April 20, 2008 -- Not many Americans visit Algeria. In fact, practically nobody. Though both countries are friendly with each other, the United States still posts travel warnings to Algeria, discouraging Americans to journey there because of the unstable environment in rural parts of the country.

In summer 2005, we had an opportunity to visit Tom, our brother and future brother-in-law, and his wife while he was teaching a photojournalism class at the University of Algiers. This was an exciting opportunity.

We were the only "English speakers" on the flight over. After we landed and left the suburb where the airport was located, the view of Algiers opened before us. It was grandiose.

Algiers is mostly on a vast hillside, and it's densely populated. The city, which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea, was beautiful in a unique way. It was a bit rundown (from an American viewpoint), but it retained some old-world charm and striking architecture that we had only seen previously in photographs, but never in the United States or Europe. Ottoman palaces, French-style apartment buildings, half-finished buildings, minarets and a basilica on the very top — it was a visual enigma.

Buildings stacked on top of one another on a hillside, ships in port, the sound and smell of traffic, and a warm, humid breeze. Clothes hung from lines outside the windows competed for space with each families' satellite dish. Shortly after 5 p.m., if you listened closely, you could hear the call to prayer. I remember hearing it from the basilica the day before. It was odd hearing the call to prayer while standing outside a Catholic church.

One day, just outside an ice cream shop, we saw a young man in a wheelchair playing basketball with his hands only. His legs had been blown off when he stepped on a bomb during "the Troubles." His friend was killed. He said he didn't mind not having legs anymore — he was glad the hard times were over and that things were safe and better now.

The idea of traveling to Algeria was nerve-racking. The country's civil war had only ended three years before, and close to 100,000 were killed. We hope, for Algeria, the world will re-discover its beauty and culture, and that people will resume traveling to this wonderful North African country.

Bales, a food writer and personal chef, and Hartwell, a veterinarian and owner of Arbor Animal Clinic, are world travelers. They are getting married in June and honeymooning in a remote village in Tuscany. Tom Hartwell's photos from Algeria are available here