Exploring the stunning Constantine
If you have ever imagined a city clinging to cliffs like it is terrified of heights, Constantine in Algeria ought to be on your radar. Honestly, this area looks like a Marvel set designer got a little too enthusiastic about bridges. Everywhere you turn, the city balances over gorges with bridges linking communities in such a way that you wonder whether gravity really issued a waiver.
Though it may win accolades simply for its stunning design, Constantine is more than just that. Every rock in the city oozes history. Initially founded by the Phoenicians and later transformed into a Roman fort, every corner seems to have a tale older than your great-grandparents' great-grandparents' great-grandparents. Walking around the medina, you could imagine traders arguing about gold, spices, or gossip. Most finely, it is bright, vivid, and somewhat too much.
And then there are the bridges. You might rethink if you are height-phobic. For instance, the Sidi M'Cid Bridge soars 175 metres above the Rhumel River. Fifty seven elephants placed on top of one another would stand about this tall. It's almost impossible not to suffer a little existential crisis as you stand there staring down. Conversely, this is heaven if you love selfies. Even if you're sweating buckets and desperately hoping you don't drop your phone, your Instagram feed will still look sophisticated.
Beyond the dizzying sights, Constantine holds more modest beauties. The food in the city is worth the trip by itself. Every meal you have ever eaten before makes you wonder about couscous, merguez, and a perplexing range of pastries. The sweet mint tea at local cafes is the kind that catches you off guard and makes you feel like you've just found a secret society. Your waistline could file a formal complaint, but really, your stomach will most likely thank you.
If you like museums, some in Constantine won't leave you regretting your visit. Though tiny, the Cirta Museum is full of old relics and Roman mosaics. Though without the horrible paradoxes of real-time travel, it's like a little time machine. As you stroll around it, you can't help but consider how long people have been engaged in sophisticated activities like politics, commerce, and debating who stole whose toga.
Moving about the metropolis is an excursion in itself. Every taxi ride is an adventure, thanks to tight lanes, abrupt drop-offs, and traffic that seems to follow its own enigmatic set of rules. Relax, grab the door, and pray your driver has a sense of humour. You'll eventually find yourself at cafes or vantage spots where the city unfolds before you like a painting, but it's real and most likely more stunning than your recent vacation photos imply.
Visiting Constantine is not the simplest thing to do, but perhaps that is precisely the idea. It makes you work a little for the stories, the cuisine, and the vistas. And once you have walked its cliffs, traversed its bridges, and tasted its delicacies, you could come to see something significant: travel is not always about distant jungles or mountain summits. Sometimes it concerns a city dangling precariously over a gorge yet unwilling to sit still.
