Yamoussoukro

Yamoussoukro is the capital of Côte d'Ivoire and is perhaps the single most bizarre modern city on Earth. It is a large grid of paved streets and lights with almost nothing at all in between them. It would seem that former President Felix Houphouet-Boigny's dream that his home town would become a busy capital city never came to fruition. The streets are now potholed, the lights no longer work and the jungle is reclaiming them in places. Nevertheless "Yam" is worth a visit.

Basilica of Our Lady of Peace

Get in

There are plenty of daily bus services from Abidjan and most other larger cities has at least one daily departure. UTB is one of the major companies serving Yamoussoukro. Travel time from Abidjan is around four hours.

By car

A very good motorway (toll road/Péage) links Yamoussoukro with Abidjan. It takes 2.5 hours by car. It takes 1.5 hours from Bouaké on a potholed road.

By plane
  • 🌍 Yamoussoukro Airport (ASK  IATA Aéroport international de Yamoussoukro). The airport does not seem to see any scheduled service  

Get around

See
Maison des députés

The public gardens, the Fondation Felix Houphouet-Boigny and the old Presidential Palace are all impressive public expenditures from Houphouet-Boigny's rule.

  • 🌍 Basilica of Our Lady of Peace. The largest Christian church in the world is the most remarkable legacy of Houphouet-Boigny. Although it doesn't seat nearly as many worshippers, it is structurally larger than St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City (after which it was modeled), with a greater surface area and higher dome. As a condition of his attendance at the basilica's consecration, Pope John Paul II insisted that a hospital be built nearby, and he laid the cornerstone for it during his visit; the stone still stands alone.  

Do

Buy

Eat

There are restaurants, shops, and street food options selling local dishes in Yamoussoukro.

Drink

Sleep

Connect

English and French language broadcasts are available from BBC World Service on 97.7MHz.

Go next

gollark: You wrote "redirect to arbitrary the".
gollark: It should, on success, redirect you back to the form page or something.
gollark: Ah, it's `.returncode`.
gollark: You might need to use `.exitcode` or something on what `subprocess.run` returns.
gollark: I don't know, *should* the perl script output things?
This article is issued from Wikivoyage. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.