Tunisia
Tunis, Tunisia
April 11th - 17th, 2024
My trip report about a beautiful and very special five day trip to Tunisia.
Rosie and I had spent a couple of wonderful days at the amazing Mont Saint-Michel in France, before we flew from Nantes Atlantique Airport to Tunis. Wedged between Algeria and Libya, Tunisia is the smallest of the North African countries along the Mediterranean. The north-eastern point of the country is less than 90 kilometers from Sicily.
The capital Tunis is located near the archeological site of the great ancient city of Carthage. On our first full day in Tunis we had a half-day guided tour to see the ruins of Carthage, which are a bit outside of the city along the coast of the gulf of Tunis. Carthage started out as a Phoenician settlement in the 9th century BC, and quickly grew in importance to become the capital of the Punic Empire, which ruled most the south-eastern Mediterranean during the first millennium BC. By the 4th century BC, Carthage was one of the largest cities in the world. The struggle and series of wars between the up and coming city state of Rome and the powerful Punic Empire is one of the most important rivalries of the ancient world. After a nearly three-year siege during the third Punic war against the Roman Republic, Carthage was completely destroyed in 146 BC. It lay in ruins for almost a century, before it was rebuilt by Rome and rose again to become one of the largest and most important cities in the Roman Empire. The archeological site of Carthage became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.
After exploring the impressive ruins of Carthage, we next visited a major Roman site nearby - the Baths of Antoninus. Built under the emperor Antoninus Pius, who reigned from 138 to 161 AD, these were the largest Roman baths on the African continent (and one of the three largest in the entire empire).
The baths were destroyed by the Vandals in the 5th century, and many of the stones were later reused to built the city of Tunis. Today only the lower levels of the former multi-story buildings remains. But even these remaining ruins are very impressive and give you a good idea of the enormous extent and sophistication of the whole complex.
The second part of the tour took us to the beautiful small village of Sidi Bou Said. Located right next to ancient Carthage, and overlooking the blue waters of the Gulf of Tunis, Sidi Bou Said is famous for its white houses with blue doors and windows.
Most of the buildings in Sidi Bou Said are from the 18th and 19th century, built by wealthy citizens of Tunis as summer residences. In the early 20th century the town attracted many artists from across Europe, who took residence here, among them the painters Paul Klee and August Macke. Most of the houses have bright red and purple Bougainvillea flowers growing on the walls.
We had 6 nights in Tunisia, and we stayed at the beautiful and spectacular Four Season Resort, located on the beach outside of Tunis. We spent our whole second day there in the resort, celebrating and pampering the birthday girl.
April is just outside of the main tourist season for Tunisia, since it is still a bit too cold for a beach holiday. It felt like we had the entire resort almost to ourselves. There is a beautiful beach in the front of the hotel, which was completely empty, but would probably be quite busy during the summer months.
We had our main sightseeing tour scheduled for the next day. Aymen, our guide from the first day, picked us up again in the early morning, for the 2 hour drive south to the ancient and holy city of Kairouan.
Kairouan
Kairouan, located in the center of a plain and about 50 kilometers from the sea, was founded around 670 AD by the Umayyad Dynasty. The city was originally established as a military garrison used in the Arab conquest against the Berbers. It was greatly expanded and flourished under the Aghlabid dynasty in the 9th century. Our first stop was the Zawiya of Sidi Sahib, also known as the Mosque of the Barber, which contains the tomb of Sidi Sahib, who according to legend was one of the prophet's closest companions and his barber.
Although the origins of the Zawiya of Sidi Sahib date back to the 7th century, most of the buildings, beautiful tile work and carved stucco stems from the 17th century.
The Aghlabid Basins built in the 9th century are large water tanks, that were part of a highly sophisticated water system. The basins were fed by aqueducts, which carried water from the mountains 36 kilometers away.
The Great Mosque of Kairouan is considered to be the most important mosque in North Africa and the fourth holiest pilgrimage site in all of Islam, behind only Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.
The origins of the building go back to the late 7th century, which makes it also one of the oldest mosques in the Islamic world. Some of the columns and larger stone blocks were re-used from earlier Roman buildings, and you can find Roman reliefs and letters in some places in the wall.
Non-muslims are not allowed to enter the main prayer hall of the mosque, but the large inner court yard is open to all visitors.
The old city of Kairouan including the Great Mosque became a UNESCO world heritage site in 1988.
El Jem
Leaving Kairouan we had another 1 hour drive south to get to the city of El Jem. The main reason to visit El Jem is the remarkably well preserved Roman Amphitheatre. Built in 238 AD, it was once the third largest amphitheatre in the Roman Empire.
Built entirely of large stone blocks the amphitheatre is a remarkable example of the sophistication of Roman architecture. It was used for gladiator games and other public events and had a capacity for 35,000 spectators.
Our last stop for the day was the city of Sousse. Located on the coast of the Gulf of Hammamed, Sousse was an important port city particularly during the 9th and 10th century. The Medina of Sousse is another UNESCO world heritage site. Unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time to explore the Medina, but we saw the large minaret of the main mosque and admired the very impressive city walls.
Tunis
After another relaxing day in the resort, we explored the city of Tunis on our last day. We first went to the Bardo National Museum, which is located a little bit outside of the city center. The museum is considered one of the most important museums in the Mediterranean region. It follows the history of Tunesia over millennia, but it is particularly famous for its huge and astounding collection of Roman mosaics.
The mosaics stem from various archeological sites all across the country, and have been carefully excavated and reassembled in this enormous collection. While all of these mosaics originally covered the floors of Roman palaces, private homes and public places, for better viewing they are all installed on the walls in the museum. Some of the largest ones reach across three floors.
The details and vivid colors or these beautiful artworks leave you overwhelmed. If you are ever in Tunis, do not miss this amazing museum.
The Medina of Tunis is a labyrinth of narrow passageways, and you can easily get lost in here. Because there no open spaces or squares, the only way to see the main buildings is from above. Luckily there are many rooftop restaurants and cafés all over the city for just that purpose. We found a nice one right next to the main mosque, where we had strong Turkish coffee and enjoyed the view. The Al-Zaytuna Mosque is largest and oldest mosque in the center of the Medina. It was founded in the late 7th century around the same time as the city itself. Most of the current building was constructed in the late 9th century, except the minaret which was fully rebuilt in the 19th century.
Just outside of the Medina you can find the old French city gate and the catholic cathedral.
Six days is not nearly enough to fully explore this fascinating country. We had to limit ourselves to the north-eastern part, but there are many other important archeological sites all over the country. We also didn't have time for a trip to the Sahara desert, which covers most of the southern parts of Tunisia. We finished our last day with a lovely dinner in the hotel and left the next morning on a direct flight to Munich.
Six days is not nearly enough to fully explore this fascinating country. We had to limit ourselves to the north-eastern part, but there are many other important archeological sites all over the country. We also didn't have time for a trip to the Sahara desert, which covers most of the southern parts of Tunisia. We finished our last day with a lovely dinner in the hotel and left the next morning on a direct flight to Munich.
No comments:
Post a Comment