Oran, Algeria

Tu vas en bas?

So, I was up on that hill overlooking that bay. I had researched it, and there were rumors of a secret Soviet submarine base. I didn’t find evidence of it, but I did find numerous WWII fortifications and tunnels. Not too different from Battery Spencer in San Francisco.

Then I did something you should never do unless you’re really sure you can handle it. In hunting for the Soviet submarine base, I had read French text (my French is not that great, but I can read maps). So, I knew there was an ancient Roman road that switchbacked up the hill. When I looked, it was still there.

I walked down from the top of the hill on the Roman road. Google Maps had everything mislabeled, and I only knew where I was from reading the old French books. Eventually, I ended up at what was called “Ft. Saint Gregoire”, but is now called Hassan bin Zahwa Tower (Dyar El Houmrin) قلعة سان جريجويو . I sent Google Maps corrections for all of these (numerous!) wrong labels. They fixed them, but now they all have Arabic names.

That’s where I ran into a bodybuilder dude. Il a dit “Tu es seul? Tu vas en bas? …Doucement.” He meant the neighborhood down there was sketchy, and to take care. He was right, that place was dangerous, but I got through it.