First Impressions of ALGERIA 🇩🇿 Exploring the Crazy Capital ALGIERS الجزائر

What comes to mind when you think of the country of Algeria? The footnet. Of Algiers. The very centre. Kilometre zero. Off to the UK somewhere, hopefully. Definitely the world's cheapest pizza, now for a taste test. One, two, three. One, two, three, viva Algeria. Thank you, shukran, bye-bye. Now I'm going to try the coke. Our Coca-Cola in Brussels. Do you know what, this has got a slight bubblegum taste to it. This is fancy, I wasn't expecting this. So from the gardens, we're taking our next set of Algerian transportation up above the city. A very rusty, old-looking cable car up. Sahar. You don't know how hard this was to find. What comes to mind when you think of the country of Algeria? Perhaps the civil war. Perhaps the revolution. But to be honest, probably not too much. Being the fact that this country has had one of the hardest visas to obtain in the whole world, it's pretty mysterious. But things are starting to change. After six weeks going back and forth to the Algerian consulate in London, we finally got the go-ahead while on the Caribbean island of Antigua. So quickly came home, packed our bags, took the two and a half hour flight to the capital of Algeria, Algiers. We're going to be spending the next 15 days exploring as much of this country as possible, which probably won't be too much. It's the largest in Africa. But anyway, welcome to Algiers. We're actually located right by Algiers airport, which is actually about a 30-minute drive from the centre. And we used the app Hitch, which is like the Algerian Uber. We hitched a ride, and it's really, really affordable actually. For that journey, it cost around three English pounds. And look behind me, it doesn't look like you're in North Africa. The architecture is absolutely stunning. So right now we're in the very centre of Algiers, and you can see why they call it the White City, with a lot of these buildings dating back to the French colonial period. Hey, how are you? Great to finally meet you. It's been a long time coming. Are you all right? We're excited. Welcome to Algeria. Thank you so much. So we've actually just met our friend Waseem, who we've been talking to for months, trying to help us organise our trip to Algeria, because it was a little bit confusing for us how to get the visa. So it's amazing to finally meet him, and he's going to show us around sort of the main spots of the city. Today's going to be like our first impressions, taking in the city centre and basically just being a complete tourist. Right behind me there, the Grand Post Office dating back to 1910. I mean, have you ever seen a blooming post office that fancy? It's actually putting our post offices to shame. It really is. It's an unbelievable building. Right now I'm standing on kilometre zero, which is the exact centre in the heart of Algiers. You're near the very centre. Kilometre zero. As the Grand Post is actually out of action, you can buy your postcards from this tiny little shop here that only sells, I think, postcards and books. So we're going to get a postcard and we're going to send it off to someone. From the new post office. This is so cool. It has literally everything you could ever want. Guides, books. But what we want is the Algiers postcards for 35 dinar each. Who's going to be the lucky person we send it to? Us. Send it home. Hi. Thank you. Shukran. It's time to post them at the new post office. Off to the UK somewhere, hopefully. So Asim is actually standing above the post box. It's a sign commemorating all of the postmen that lost their lives during the revolution. When you send your postcard, you need to make sure that you remember them. I really can't get over these streets. You would definitely think you're walking through a boulevard in Paris. You've got the flower sellers on the corner. You've got all the balconies with people's clothes drying over the top. And I don't know. I don't know what I expected from Algiers, like I say. Maybe it is a little bit mysterious. Definitely misunderstood. It's very unique. I've never seen anything like it before anywhere. Hello, my friend. Everyone's very friendly as well in Africa. You look good. Very nice. Time for the world's cheapest pizza. Hello, my friend. Can I have three pieces, please? Three piece. Thank you, my friend. This looks unbelievable. The Algerian pizza. This was 50 dinars, which works out about around 20p each. That's insane. Definitely the world's cheapest pizza. Now for a taste test. Pizza curry. When they said it's called pizza curry, I thought it was going to have curry on top. It's very saucy, but so delicious. And even better that it was only 20p. From the cheapest pizza in the world to a traditional Algerian mint tea, we have come into Le Tontonville, which is one of, if not the oldest cafes in all of Algiers, dating back to around 1817. You just come here and you people watch everyone along the boulevard. I still