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CONSTANTINE THE AMAZING CITY OF BRIDGES, ALGERIA

The City of Constantine in the northeast part of Algeria which is not to be mistaken for the Hollywood blockbuster movie with the same name from 2005 with Keanu Reeves as the main character. Is one of the most picturesque cities in Northern Africa where it´s located on both sides of an almost 200meter gorge that splits the city in two.

Constantine is one of the oldest cities in all of Africa having a rich history dating all the way back to 600 BC. It was the capital city of the Berber Kingdom of Numidia under the name of Citra and then later became a Roman City in 46 BC.

But it was not before in the year 313AD that Citra was renamed into Constantine after the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. There are only some small remains Roman Ruins left inside Constantine, but less than 2hours away and an easy day trip is the Roman Ruins of Djemila, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, that Lonely Planet has described as one of the world’s great archaeological sites. ” 

The best thing to do in Constantine is just to explore the city by foot, even tho it’s Algeria’s 3rd biggest city after Algiers and Oran, is Constantine compact enough to walk around and explore by foot. But I did clock in 32 000 steps on my watch by the time I got back to my hotel in the afternoon.

The most famous bridge in the city is the Gantaret El Hibal bridge also called the Sidi M’Cid Bridge; this bridge was opened to traffic back in April 1912. And was for 17 years until 1929 the highest bridge in the world at 175m/574 feet.