French but they don’t wanna be…!
- Ruth Mcbride
- 2 days ago
- 8 min read
Day 10/16 Viking Vesta ‘Malta, Morocco and the Mediterranean’ cruise
March 22, 2026, Algiers, Algeria
Algeria! Not a country we had a burning desire to visit, but when it is on the cruise itinerary we figure out what excursion we want to do…and roll with it!
Not the nicest sign to welcome us to Algeria, but the country is really not set up for mass tourism. This sign was on the top of a building in the port. There were no other cruise ships in port today, other than the Viking Vesta.
Two days ago we had to turn in our passports to Guest Services so that Viking could apply for visas for anyone who was getting off the ship to do an excursion. We were told that unless we were doing an excursion we would not be allowed off the ship to do independent exploration. Viking called our tours “bubble tours” and we had to stay within our very strict “bubble” while in port. Today was also Sunday and the third day of Eid, so all of the shops were closed anyway.
We had opted for the included tour because all of the other tours didn’t appeal to us - I mean why pay for an optional tour when it either meant a very long time on a bus - 5 hours for example for an 8 hour tour, or a walk though the souk - when everything was closed for Eid? We heard complaining from people after they got back from their Souk tour that nothing was open. I’m not sure why people don’t clue in that in Muslim countries during Eid, things will be closed!
We were Group 1 on the Included Tour and had to be at our bus on the dock at 7:50am. The tour was to last 2 hours and once we were back to the ship, we could not get off again unless we had another tour booked. Effectively we were treating our stop in Algeria as a ‘sea’ day after we got back to the ship. We love sea days so much and we knew that people would be off the ship exploring on later included tours or optional tours, so it gave us time to do other things like write my blog from Tunisia and for Richard to battle it out in the laundry, to get our laundry done. More on that topic shortly.
Our guide was a Milennial who is employed as a night school French teacher and a daytime Tour Guide when cruise ships and tour companies bring guests to Algeria. He is studying English so he can also teach English. The official language of Algeria is Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic is taught in schools, but the Algerian Arabic used by most people in Algeria contains many French words mixed with Arabic words. Algeria has introduced English into its education system in September 2022 as the President wishes to reduce the reliance on French and replace French with English in universities.
Algeria was colonized by the Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Berbers, Spainish, Ottoman and French specifically from 1830-1962. Algeria obtained independence from France fighting a war with France in 1962. Relations with France have been tenuous since the war with France obtaining favourable price agreements for Algerian oil and gas in France. France then re-sold oil and gas at higher prices throughout Europe and this was a major cause of agitation to the Algerian government.
Algerians have often held dual citizenship in France since they speak French and often once educated prefer to stay in France to live and work. Algeria had to introduce legislation for physicians which mandated that if they were educated for free at Algerian Universities, they then had to stay and work in Algeria for 2 years to give back to the Algerian community, which essentially paid for their education.
France in 2021 drastically reduced the number of visas issued to Algerian citizens (as well as Tunisian and Moroccan). Algeria recalled its ambassador to France due to perceived offensive remarks made by French president Macron towards Algeria. Algeria then banned French military flights using Algerian airspace. In December 2025 The Algerian government passed a law declaring French colonization a crime, demanding an apology and reparations from France and outlawing glorificatioh of colonialism. Relations between France and Algeria at the present time are very strained - and hence the switch to English as a second language to try and supress any ties to France.
As Africa’s largest country Algeria is prime for tourists, but their rigorous, slow visa process, limited tourism infrastructure and security related travel warnings in parts of the country plus the need for pre-arranged government approved tours for many regions, coupled with a lack of online infrastructure make Algeria a really difficult place to visit as a tourist.
Our tour today was 2 hours long and we were only visiting 2 locations. Since we were Bus 1 we immediately followed our Police Escort vehicle out of the port and to the Martyr’s Memorial or ‘Maqam Echahid - a concrete monument commemorating the Algerian War with France to gain their independence in 1962. The monument is located on a hilltop in Algiers and it was clearly visible everywhere in the City of Algiers. The monument opened on July 5, 1982 on the 20th Anniversary of Independence. It is fashioned in the shape of three standing palm leaves which shelter the ‘Eternal Flame’.
At the base of each palm leaf is a statue of a soldier representing a stage of Algeria’s struggle for independence. A total of 1.5 million Algerians died fighting against the French to gain their independence.
When we asked our Guide why we had a police escort in front of us and behind Bus 5 - (the last bus this morning), our guide said that the traffic was normally bad in Algiers and having a police escort meant that we could sufficiently do our tour in 2 hours with a police escort making sure we got through traffic efficiently.
