Algeria is a North African country with a coastline on the Mediterranean Sea and a desert interior, the Sahara. Many empires have left their mark, like the ancient Roman ruins of Tipasa, by the sea. In the capital, Algiers, Ottoman sites, such as the Ketchaoua mosque, dating from around 1612, border the neighborhood of the Kasbah. Perched on a hill, this place has narrow alleys and stairs. The Basilica of Our Lady of Africa, sporting a neo-Byzantine architecture, dates from the French colonial rule
