ALL I NEED IS MY PASSPORT

December 10, 2019

There are many types of travelers and many types of travel, Tunisia requires a unique traveler for the unique things it has to offer.

According to Garrett Nagle in his book Advanced Geography, Tunisia’s tourism industry “benefits from its Mediterranean location and its tradition of low-cost package holidays from Western Europe.”

This all came to a roaring halt in 2015 when, in the coastal resort of Sousse, 38 people were killed in a shooting rampage that targeted tourists, while earlier in the year an attack on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis left 22 people dead.

The terror attacks decimated Tunisia’s crucial tourism sector, which made up seven percent of gross domestic product and had already been shaken by the country’s 2011 revolution.

There is a Tunisian faction of Al Qaeda, but most embassies feel travel is safe with a simple warning that travelers should stay away from the borders of Libya and Algeria. One can see the serious measures the Tunisian government is dong to keep people safe when you get on the roads.  Approximately every 5th car is pulled over at any random spot, the driver is asked for their papers and then asked to open the trunk.  I am not so sure this isn’t like taking your shoes off at TSA, but it makes the citizens feel more secure.  As far as this traveler, it never crossed my mind to be concerned.

Fortunately for Tunisia in 2018, Tunisia had around eight million visitors and an increase in the Russian and Chinese market, as well as that of the traditional market, notably the French and Germans.

A very large portion of Tunisian tourism is made up of the above mentioned traditional market that goes to the all-inclusive resorts to appreciate the incredible beaches of Tunisia and know that alcohol is prevalent and easy to get.

Then there is the south around Tataouine, where Star Wars fanatics come on tours to see all of the abandoned movie set locations.  You can also do camel treks, four-wheel-drive treks, and mini-safaris. This type of tourism is definitely designed for a specific type of tourist.

The third reason to visit Tunisia is the complex and incredible history, which is what the last 11 posts have been about.

This all being said, Tunisia is not quite ready for a tourist that just wants to come to see Tunisia.  The hospitality industry is still very untrained and often confused.   There are lovely hotels in the larger towns, and I highly recommend staying in a dar, or home, while in the larger cities, however, when you travel to the smaller towns such as Tataouine and Kerouane, the hotels truly lack.

Food is another issue.  The food of Tunisia is absolutely delicious, but it is hard to find.  Eating off the street or in the small cafes of the medinas will guarantee you get a wonderful meal, in the average hotel, not so much. There are excellent meals to be had in the 5-star hotels, and still at a very good price, but those do not exist in the smaller towns. The good food of Tunisia is cooked at home.

School kids standing in line for to-go Tunisian “sandwiches”.

Getting around can also be problematic.  The one thing you should know before you ever set out is to never trust Google maps estimated times.  They are simply wrong.  We rented a car and found the roads to be excellent but our driving time was far longer than estimated by Google.  There is the new A-1 which was still under construction throughout most of Tunisia, but when it comes online it will speed up travel times considerably. The A-1 is part of an international project,  called either the Trans-Maghreb, Trans-North Africa Highway or Trans-African Highway 1 planned to eventually reach from Cairo to Dakar.

In many towns, there are taxis you hail like anywhere in the world.  There are little vans that are shared taxis if you can decipher their routes.  There are trains, and airports spread throughout Tunisia, making travel easy if you are willing to make the effort.

French and Arabic are the two most spoken languages of Tunisia, finding an English speaker is actually quite rare.  My second language is Spanish with Italian in a pinch, but they were completely worthless.  Like any country in the world, language is not a barrier if you have a smile and some time, but in an underdeveloped country like Tunisia, you may find some of the simpler things, like asking about an illegible hotel or dinner bill, to be difficult at best.

Here are some of the places we ate and stayed with my personal comments.  I am an adventurous traveler, but I am also a fan of good food, good service, and clean rooms. One other note, the “we” is two women of indeterminant age, which is important when you consider we did a lot of driving.

Tunis – 5 days

Sadly this was actually one day too short, thanks to the driving situation as mentioned above

El  Patio Courtyard House.  A sweet home in the Medina where the family still lives.  The breakfast was wonderful, the rooms decorated perfectly and the amenities were all there.  They were very helpful in helping to arrange drivers to some of the distant places we wanted to go. They still have a ways to go regarding the quality of bedding and the amenities, but their kindness makes up for it.

