Posted by on Sep 7, 2015 in | 0 comments

Ruby Boukabou continues her adventures in Algeria – her new other home – on a North African culinary road trip.

Seafood buffet anyone?
A blue-sky day in Algeria.
On the road to Jijel.

After several days in North Africa’s big smoke visiting Algiers, its casbah, cuisine and the cinema scene, an invitation arrives that is too appealing to miss.

  It’s from a distant cousin, Meriem Boukabou, who lives in an eastern beachside town called Jijel. 

  The 7am daily flight is booked out but another option presents itself: a half-hour flight to the  Mediterranean port city Bejaia and a two-hour taxi ride. I’m expecting a highway, but instead the journey unfolds on a windy road besides an exquisite coastline and beneath tall, jagged mountains. 

  After the pollution of Algiers and cold, landlocked Paris, the landscape is too stunning to snooze. I inhale the salty air, absorb the sun rays and the sea views. Cows leisurely stroll the roads and we occasionally pass women in colourful headscarves.

  Central Jijel is marked by an oak-tree lined street of local businesses, including Meriem’s husband Mohammed’s pizzeria. He welcomes me warmly and carries my suitcase to their upstairs apartment. 

  Meriem, a lawyer, is on her way home from work, and has taken the afternoon off. I soon discover she is an adorable long-lost relative enthusiastic and bright-eyed. We lunch at Mohammed’s and then cross the road for milky coffees and sweet local cakes before strolling down to the beach. 

  It’s autumn and the precinct is empty apart from a couple of fishermen and one family. We buy traditional mint tea and peanuts and walk arm in arm like old friends through the centre of town, finding fresh sardines for sale on the side of the road for dinner. 

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