41. Bougie.
Railway Station (Pl. B, 3), in the plain, to the W. of the old town, not far from the Kasba hill.
Arrival by Sea. The steamers of the Comp. Générale Transatlantique (RR. 20, 22; office on the quay) anchor close to the Jetée Abd el-Kader (Pl. D, 3). Landing or embarkation 30, trunk 30–60 c.; small articles free.
Hotels (comp. p. [174]). Hôt. de France & Royal (Pl. a; C, 2), Chemin de l’Hôpital, quiet, R. 4–6, B. 1½, déj. 3½, D. 4, pens. 12–14, omn. 1 fr.—Hôt. d’Orient (Pl. b; C, 2), R. 3–6, B. 1, déj. 3, D. 3½, pens. 10½–13½, omn. ½ fr.; Hôt. des Voyageurs (Pl. c; C, 2), poor; these two in Rue Trézel, with splendid view.
Café. Richelieu, with terrace, Rue Trézel.
Post & Telegraph Office (Pl. 3; B, 3), Place Gueydon, corner of Rue Trézel.—Banks. Banque de l’Algérie, next to the post-office; Comp. Algérienne, etc.
Carriages let out by Spiteri, Pacce, and Ali ben Abdelkrim Frères. Arrangements should be made personally with these or the drivers.—Motor Cars let out by Vogelweith, Rue Jeanne d’Arc.—Motor Omnibus, Messageries Automobiles Djidjelliennes.—Diligence Offices, Place Gueydon and Rue Trézel.
Sea Baths in the bay of Sidi Yahia (p. [264]).
One Day (when time is limited). In the morning, visit to Cape Carbon (p. [264]); in the afternoon, walk round the town and the bay of Sidi Yahia. Photographing and sketching in or around Bougie are prohibited.
The quiet seaport-town of Bougie (pop. 11,000, of whom 6000 are Mohammedans and 600 Jews), defended by several forts, rises in terraces on the W. shore of the bay of that name, at the S. base of the steep Jebel Gouraya (p. [265]). The Anse de Bougie or d’Abd el-Kader, a small bay between two headlands, the Kasba Hill to the W. and the Bridja Hill to the E., forms the harbour. The so-called Darsenâa (see p. [90]), the ancient Roman and Moorish harbour adjoining the plain to the W. of the Kasba Hill, and near the industrial suburb close to the station, is now choked with the deposits of the Oued Sahel (p. [251]). The upper part of the Kasba Hill to the N., above the new French quarters, is the Ville Indigène or Kabylian quarter (Pl. A, B, 1, 2), whose red-tiled stone huts resemble those of the villages of Great Kabylia (p. [252]). A second native quarter, the Faubourg des Cinq-Fontaines (Pl. B, C, 1), lies in the upper part of the valley, between the two hills.
The environs of Bougie, owing to the copious winter rainfall (p. [170]), are remarkable for their luxuriant vegetation and their splendid timber. The town is most beautiful in spring, when the gardens don their freshest verdure and the terraces and slopes are gorgeously carpeted with bougainvilleas. In winter the blue bay contrasts most picturesquely with the snow-clad mountains of Little Kabylia (p. [266]).
Under the Carthaginians Bougie, like Igilgili (Djidjelli), was probably one of the chief seaports on this part of the coast, but its Punic name is unknown. In the Roman period, under the name of Saldae, it was the principal town on the bay. Its present name (Ital. and Span. Bugia) is derived from the Berber tribe of the Bejaïa or Bujaïa, who settled in the vicinity in the 10th century. The town attained its brief prime in the middle ages, and was one of the most flourishing of the minor Moorish principalities when under the sway of the Hammadites (1090–1152), fugitives from Kalàa des Beni-Hammad (p. [270]). The Pisans, the Genoese, and the Venetians had their factories here. Wax being the chief export, the French still call their wax-candles bougies (originally, in Ital., candele di Bugia). From the 15th cent. down to the French occupation, save during the Spanish period (1510–55), when it afforded an asylum to Emp. Charles V. on his retreat from Algeria (1541; comp. p. [221]), it was a notorious haunt of the barbaresque pirates. The recent improvement of the harbour is expected to revive the ancient prosperity of the place.
The finest mediæval building in the town is the dilapidated Porte Sarrasine (Pl. C, 2; Arabic Bâb el-Bahar, sea-gate), probably a relic of the town-walls erected by the governor En-Nasr, in 1067, extending along the top of the two headlands, up to the Plateau des Ruines (p. [265]).
Since the 16th cent. the bay has been commanded by the Kasba (Pl. B, 3), a fortification of the Spanish period, and the ruinous (originally Turkish?) Fort Abd el-Kader (Pl. D, 2, 3) on the rocky summit of the Bridja Hill. Both are now barracks (no adm.).
The Harbour, exposed to the infrequent N. and N.E. winds only, one of the ‘least bad’ in Algeria, and now 65 acres in area, was improved in 1905–9 by the extension of the Jetée Abd el-Kader (Pl. D, 3; a fine point of view), by the formation of a quay at the Pointe de la Kasba, and by the construction of the Jetée du Large, an outer breakwater, 525 yds. long.
The town is entered from the harbour either by the Boul. des Cinq-Fontaines (Pl. C, 2, 1) or by the Rue de la Marine (Pl. C, 2) and Rue Duvivier, all ascending to the Rue Trézel. From the railway-station we ascend to the Place de l’Arsenal by the Rampe of that name (Pl. A, B, 2).
