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Last Updated: Nov 15th, 2005 - 08:34:37 |
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| Courtesy of www.icg.org |
Situated high on a plateau in eastern Algeria, Constantine exists in a spectacular setting, highly unlike the other two major cities of this massive country that straddles the Mediterranean and dives deep into the Saharan. Constantine began its life sometime in ancient history, as a regional capital and subsequent outpost, and has endured over eighty sieges in its multi-millennial history. Constantine had been built in this ideal location due to its impossible access from various raiders and invaders over the ages. Surrounded by sheer cliffs on three edges, massive gorges drive hundreds of feet deep to a fast moving river.
Early in the twentieth century, under the protection of the French empire, Constantine’s infrastructure was given a badly needed upgrade – large brick and steel suspension bridges were built, to provide access into and out of the city. High on the plateau with sheer cliffs on three sides, these bridges exist as Algeria’s most spectacular man-made structures, and indeed attract Algerian tourists to this town… And, on the rare occasion, a foreign fellow who shows up wanting to see what all the fuss is about.
The city’s centre is a nondescript mass of cluttered near-arabness like so much else of Algeria but in a more rustic manner; far more foot traffic in a much more centralized town square; young men standing in groups with obviously nothing better to do, and far too many directors of traffic and police standing on every street corner - military police state indeed! Two cafés dot the town centre along a large empty square, and in the distance is some reasonably nice mountain scenery. The town bleeds and rolls through the hills below, but its soul remains on the perch that is the town’s centre.
Author - Sean Rorison
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