EL KALA (القالة)

We were waiting for our Algerian visa for 5 months, finally, we got it and we have realized, that there are no ferries available (except Marseille, France), so we took again ferry to Tunisia (from Civitavecchia, Italy – 285 EUR). After a bad experience with seating on GNV ferries, we booked a cabin, which was quite comfortable. In Tunisia, in La Goulette port the immigration officers did remember us, and of course, they made again problems to enter the country, after that, we have other usual problems and unbelievable paperwork with customs – in total we spent again 2,5 hours with formalities. On the way from Tunis to Algeria, we were blocked with several checkpoints and terrible controls, they were searching and scanning our truck like crazy, we have lost 3 hours just on checkpoints! Because of that, we have arrived again late at the border near Ain Draham. There we spent 4 hours with custom controls, scanning, searching the truck, and terrible procedures like from the middle ages. At 10 pm we were totally exhausted but ready and happy to leave strange Tunisia and enter friendly Algeria. On the Algerian side of the border, they were really friendly and spoke good English. Passport and customs controls were very smooth, no strange checks, they were very helpful and before leaving, they even called all bosses to take a picture with our truck. Then we took a short ride to El Kala – a seaport located 16 kilometers west from the Tunisian border. It is the center of the Algerian coral fisheries and has an extensive industry in the curing of sardines. We took overnight near the hotel Le Moulin.

Parking location – El Kala: 36.897852N 8.437605E (🚻)