The amenities in many of these places are one of the things to consider.  If you are particular about soaps and shampoos, bring your own.   In several places, a small bar of soap was all that was available in the rooms. In most others the color and fragrance of the bath items were more akin to what one would find in the cleaning supply aisle as opposed to the beauty aisle.

Restaurants I recommend:  Dar el Jeld, which is also a five-star hotel inside the Medina
The restaurant in the Hotel Palais Bayram in the Medina
The restaurant in the Hotel La Villa Bleue in Sidi Bou Said

Day 1: Getting one’s feet on the ground by wandering the Medina of Tunis and the French area called New Town
Day 2: A cab to Carthage for a full day of exploring and dinner at Sidi Bou Said
Day 3: The Bardo
Day 4: Dugga. The plan was a day trip to both Dugga and Bella Reggia, due to the roads, we were unable to do them both on the same day, which sadly means, I never did see Bella Reggia.
Day 5: A day trip to Kerkouane

The entry to Dar El Jed

Then in the early morning a flight to Djerba and pick up a rental car to drive to Tataouine.

Tataouine

There are not many hotels in this area, and I can not recommend a one.  They are set out as resorts, with swimming pools and will meet the needs of a backpacker or severely economic traveler, but not many others.  The food in the hotels was so bad that simply mentioning it gives it more credit than is due.

Day 1 – Stop at El Jem on the way down to Tataouine.
Day 1 – Drive to various Berber villages admiring the architecture and the Ksars.
Day 2 – Drive to the town of Chenini with a stop at Dourite.

Sfax

The Business Hotel Sfax.  A perfect spot after the rooms and food at Tataouine.  There is a dining room with 365-degree views, but it was under renovation, so dining was in the bar with the same menu.  No complaints, I had the Ojja Merguez and it was great.

This was just a halfway point stop so we really did not do anything but roll into town, sleep and roll out again.

Kairouan

Day 1 and 2: Explore the sites of Kairouan.  The hotel was the Hotel Continental. With the exception of a lovely front desk staff, I can not say one good word about this hotel or its food.

Sousse

We dropped the car off at the Monastir airport and got a ride into Sousse from the rental car guy. That is a comment on the amazing kindness of Tunisians, they go out of their way to do little favors for anyone and everyone.

Dar Antonia for lodgings: The very best of the entire trip, perfect in every way.  The staff is so very kind, the rooms are perfect ad the breakfast, hearty, healthy and delicious.  This was the first place we stayed with palatable coffee, an FYI for people that can not rise without it.

Most likely because of the Europeans that once frequented this area and its all-inclusive beach hotels, this town is far more sophisticated and understands good food and good service.

There are several good dining spots in Sousse:

El Kasbah, both for a great lunch or a hangout with Coffee Turk

Restaurant Dar Solton – is heavy Tunisian food, so go with an appetite.  They serve wine

Restaurant La Caleche – fabulous fresh fish – they serve wine.

For lunch – Restaurant Sofra.  You walk in sit down and then they will come tell you what has been thrown on the grill for the day – or coming out of the kitchen.  Perfectly grilled fish and a side dish made with broad beans, and greens that was just fabulous.  Their bread was the freshest I tasted.

Bread is a HUGE part of the Tunisian meal.  So the fact that so often the bread served was not fresh was always astounding to me.  Big hotels go through hundreds of baguettes a day, and yet, they always seemed stale.

The griller at Sofra restaurant in Sousse. He does not speak a word of English, but he has the nicest smile and the kindest way about him.

Food

As I have mentioned, the best food in Tunisia is eaten on the streets or the small cafes in the Medinas.  When you find a five-star hotel, you will find good food, and there you will also find wine. The following items were some of my favorites.

Lamb at a roadside stop where they cut the lamb from a carcass and grill it on the spot.  To me, this was the perfect meal.

Grilled fish is easy to find in almost every place in Tunisia.

This was from the restaurant Safra in the Medina at Sousse. The fish was just off the grill that you see in the photo above.

