Empires of the DUNES

Algeria’s litany of invaders have shaped a land where echoes of history’s greatest empires still catch in the desert winds; but visitors today will also discover a country finding its own voice Words & photographs

- Mark Stratton

At the museum in Djémila I spied a sublime sight. It was a Roman mosaic depicting the licentiousness of the god Bacchus: murder, sacrifice, orgy and wine. It was quite the show. It also caused me to ponder something that, up until then, I hadn't thought about: how A might modern Algeria be represented in tesserae? After some deliberation I decided that, regardless of what was depicted, it would be an utterly mercurial sight. After all, so little is known about Africa's largest country.

I started conjuring the Algeria mosaic in my head, piecing together bits of classical civilisations, oases bearing the sweetest dates, Mediterranean sunshine and scorching sands migrating wispily across Saharan dunes like transient djinns. It would be a bit frayed at the edges, representing the turbulent decades that saw this North African behemoth firmly off travellers' itineraries. But Algeria has changed in recent years. With security vastly improved, its mosaic of historical and cultural wonders is once again reachable - and barely a three-hour flight from London. It is something that a new vanguard of visitors will be eager to explore, even if procuring a visa is tricky, thanks to the Socialist siege mentality of the ruling regime making it tough for those not travelling as part of an organised tour.

"Algerians are a mixture of many peoples," said M'hamed Gueraini, a gentle giant of a guide, upon meeting our small group at Algiers airport. "We're more Berber and Arabic than French, Roman or Ottoman, but overall, we're unique."