Algeria

Why it sticks

1. 1

   Africa's largest country by area since South Sudan split from Sudan in 2011; more than 80% of it is Sahara desert.

2. 2

   It won independence from France in 1962 after an eight-year war, and is often called the land of a million and a half martyrs.

3. 3

   The flag is split green and white with a red crescent and star: green for Islam, white for peace, red for the blood of the independence struggle.

• Signs mix Arabic and French; in Kabylie you will also see Berber in the Tifinagh script.
• Number plates end with the province (wilaya) code, e.g. 16 for the capital.
• The capital has white French colonial apartment blocks with blue shutters climbing the hills above the bay.