Grilled fish, beautifully displayed at Palais Bayram

The seafood salad at La Caleche in Sousse

This type of bread is Mlawi.  You order it stuffed with what you want. In this case, it was lamb, but you will find them stuffed with tuna, cheese and any other combination of things. While this one was in a cafe, there are hundreds of street stalls that sell them to you so you can walk away with them.

Another form of Mlawi

This is a brik. Pronounced breek. They are filled with a variety of things, but the egg is the most common. It is vital it is still runny when it arrives in your hands

Ojja Merquez

Coffee and mint tea are easy to find in Tunisia. The Coffee Turk always comes to the table in a beautiful cup

Citronnade of Tunisia is a highly concentrated lemon juice mixed with either simple syrup or powdered sugar.

Date ice cream, too good to even begin to describe

I have discussed here, that Tunisians do have a wine industry.  They also have one beer.  It is a pilsner type beer and comes in at 5%.

One little tiny note about leaving Tunisia.  It is illegal for the Tunisian Dinar to leave Tunisia.  No, they are not going to arrest you, they are simply worthless once you leave the country.  No other country will trade their currency for the TD.  The thought by this author was to use the last thirty-some dollars I had in TD for some last-minute shopping before boarding the plane.  Alas, in Tunisia, once you cross security you are in no-mans land and all the stores and cafes in the post-security area will only take Euros, so I have a lot of worthless paper in my wallet right now.

December 7, 2019

The Grand Mosque at Kairouan

I am in Kairouan because the entire town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The number one attraction in Kairouan is the Great Mosque, recognized as the third most significant religious site in Islam because it is the first mosque, in the first Muslim town, outside of the then known Arab world. For centuries, the Great Mosque of Kairouan has served as a pilgrimage destination for North Africans not able to make the long trip to Mecca. According to popular belief, seven trips to Kairouan is worth one hajj to Mecca.

The mosque is so large as to be difficult to photograph in one shot

In the mid-seventh century, the Arab expansion reached the Mediterranean Sea, which was dominated then by the Byzantine Empire. The Arab influence would spread across the desert and where this started was Kairouan, for more than four centuries North Africa’s leading link between East and West.

It took the Muslim Arabs some 50 years to dominate central North Africa, which they called al-Maghrib al-Adna (the Nearest West) and the Romans called Ifriqiya. The domination was held at bay by the Byzantines, with their stronghold at Carthage who ruled the coast and inland where the Berber tribes controlled the oases.

The Arab’s chose a site to begin their siege that lay on an inland plain one day’s march from the sea—a safe distance from the Byzantine navy—and at an equally cautious remove from the highlands sheltering Berber tribes that variously allied with and fought the Arabs. The site was named al-Qayrawaan (Kairouan), which Arabized the Persian word for caravan and today carries an English meaning close to “garrison camp.”

Here they constructed a large mosque, today the oldest mosque in North Africa, although it  has been rebuilt and renovated several times

Writing at the end of the 10th century, Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi described Kairouan as, “more inviting than Nishapur and bigger than Damas [Damascus], more prestigious than Isfahan.” Yet he also included the fact that  “Its water is not good,” “Its collection is done by storing rainwater in reservoirs.”

Al-Muqaddasi was referring to what was then the most advanced water supply system in any contemporary Islamic city, the Aghlabid Baths.  They consisted of 15 circular pools just outside the city walls that were filled with rainwater or runoff from the nearby wadi. Today, you can see four of the cisterns preserved as a public park.

The basins are named for the Arab-Muslim dynasty the Aghlabids. They ruled the region known as Ifrīqīyah (Tunisia and eastern Algeria) from 800 CE to 909 CE. The basins were built under the instruction of Prince Abū Ibrāhim Aḥmad, one of the 11 Aghlabid emirs

Abutted up against the mosque is the old medina, with the typical winding, pedestrian-only streets consisting of 2000 either dilapidated or restored homes for the 17,500 residents.

The medina of Kairouan is considerably more approachable and enjoyable as it is a working medina with no tourist trade.  There are trinkets to be had but they are few, and the people that are shopping are locals looking for goods that everyone seeks out for the day to day needs of life.

