The East · City of Bridges قسنطينة Constantine & the East
Ancient Cirta — a city built on a limestone plateau encircled by the Rhumel gorge, joined to itself by soaring bridges.
Constantine
Few cities have a setting like Constantine. The old town sits on a plateau all but encircled by the Rhumel, which has cut a gorge so deep the city seems to float, joined to the plateau by a famous sequence of bridges.
Long before the Ottomans this was Cirta, capital of the Numidian king Massinissa, later refounded by the emperor Constantine. Two thousand years on it remains the cultural capital of the Algerian east — and the home of malouf, its Andalusian classical music.
What to see
What defines it
The gorge
The Rhumel’s 200-metre chasm is the city’s defining fact — its defence, its drama, its silence.
The bridges
Seven crossings, from the soaring Sidi M’Cid to slender footways — a city built on bridges.
Malouf
The Andalusian art-music of the east, a direct thread back to medieval Córdoba and Seville.
Cirta
Beneath the Ottoman and French city lies one of the oldest inhabited places in the Maghreb.
At a glance
Travel Constantine with us
Algeria Compass is a licensed Algerian tour operator. When you’re ready, we’ll craft a private, guided journey through this region with local Algerian guides.