"WONDERFUL DAYS IN EL OUED" a El Oued Travel Page by Narviking

El Oued is located in the northeastern part of Algeria, not far from the border to Tunisia. Situated in the Sahara desert, El Oued is a oasis town and its worth spending some days here. The town is also called "The Village of a Thousand Domes". The reason for that is that so many buildings use vaults and domes in a effort to alleviate the terrible summer heat. When I was there in may it was 40C in the shadow. That was not the warmest time of the year, in july and august it could get up to 55C I was told.

One of the most interesting thing in town is the marked. Ther you can buy almost everything you need. The busiest day is fridays.

El Oued is a quiet town but very interesting. Beside the market, you can also visit the museum. However one of the most interesting things is just to walk around and watch peoples daily life.
Also a must is to take a trip out in the desert. Thats not a big problem as the town is surrounded by it. In the desert you can go on small camel trips if you like. The camels I saw outside of El Oued were however in a little bad condition I think. I therefore let them rest....

The people of El Oued was extremely friendly. People wanted to talk with me everywere and I was invited for tea or cold drinks countless of times. Unfortunately my french is very poor and I dont speak arabic so it limited my possibility to chat with people but there were some who spoke english.

Most of the women in El Oued used veils and when I visited private homes I was not allowed to take pictures of them. I could not shake hand with any women either. The only females I spoke to when I was there was two girls I met in a handicraftshop. They spoke also some english.