising a total of eighteen rooms, surround two sepulchral chambers decorated with frescoes of Christian inspiration. The jeddar A, which has been the most explored, has a base of 34 meters on a side and could reach 17 meters in height.
It also has a system of galleries with eight rooms that surround the central burial chamber, adorned with bas-relief carvings of animals and hunting scenes. He is the only one of the djeddars to have an outer enclosure comprising a small edifice for worship which faces the eastern side of the mausoleum.

The dimensions of their square base vary from 11.50 meters in width for jeddar B to 46 meters for jeddar F, whose height could originally reach 18 metres. Some cut stones used in their construction still bear the marks of jobbers with Berber or Roman names.
Lunch during visits.
Return to Oran.

Oran - Europe

Departure to Europe.