In the labyrinth of the Casbah, a café terrace calls to me not just with steaming mint tea, but with an unusual invitation: to taste tradition by donning the « Haik », that poetic veil of Algerian women.
Chakiba, a traveler from Mostaganem with starlit eyes, lights up. «Me, who dreams of performing on stage...» she murmures while adjusting the fabric’s folds. Her laughter blends with the clinking of spoons against glasses.
Then, an unexpected actor makes its entrance: a Casbah cat, its sun-warmed fur brushing against her leg, demanding its due share of affection. The scene freezes—woman in haik, feline sentinel, golden light. A suspended moment where time hesitates: today’s Chakiba, an actress for a day, converses with the shadows of ancestors who wore this same veil. The scent of tea mingles with ancient stones, the cat’s purr harmonizes with distant voices.
Framing this moment, I stole more than an image—a fragment of Algiers where past and present dance, where every detail (even the feline ones)
writes history.