don't understand how you drink a really hot mint tea in 30 degree heat. But for some reason, they cool you down. Drink your mint tea and then just get back out and head to the side streets of Algiers. Get lost and just, again, look at this architecture. This isn't even one of the main streets, the hustle and bustle of a city of over 6 million people. Apparently 8 million during the week because people come from other places to work. 6 million at the weekends. And this is sort of like the sports market type street. And every country I go to, without fail, recently, this hasn't been forever, I get a football shirt. So the plan is to find an Algerian football shirt and become a real Algerian man. Oh, this one is nice. This one is good. Can I see? Ah, it's nice. What is the two stars? Is that both times you won African Cup of Nations? We need a third star next year. Third star next year. I think the green one. Can I try the green one on? This one? I can try? You can try. This is the new style. This is the tiles kind of style. I can try this one as well? Yeah. I'll try both. Thank you. Do green first and then new style. I'm fat. And you know how it goes here. 1, 2, 3, Viva Algeria. I think I'm too Kurdish for this one maybe. I think XL. 1, 2, 3, Viva Algeria. Ah, for me? For the wrist? Thank you so much. Like this? You're matching now. 1, 2, 3, Viva Algeria. Thank you. Bye bye. 1, 2, 3, Viva Algeria. I am now officially a proper, real Algerian man. And we are now actually heading down towards the port side. Right there is the Mediterranean Sea. And it's where a lot of ferries come in from Marseille and some other Spanish cities I think. But we're heading down there to hopefully get some traditional food and some lunch. I'm starving. It's so hot. It's June the... Sometime in June right now. By the time you see us it'll be later. It's blooming hot in Algeria. And this is us for lunch. Sipori. It's so cute. It's like a little hole in the wall that's very like seaside-y. It reminds me of what you get in Brighton. Yeah. Fish and chips. A little one under a bridge. But this does couscous. We were actually really lucky because they were about to close the restaurant but they've stayed open for us. We've ordered some traditional food. I love the fact that this is a hole in a wall serving traditional Algerian food. And we've been told that this... My label's upside down. But this is selecto which is like the Algerian coke. Right? And is this available? Yeah. Which is only available in Algeria but also in Marseille in France, Montreal and Paris. So now I'm going to try the coke. Our Coca-Cola are in trouble. They're getting over... Do you know what? This has got a slight bubblegum taste to it. I don't think Coca-Cola are in trouble but this isn't too bad. Thank you so much. Here it comes. These are so cool. It's huge. Wow. Yeah, it's massive. Thank you very much. Thank you. Wow. This. That is amazing. You ought to be the most aesthetically pleasing couscous. I just love the bowls that it comes in. It comes with the sauce in like a little teapot as well. So I'm just going to pour some of that on. But we have couscous with meatballs and vegetables. Don't drown it. That looks good. I'm going to just do a quick taste. And chickpeas as well. Like massive chickpeas. So you need the sauce obviously because couscous is quite dry. Okay. That tastes like a cheeseburger. I don't know like how to describe it but the meat tastes like really, really nice. And obviously. A cheeseburger couscous. Yeah, a cheeseburger couscous. I mean, it tastes amazing. I don't know how else to describe it. It had to be couscous on the first day. The national dish of Algeria. And it's come out sort of in like a, I don't know, you could say like a modern type fusion. The sauce is so nice. It's like a salsa. I've never had a sauce before. And it makes it so much better. We've had it in other countries and after a while, I've always said it gets a little bit dry. It's a lifesaver. So all of that food came to less than 10 English pounds. Basically, in Algeria, in Algiers, there's two exchange rates. You can get the exchange rate from the bank or there's a somewhat other rate. That is about as much as I'm going to say. But the other rate gets you a lot more for your money. But we're now burning off that couscous. Walking along the Che Guevara Avenue. I didn't realize that Algeria had such a good relationship with Cuba. You can see the ship that'll be heading out to Marseille probably later tonight. Then behind me, just a promenade of French colonial buildings. Mediterranean in the distance, fresh air blowing in. Doesn't get much better than this. Something you probably didn't know is that Algeria has... And two minutes later, we are out. We have made it to the botanical gardens for 50 dinars, around 20 English pence. And the London Underground needs to take some tips from the Algerian metro. Hello, my friend. My French, wait, wait. Everyone is... This way? Everyone