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Algiers (Al-Jazaïr) never fails to make an impression. This is a city of rare beauty and of thrilling, disorientating and sometimes brutal contrast. The country's turbulent history is writ large in the city's richly textured architecture: wide French-built boulevards and elegant apartments and villas, Socialist-era monuments and public buildings, and an enduring Islamic heart secreted in the steep, hillside Casbah. Labyrinthine streets spill down to the yawning big blue of the Bay of Algiers, sea and sky and green ravines glimpsed at every step. Though people often spend just enough time in Algiers to organise an onward journey, it’s a fascinating place well worth at least a couple of days’ exploration.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Algiers.
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The heart of the city is its ancient Casbah, a steep and narrow maze of streets just west of the Pl des Martyrs. There are several magnificent Ottoman palaces to explore here, most concentrated around the Djemaa Ketchoua at the end of Rue Ahmed Bouzrina; the finest is the Dar Hassan Pacha.
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The Bardo, which focuses on the prehistory of Algeria, is one of the best museums in Algiers. The collection is well-displayed with videos, models and excellent diagrams and information panels (in French) that reveal how the climate and environment of the region have changed over the eons and how that has affected human and wildlife development. There are lots of fossils, neolithic pottery, rock carvings and examples of Neanderthal paintings from the Sahara.
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Carrying the name of its original owner, Dar Hassan Pacha, this is one of the city's grandest mansions. The building now houses a collection of illuminated manuscripts and contemporary calligraphy by artists from across North Africa and the Middle East.
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This palace is in fact a row of several large waterfront houses, joined to form a single compound. It is now home to the Centre des Arts et de la Culture, which hosts some excellent art and photographic exhibitions as well as performing arts, but just as much pleasure can be had simply by exploring such a grand, Ottoman-period mansion.
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The richness of Algeria’s heritage is brought home in this museum. The collection of antiquities is drawn from sites around the city and throughout Algeria. Among the early works are fine ivory carvings and large, totemic Libyan-period warriors on horseback. There is sculpture from Cherchell and mosaics from Tipaza, a room of bronzes including a wonderful fragment of a horse’s leg and hoof, and an extraordinary 3rd-century figure of a chubby child holding an eagle to its chest.
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Algiers' beloved main post office is an unmissable piece of living history, a fine example of French-designed, early 20th-century Moorish architecture. Look out for what is possibly the world’s most exquisitely decorated post box near the entrance. At the time of research it was closed to visitors and in the process of being converted into a museum; it's expected to reopen sometime in 2018.
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This museum is the most accessible of the buildings one can visit in the Casbah. It is housed in a fine example of an Ottoman-period town house, the Dar Khedaoudj el-Amia, which follows the classic town house plan, with an entrance leading to an inner hall and a staircase up to the principal rooms. The museum contains a fascinating collection of traditional Algerian arts and crafts.
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These bayside botanical gardens date to the first years of French occupation and today they are a sprawling natural hothouse. It's a place of outstanding beauty with avenues of palms and stands of exotic trees. To escape here from the city centre, take the metro to the Jardin d'Essai stop.
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One of the city's most famous buildings, this Catholic basilica still celebrates mass at 6pm daily, despite its dwindling flock. Its striking neo-Byzantine architecture and freshly restored more-is-more interior are matched by amazing views out to sea and across the capital. The basilica is on a hilltop at the eastern edge of the city and would be a long walk from the city centre. A taxi is around Dh400.