Senegal had been under the control of the French since the early 19th century. For centuries earlier, they, the Portuguese, and others enslaved and exploited the region’s African tribes, themselves founders of several enduring empires…
We just finished our extended stay on the island of Santo Antão, the most northwestern of the 10 islands of Cabo Verde. To us, this is the most magnificent of the islands. The towns are…
Surprises, surprises…or why we love to travel. We planned to visit Cape Verde as an adjunct to our visiting the three countries on the bulge of the western African mainland - Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau…
We were thrilled during our long, leisurely visit to “Superstar Pharaohs,” a rewarding exhibition at the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. We took our time to peruse 250 pieces that show how the history of the…
In a month, we gained some feel for the culture of Algeria. Here are some of the observations we took away from our experience. It’s a largely middle-class population, relatively well-off and seemingly content. Algerians…
The cultural monuments and museums of Algiers were impressive, but we will remember most all the people who treated us as honored guests. During our first week in Algeria, we walked and rode extensively around…
The remarkable ruins of five ancient cities uncover over five hundred years of Roman occupation in northern Algeria. Tipaza and Cherchell Wealth and power flowed into northern Africa across the Mediterranean from 200 BC to…
Constantine is known as the City of Bridges for it needs at least nine bridges to traverse. But it could just as well be called the City of Ravines for the chasms traversed by the…
Algeria is a large country which seems at first divided into two zones, a coastal landscape and vast desert. We found that Algeria offered much more diverse ecologies and terrain than this simple division. In…
We made a special trip to Annaba on the northeast Algerian coast for one reason, to walk the old pathways of Hippo Regius, the home city of Saint Augustine (354 to 430 AD). (To read…