Tipaza was built on a beautiful site and the ruins of this archaeological park roll down, through pine and other trees, to the beach, dominated by 900m Djebel Chenoua to the west. It is best to start at the museum outside the park. From there, the site is divided into two, the main part being to the west of the museum. The entrance leads almost immediately to an amphitheatre, which would have been one of the main entertainment centres of the ancient town. There isn’t much left of the surrounding structure, but the oval walls of the arena still describe the area where, in the 4th and 5th centuries, gladiator fights and other popular events were held. Just beyond the amphitheatre the path leads to to the central point of the town, where the two main streets, the paved decumanus and cardo maximus, join. Follow the decumanus, to the left, and you will come to the other place of entertainment, the theatre. This is also much ruined, but the props that supported the stage are there, as is the slope that was once covered with seating blocks. North of here – head straight for the sea – there is an area developed by Christians. The religious complex here includes two basilica, tombs and baths, all of which can be easily identified. The grand basilica was the largest Christian building in North Africa when it was finished in the 4th century. Return back along the shoreline, the middle of this cove was devoted to large villas and bath complexes, some of which still have mosaics on the floors. The house at the centre, on the cardo maximus, was the Villa of Frescoes, an unusually large house of 1000 sq metres built at the height of Tipaza’s prosperity, in the 2nd century AD. The civic buildings lie to the east of the cardo, on a promontory which formed one of the arms of the port. Beyond the remains of the ancient wall lie the forum, a 25m by 50m paved area which originally had porticoes on three sides and the capitol on the fourth. Little remains of this, the town’s most important temple, beyond its steps and podium. Here too are the curie (municipal assembly) , where political matters were settled, and the courthouse, a basilica built at the end of the 2nd century AD.
