Despite what you might read in guidebooks about Abidjan being the pearl of West Africa, it is more or less just a big dirty, smelly, polluted, rubbish-strewn, crime-ridden shit-hole of a city.
A lot of the stereotypes about Africans eating snakes, lizards and insects were not lived up to. However, there were some more interesting items, like squirrels and large rats.
Change and money in general is a big hassle in Ivory Coast. Whether it be the banks' opening hours, giving exact change for small items or the lack of credit card facilities.
Yamoussoukro is the administrative capital and one of the nicer Ivorian towns with its greenery and lakes. Any visit must include a trip to the Notre Dame de la Paix Basilica.
