A TRIP TO ALGIERS
IF, as some .think, the•two main objeetS of a holiday are, first, to go the maximum of_ distance in the minimum of time and, secondly, to obtain within time limit as much variety of scenery and climate as is scientifically possible and physically bearable, then the wise winter voyager should pack his bag at once and set off for the ever-changing paradise that is almost at his elbow.
For think of it ! London on a murky winter, afternoon . . . the sodden_ pavements glistening_ under the light from the . street lamps . . rain beating in fierce scuds against the wins aws of. your taxi (a ,fugitive. blessing, Maybe, for lovers; but useless to you if you are only a solemn .man of business, an anti-Rcananticist)-7-and then, 'of a sudden, you arc passing, early in the morning, through • th,c station of Avignon, city of the fair name, and about.to enter on the .last stage of your twenty-four .hour journey to Marseilles. There is a warmth, a soft fragrance, a smell of flowers in the air ; as your train winds along you get glimpses of blue sea ; you take off your stuffy London overcoat and feel already as if yoU were halfway to Barbary. - Marseilles ! Two easy hours in which to catch your steamer. Just time to drink-a cup of coffee and so to the Docks, where you will mingle -with the stray elements of half Africa. A Senegalese; I make bold to swear,.will carry your bag, for the
Senegalese have a smiling way with them, tip. him far too highly, but you will feel " in the picture," and that is always so satisfactory on a holiday !
The mail steamers to Algiers run thrice weekly ; those to Tunis twice. Let no one be` put off going to Algiers by gossip of the perils of the twenty-eight-hour crossing. I should like to state at once that thestemners of the Compagnie Generale Transatlantique maintain a -high average of efficiency and arc reasonably steady in rough weather ; in addition they are spot- lessly clean and artistically decorated ; the service is admirable, the " cuisine " Paritian, and you are-proVided with free olives and free Algerian Vin Ordinaire from Oran, rid or white, accord- ing to taste, or both at once if you are thirsty. So, my neigh- bour. It took him a long time, he said, to get the white dust of Marseilles out of hit throat. . .
True; these vessels are not as large as the more squeamish would* like them, particularly when the Levanter wind is blowing- ; for it would be dishonest to pretend that Europe's most romantic sea cannot sometimes be grey and excessively ugly, but until the inner harbour at Algiers is deepened (the official mail steamer noses her way right up to the streets and nearly touches the bottom in doing SO, no change in the size of the vessels is possible. Meanwhile, to be able to wear white flannels on Christmas Day and sprawl in a deck chair until nine o'clock at night, as I did last year, is surely no mean achievement ?
Be off, then, to Algiers ; for in this clean, pleasant city you may live cheaply and feel luxurious. There On will walk through Oric of the most heautiful gateways of the East and yet feel yourself the while in the heart of France, and you will find the warm, temperate climate unspoilt by those dangerous winds which make other places along the Mediterranean sea- board a happy hunting ground for doctors. And what of Algeria itself ? This prosperous French colony, half desert and half amazing fertility, and administered so brilliantly that it seems strange more has not been written about it, provides . something for everyone. Tennis, riding, yachting, racing, and motoring on perfect roads in Algiers and the immediate neighbourhood, that lovely mixture of orange groves, cedar foiests,,rich plains famous for their breed of horses and undu-: kiting pastures of red Devonshire soil. In the high mountains which form the background of Algiers and arc visible from an astonishing distance out at sea there are winter sports, shooting and thrilling climbing expeditions, only to be under- taken by experienced mountaineers. Beyond this range of Mountains stretches the limitless desert. It is difficult to realize the complete change in the characteristics of the country to be found on each side of this range of mountains. It is that which makes Algeria so interesting to travel through. One word more. For *motoring, the whole country is a model to Europe, not only in the quality of its roads (which, being for the most part military roads, . were originally . built dead straight), but alio for the efficiency of its signposts and all the other automobile paraphernalia which make up modern civilization. And the higher you go in the mountains, where the gradients have been easily worked out, and the farther you go in the desert, the better the roads seem to become.
But you will want gZiggles and your wait-clothes, for even in the middle of the day when the sun is at the height of its power, there is a cold wind blowing off the Sahara which would chill the liver of a prize pig.
So excellent is the tourist service organized by the C.G.T. that you may hire a private ear which will meet you at the quay at Algiers when your steamer arrives, and later a special six-wheeled car can penetrate several hundreds of miles into the desert. For the jaded office worker this is the finest trip
imaginable. E. S. A.
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