is so friendly in Algiers. We're heading to the botanical garden. Welcome to the botanical gardens. This is actually beautiful. Right down behind me, you can see all the way down to the seaside. This was built back during the French colonial period, back in the 1800s. And this botanical garden is actually split into two, I believe. I think you have the English side and the French side. The English side is all overgrown. The English side is like a jungle. And the French side, obviously, is beautifully well kept. 70p to get in? 70p to get in. I mean, it's not bad. I'm almost blending into the jungle in my Algerian football shirt. But you would not expect or think that this was in the centre of the capital city. This is the British side of the botanical garden. The jungle, the bit that's a little bit overgrown. The pond behind you. It's nice, it's hot. It's really hot, so it's nice to come somewhere like this and just relax. Get out of that midday sun. We are now deep in the jungles of Algiers. Look at this. Capital city, really? So, from the gardens, we're taking our next set of Algerian transportation up above the city. A very rusty, old-looking cable car up above the city to the Marses Monument. And it was only 20 dinar each. I don't even know how much that was. 10p? Here we go. It's going to be three minutes up, I think. And it's a bit bumpy. It gets really, really cramped because this is used not just by tourists. It's used as local public transport. So I'm prepared to be squeezed. Three minutes in the Algerian cable car. Stroke sauna later, we have made it up to the Martyrs' Monument. This was actually built in 1982 to commemorate a lot of the fallen soldiers during the battle for independence. Just look at the size of this thing. 92 metres high on the hills above Algiers. It's impressive. Danelle playing for the unknown soldier? Yeah, I was about to say, wow. She knows everything. You don't know how hard this was to find. Actually, from the Martyrs' Monument, it was like a beer hunt of Algiers. Obviously, it's not common for people to drink alcohol in hotels. You can find it. But unfortunately, we've come to the Orasi Hotel, which is the most expensive hotel in the city. But we have a great view. The sun is setting in the distance over Algiers. And we have a Beaufort Premium Lager, one of the beers of Algeria. And it's dropped. It's good. Comes with nuts. We've actually left. We're seeing instead if he came, he'd be falling off the balcony. Not a bad view. You can really see how vast Algiers is from up here. They're kind of situated like, I would say, in no man's land. On a hill from the very end of the city centre. Obviously, being able to see out onto the sea, you've got that beautiful sea breeze. Takes the edge off. Walking around in 30 degree heat. I think we're going to waste away, buddy. The problem is, I feel like these two beers are going to cost more than everything we've done today. Good morning. What a way to end our first day in Algiers. Up on the rooftop of the Orasi Hotel. Trust us to find a large draft cold beer in the city of Algiers. But I will show you where we're staying. So we're staying at the M Suites Hotel, which, as we said, was near the airport. And we've been given a hefty upgrade, I must admit. This is the living area. Sofa. We even have a little kitchen area. And then we have TV number one. And a dining table. A separate toilet. I love the bathroom, because look, it's got like pink marble. I love that. And then you come in and we have our massive bedroom. We've actually been having our breakfast in bed a couple of times. And also down at the buffet, because why not. Greedy. Very greedy. And lastly, this is just crazy. It takes me minutes to walk across this room. Check out our balcony. You can actually watch the planes taking off from the airport. Yeah, you can watch the planes taking off. And I just think it's a nice little addition to our suite. You know what? I really like this location. It's about a five minute drive to the airport. It's more of a relaxed area. And if you want to go to the city centre, it's been like two to three English pounds on hitch. The Algerian Uber. But that is our first day complete in the tenth largest country in the world. The largest in Africa. Algiers is not what I was expecting at all. What were you expecting from Algeria? Don't believe what you read online. It's definitely dated. It's an incredibly safe, vibrant, you know what, beautiful city. And if you do want to explore it, I'd highly recommend going around with Waseem. He actually has his own tour company. We've been talking to him for months. We've become friends and he's been telling us what to see and do, how to get our visa. And to be here, finally, it's pretty surreal. But we've got so much more coming up. 15 days exploring probably a speck of this ginormous country. But we're very excited. We've got a lot more to see and do in Algiers. So we'll see you in the next one from Algeria.