France is a master of culinary arts and Lyon is the gastronomy capital of France. France’s most celebrated chef, Paul Bocuse, hails from Lyon, and the city’s bouchons — homey restaurants serving rustic, traditional cuisine — are famous countrywide. During your layover, explore the delightful culinary experience that Lyon has to offer.
Algiers never fails to make an impression. 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.
If idyllic beaches are your thing, then a layoverto the Portuguese town of Lagos will be right up your alley. This historic town lies on the Algarve and once a famous seaport, nowadays most visitors visit Lagos to indulge in its fantastic range of restaurants (with excellent sea food dishes), beaches, and wild nightlife. During the summer time, this city becomes the center of partying for backpackers in Portugal with endless bar crawls, booze cruises, and fun in the sun. The city also makes a great base of operations to explore neighboring towns, coves, and beaches!
On the shores of gorgeous Lake Victoria, Entebbe is an attractive, verdant town that served as the capital city during the early years of the British protectorate. Today it’s the relaxed pace of life and nearby natural attractions that give the city its charm rather than any notable colonial relics.Unless you have reason to rush into Kampala, Entebbe makes a nice, chilled-out introduction to Uganda, and many visitors prefer to base themselves here for a few days rather than in Kampala’s traffic-choked streets.
In the sun-parched land of Níngxià, Yínchuān has managed to thrive. The Tangut founders wisely chose this spot as their capital, planting the city between a source of water and a natural barrier from the Gobi Desert. Modern-day Yínchuān is predominantly Han, although its many mosques reveal its status as the capital of the Hui peoples’ homeland. Yínchuān is also a handy jumping-off point for longer trips to western Inner Mongolia. The name Yínchuān means ‘Silver River’. Some say it comes from the alkaline land which can appear white, while others say that it’s because the Yellow River is clear in these parts and can appear bright, but the exact origin is obscure.