I’m not sure I agreed with our guide and his flimsy explanation on why we needed a police escort. Everywhere we looked at the Martyr’s memorial we saw guards. Police guards, army guards, and all were armed. We had been told not to take photos of the guards.
After looking at the Martyr’s Memorial we were allowed to walk to a new area which overlooking the port and city of Algiers to take some photos. I had the smarts to know not to wander too far from the group or guide leading our tour. It certainly did not feel like we were very welcome at the monument or in Algiers today.
After about 30 minutes at the Monument we got back on the bus, as did everyone from bus 2-5 and our police escort led us through the city of Algiers.
Graffiti everywhere on any vacant walls.
Military graffiti.
Satellite dishes on the crumbling down residences.
Never buildings near Embassy Row.
I’m not sure what embassy this was, but there were many all grouped in one area as the houses got a lot nicer and the gardens looked beautiful behind the fences.
Most of the photos I got today were from the bus windows. There was lot of grafitti, decrepid looking concrete residences with lots of satellite dishes on them, interesting Moorish and French colonial architecture on ‘embassy row’, security fences and garbage littered along the back alleys and in green spaces.
Our bus brought us to a large square in front of the Algiers Post Office called “Place de la Grande Poste or simply the plaza of the Grande Poste. Kilometre zero in Algiers it is frequently a gathering space for Algiers residents and since today was Eid, there were many people standing around chatting and children playing in the square.
The Grande Poste building built in 1910 in the Neo-Moorish style is a focal point for the city. Algiers is known as the ‘white’ city and all of the buildings in the city are painted white by the government every 5 years to maintain the cleanliness and ‘whiteness’ of the city.
A nice French colonial architecture building which was located opposite the Post Office
Post Office building.
After standing around for about 20 minutes in the square it was time to get back on Bus 1 with our police esccort to head back to the port. We arrived back at the ship at 10:10am.
Richard headed to the laundry room with our one load of clothes as soon as we were back to our cabin. He managed to snag a washing machine and then after 40 minutes when our washing was finished, a dryer. The dryers have sensors and shut off automatically when the clothes are dry to save electricity. Normally the dryers take 40 minutes so after 25 minutes Richard went back to the laundry room to check on our clothes in the dryer. To his alarm, someone had taken our wet clothing out of the dryer and stuck it in a basket and were using our dryer! Richard came back to the cabin and hung everything up to dry on clotheshangers and magnetic hooks that we bring with us, I asked why some of my cotton things were hanging up and then he told me the story. He gathered up the cotton things and went back to the laundry room, found a dryer and waited for the clothes to dry, so no one would play the same trick on him again. The laundry room wars continue! If you read this blog during our World Cruise you will remember we had a ‘knicker knicker’ who had an underwear fetish and would open the dryer mid cycle and steal women’s underwear. At least we do not have a ‘knicker knicker’ on this cruise but we do have people who are inconsiderate when it comes to the laundry room on Deck 6.
At 3pm we went up to the Explorer’s Lounge for afternoon trivia. We met a new couple who owe played with us who were from St. Petes, Florida and who had recently moved to the beach from Tampa, Florida. Small world. We again were close on our trivia answers with 11/15 but not enough to win at 13/15.
We both read for a bit before meeting Dave and Julie for dinner in The Restaurant. It is nice to be able to change up our dinner plans every night and not to have reservations for all of the dining options. The Restaurant has a great menu with Regional and Always Available options too.
I had an Ethiopian chicken pie for my main course.
Richard had a veal chop.
I had a toasted pistachio rice pudding for dessert.
The food has been excellent on this cruise and I would say much better than The World Cruise. I think we had too much inconsistency with Chef changes and repetitive menus previously on the World Cruise. I have really enjoyed the themed evenings too.
Last evening we had a Taste of the Middle East in the World Cafe and the food and selection was outstanding! We even had KNAFFE for feature! (Dessert with red on top).
Some ports of call are really not worth a lot of effort to get off the ship to go and see. I would suggest Algeria is probably close to Port Klang, Kuala Lumpur on my bucket list. Been there…done that…never going back!
We did learn a bit more about Algeria today and their struggle for true independence from France even to the present day to the extent that they want to change all of the street signs to Arabic and English, instead of Arabic and French. I guess if they make that a priority, it will eventually happen with time and money. With no interactions with anyone other than our tour guide and the slight nod from some police officers at the Martyrs monument I don’t feel like we really got a deep immersion in Algerian culture, or cuisine. Regardless, it is another pin in the map and one more country we can check off our bucket list!
French baguette, but NOT definitely NOT a French man in Algiers today.
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