The Rue Trézel (Pl. B, C, 2), which ascends to the S.W. from the lower ground to the Kasba Hill, is the only fairly animated street in the town. On the left is the Hôtel de Ville (Pl. 2; C, 2), which contains a few antiquities, including a Roman mosaic (Oceanus and the Nereids) found near the hospital. The Fountain in front of the Hôtel de Ville has a hexagonal column with a Roman inscription in three parts recording the building of the aqueduct (p. [262]).
The Place Gueydon (Pl. B, 2, 3), the focus of traffic, named after Admiral Gueydon (governor of Algeria, 1870–3), and adorned with a Monument (a genius in bronze), affords a splendid *View of the bay from the parapet.
From the Rue Trézel we cross the Place de l’Arsenal (Pl. B, 2) and ascend the Rue Fatima to the booths of the Kabylian Market and to the Kabylian quarter, the chief boast of which is the pretty Mosque (Pl. A, B, 2), completed in 1902. Close by is the Porte Fouka (Pl. A, 2), the substructions of which are ancient.
Fort Barral (Pl. B, 2; formerly Fort Moussa), to the E. of the Rue du Gouraya (p. [265]), dates from the Spanish period. Behind the Hôpital Civil are the Citernes Romaines (Pl. B, 1; 509 ft.), which have been frequently altered. These and a few fragments of the Roman Town Walls are the sole memorials of antiquity.
The Rampe des Spahis (Pl. B, 2, 1) descends to the Cinq-Fontaines (Pl. C, 1), a Mauro-Turkish fountain in the valley, whence the Chemin de Bridja leads to the Porte du Cimetière (Pl. C, 1), the town-gate on the Bridja Hill.
A charming walk is afforded by the road from the gate just named, passing the Jewish Burial Ground (Pl. D, 1), and descending in windings through olive and carob groves and ruins of old fortifications, to the beautiful Anse de Sidi-Yahia. Thence, at the lime-kiln and cement-works, we may either turn to the right and go through the tunnel under Fort Abd el-Kader (p. [263]) back to the harbour, or we may follow the coast-road (p. [265]) leading to the E. to the bay of Les Aiguades.
The *Excursion to Cape Carbon (there and back 3½–4 hrs.) is best made on foot or by mule (3 fr., attendant 1 fr.). We leave the town by the Porte du Cimetière and follow the rough road to the N.E., passing (on the left) the Catholic Cemetery (Pl. C, D, 1), and ascending amidst rich vegetation on the E. slope of Jebel Gouraya (p. [265]).
Passing the pleasant path which diverges to the Petit Phare (482 ft.) on Cape Bouak, we soon reach the Vallée des Singes, whence we look down on the peaceful Anse des Aiguades (p. [265]), and the (1 hr.) Pic des Singes, on whose steep rocky slopes we may often see monkeys disporting themselves (comp. p. [171]). Just beyond the short rock-tunnel, where the road ends, we obtain a superb **View of Cape Carbon (722 ft.), whose limestone precipices, descending sheer on every side, are crowned with a semaphore and the old lighthouse. We cross the low saddle between the Anse des Salines (see below) on the left and the bay bounded by Cape Carbon and the Cape Noir (p. [130]) on the right, and ascend past the Old Lighthouse to the (20 min.) *Semaphore, from whose flat roof we have a splendid survey of the bay and of the bold coast of Great Kabylia as far as the Ile Pisan (p. [130]).
From the saddle just mentioned a path descends to the New Lighthouse at the foot of Cape Carbon.
The beautiful new *Coast Road leads round the Anse de Sidi-Yahia (p. [264]), passing the marabout of that name and the large quarries and skirting the abrupt slopes of Cape Bouak (p. [264]). It pierces the point of the cape by means of a short tunnel, and ends, beyond the old pumping-works, at the *Anse des Aiguades. Its extension to the new lighthouse at Cape Carbon is projected.—When the sea is calm we may row from the harbour of Bougie (4–5 fr.; bargain necessary), past Cape Bouak and through the Roche Percée at Cape Carbon, to the Anse and the Pointe des Salines, with the Grotte Ste. Anne. On the return we may for variety land in the Anse des Aiguades and walk back to Bougie by the coast-road.
The ascent of Jebel Gouraya (2166 ft.) takes 2–2½ hrs. on foot or 1¾ hr. by mule (3 fr., and fee of 1 fr.). We first follow the Rue du Gouraya and Chemin du Gouraya, or else a road on the Bridja Hill above the Faubourg des Cinq-Fontaines, to the Porte du Grand Ravin (Pl. B, 1). A steep road ascends thence in windings, through underwood, to the Plateau des Ruines, where there is a Pénitencier for military convicts. Hence a path leads in ½ hr. to the small Fort du Gouraya, within which is the shrine of Lalla Gouraya. We then ascend to the right, round the fort, to the cairn on the W. peak, where we are rewarded with a charming view of the bay, the lower Sahel valley, the coast of Great Kabylia as far as Cape Sigli (p. [130]), and Jebel Arbalou (p. [262]).
Excursion to Toudja (carr. 20–30 fr.), and drive viâ Taourirt-Ighil to Azazga (and Fort-National), see pp. [262], 261.