We were planning to spend more time in Sahara before going to Spain and then to Morocco, but after three excellent days in Taghit, the hotel staff told us, that they got orders from the government to close the hotel and evacuate all customers out of Taghit. So next morning we took our non-stop drive with Gendarmerie escorts to Algiers (1130 km) trying to catch the last ferry. Thanks to their effort, they pushed us through the whole country to the port in Algiers. In the meantime, we were in touch with Czech Embassy in Algiers, who helped us to find the very last ferry back to Europe (Marseille / 1200 EUR) and went to the port to make sure, that they will not leave without us (since we were few hours late, they blocked the ferry). Our original plan was to depart from Oran, but there were no more ferries in operation, so we lost our ticket worth 500 EUR. We were thinking to stay and wait in Africa, but 1) the whole of Algeria was locking down and it was not possible to travel anywhere anymore, 2) our visa was only for 30 days and it was not clear if they would extend it, 3) it would not be possible to continue without ferry going to Spain and Spain was also announcing to close borders, 4) Morocco was also closing borders and ferries… In this situation, we filled up our tank with local cheap diesel (23 DZD / liter) and we have decided to go back to Europe and stay there and wait, that maybe one day, it will be possible to travel again… Inshallah (إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَّٰ)
We have to also send our thanks to all our new friends who helped us to make our journey enjoyable and smooth – especially Nora Ferradji, Fethallah Mbarki, Mohamed from Oran, Ferhat from Béjaïa, captain Abboul from Cherchell, Amine Tekia and Amin Abdallah Bouaricha from Tlemcen, Mustapha Ziani and Mounir Boudouh and Anas Medjahed from Tipaza.
