As the road, mostly bordered with hedges, which leads from the Colonne Voirol (p. [230]) to (1¼ M.) El-Biar (p. [234]), passing the Campagne Bellevue (794 ft.) halfway, is monotonous, the Chemin de Maclay, leading from the Colonne Voirol to (1¾ M.) Château-Neuf (p. [234]), is far preferable. It passes through the upper valley of the Oued Knis (see below), verdant with fruit-trees, eucalypti, and pines, runs to the N.W. to the (½ M.) Café d’Hydra, and at the (½ M.) Café-Restaurant du Retour de la Chasse joins the highroad coming from Blida.
A little way to the S.W. of the Colonne Voirol, on the road from Algiers to Douéra and Boufarik (p. [216]), is the beautiful Château d’Hydra, once a country-seat of the Deys, but now private property.
From the Colonne Voirol we may now walk through the Bois de Boulogne (p. [230]), or follow the road to the S.E. in the valley of the Oued Knis, past the sanatorium of Dr. Verhaeren and the Villa des Grottes (curious rock sculptures, among others the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise), to (1 M.) the poor agricultural village of Birmandreis (354 ft.; Café-Restaur. des Platanes). From Birmandreis we have the choice of two routes. We may walk through the Ravin de la Femme Sauvage (to the N.E. and E.), as the cool and shady lower Oued Knis valley is popularly called, to (1¾ M.) the village of Le Ruisseau (tramway No. 4, p. [219]), ½ M. beyond the Jardin d’Essai (p. [232]). Or we may take the road (to the S.E. and E.), through orchards and market-gardens, and across a fine open hill, to the (1¼ M.) poor village of Vieux-Kouba and (½ M.) Kouba (p. [233]).
From the Rue Michelet the Boulevard Bru (Pl. A-C, 8, 9; p. [230]; tramway No. 3, see p. [219]) leads between villas, affording near the farther end a beautiful view of Algiers, to (¾ M.) the Cimetière de Mustapha (Pl. C, 9), incorporating the English Cemetery. Here at the tramway-terminus the Boul. Bru joins the Chemin de Fontaine-Bleue, a road coming up from Mustapha-Inférieur (p. [232]). We follow the latter road straight on to its junction with the Chemin Shakespeare or des Crêtes, beyond which, in the same direction, the Rue Laurent-Pichat brings us to the (¼ M.) Villa Sesini (Pl. D, 9), superbly situated above Belcourt (p. [232]). Straight on we follow the Rue de Béhagle, a narrow field-road diverging from the Rue Laurent-Pichat; this road after 5 min. leads to the left, through a small oak-copse and past the Fort des Arcades (Pl. D, 9), to the verge of the plateau (*Bench with view) and then, taking the name of Chemin des Arcades, goes on to the hill-garden of the Jardin d’Essai (see p. [232]).
d. The S.E. Suburbs.
The only attractions here are the Mohammedan Cemetery at Belcourt (near the Marabout station of tramway No. 4; p. [219]) and the Jardin d’Essai. It is best to go to the latter by the inner line, just mentioned, and to return by No. 5, the outer line.
The suburbs of Agha-Inférieur, with its railway-station (p. [217]) and the new Arrière-Port (p. [223]), Mustapha-Inférieur, Belcourt, and Le Hamma, together with the adjacent little town of Hussein-Dey, are the industrial quarters of Algiers.
Along the coast, beyond Boul. Laferrière (p. [226]), run the Rue Baudin (Pl. C, 5), in line with the Rue de Constantine (p. [226]), and the Rue Sadi-Carnot (Pl. B-E, 5–8), over 2½ M. long, from which, at the N.E. angle of the Champ de Manœuvres (Pl. C, 7; also a race-course), diverges the Rue de Lyon (Pl. B-E, 7–9), 2 M. in length, the route of the inner tramway-line (No. 4).
The unattractive Rue de Lyon leads to (about ¾ M.) the Cimetière Musulman de Belcourt (Pl. D, 9), the finest Mohammedan burial-ground in Algiers, containing a number of handsome monuments and the picturesque Kubba of Sidi Abderrahmân Bu-Kobrin (d. 1793), a famous Algerian saint, a native of Great Kabylia. Adm., see p. [220]. As a rule only the side-entrance in the Rue Colonel-Combes is open.
The so-called Grotte de Cervantes (Pl. D, 9), with a bust and memorial tablet of the famous Spanish author, who lived in captivity at Algiers in 1575–80, is said to have been his hiding-place when attempting to escape. Ascending a road from the end of the Rue Col. Combes beyond the cemetery, we follow a (5 min.) path to the left, and turning to the left again, somewhat downhill, we reach the (9 min.) grotto.