Blida — Blida Map Poster

המפה

Blida Map Poster

Blida sits on the southern edge of the Mitidja, the broad agricultural plain behind Algiers. On a map the city looks like a dense cluster pressed against the mountains, with the Blidean Atlas rising directly behind it. To the north the plain opens out into fields and orchards crossed by straight roads, while to the south the contour of the land changes abruptly and the street grid stops.

The older core forms a compact area of close-set streets, surrounded by newer districts that stretch out along the main roads toward the plain. A stream coming down from the mountains runs along the edge of the city, and the heights above lead up toward Chréa, a cedar-forested national park that is a popular escape in summer and one of Algeria's few ski areas in winter.

A Blida map poster traces the line where the city stops and the mountains begin. Blida grew up in the sixteenth century, partly settled by Andalusian refugees, and is still widely called the city of roses, a name linked to its gardens and orchards. From above, the orchards still show as a softer pattern of plots around the denser urban core.