Kairouan’s famous specialty is the little diamond-shaped sweet known as maqroudh. It is part of the Berber cuisine and is made with semolina, olive oil,  honey, and dates.

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This is quite obviously meant to be the sign of caduceus indicating that this is a pharmacy. It appears to be a snake wrapping around a martini glass to this author. I also found it interesting that it sits above a cigarette ad.

An excellent copy (or not) of “Girl with Balloon”?  A 2002 series of stencil murals by the graffiti artist Banksy

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Another graffiti appreciating the cats of Kairouan

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I passed this gentleman twice in three hours. He was napping both times. Lucky him on this lazy Sunday

December 5, 2019

The Amphitheater of El Jem

This Unesco World Heritage-listed amphitheater in El Jem (Thysdrus in ancient times) was the second-largest in the Roman world with three tiers of seating estimated to handle up to 35,000 people, considerably more than the population of the town itself.

Built around 238 CE, the amphitheater is built entirely of stone blocks, with no foundations. Inside, most of the supporting infrastructure for the tiered seating has been preserved. It is one of the best-preserved Roman stone ruins in the world and is unique to Africa.  It was mainly used for gladiator shows and small chariot races. In those times, the income of El Jem (Thysdrus) came from the fact that is was an important center of olive oil manufacturing which was exported in huge quantities.

The amphitheater of El Jem is the third amphitheater built in the same place. The belief is that the original was constructed by the local proconsul Gordian, who became the emperor of Rome as Gordian III from 238 CE to 244 CE.

In the Middle Ages, it served as a fortress, and the population sought shelter here during the attacks of Vandals in 430 and Arabs in 647. In 1695, during the Revolutions of Tunis, Mohamed Bey El Mouradi made an opening in one of the walls to stop the resistance fighters gathering inside.

It is thought that the amphitheater was used in the manufacture of saltpeter during the end of the 18th and into the 19th century. In the second half of the 19th century, the structure was used for shops, dwellings, and grain storage.

Until the 17th century, the amphitheater remained more or less whole. From then on its stones were used for building the nearby village of El Jem and transported to the Great Mosque in Kairouan

Underground tunnels link the chambers where animals, gladiators, and victims were held

The underground chambers with stops for the wheels of chariots.

The floor is 400 x 486 feet

Looking down into the tunnels and chambers where the seating stones were removed on one half of the amphitheater

This drainage system in the tunnels had only been discovered the week before my arrival.

Mosaics at El Jem

The El Jem Museum houses an exceptional collection of Roman mosaics. The size and number rival those in the Bardo Museum of Tunis, and yet they are in this small out of the way museum in El Jem.

A tiger attacking two onagers created in the 2nd Century CE

Apollo and Daphne

Just part of a multiple scene mosaic from the 3rd Century CE

3rd Century CE

Dionysus riding a wild tigress. 2nd Century CE

Peacock feathers

Silenus drunk carried towards a donkey. Late 2nd Century CE

A fisherman. 3rd century CE

Dolphins and swans in flight 3rd century CE

Nymph on a seahorse 3rd century CE

The rape of Ganymede 2nd Century CE

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A mosaic that stands at least 10 feet tall

Just one room of the El Jem Museum with mosaics

Sbetlia

A two and one half hour drive from the town of Kairouan are the much-touted, and sadly disappointing ruins of Sbetlia.

The three temples. Instead of constructing only one temple dedicated to the three most important Roman gods (Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva), the inhabitants of the city built separate temples for each one.

Roman Sbeitla (Sufetula) was established at the beginning of the 1st century CE on the site of a Numidian  (202 BCE – 40 BCE, Berber) settlement.

The surrounding countryside proved ideal for olive growing (it still is), and Sbeitla quickly became a wealthy settlement building temples in the 2nd century, when the town was at the height of its prosperity.

Olive groves ensured that Sbeitla continued to prosper long after other Roman towns slipped into decline, helping it to become an important Christian center in the 4th century.

The Byzantines made Sbeitla their regional capital, transforming it into a military stronghold from where they could deal with the area’s rebellious local tribes. In 646CE a Byzantine official known as Prefect Gregory declared himself and the area independent, which was most likely a result of religious differences with the court of Constantinople. The Arab army invaded in 674CE, killed the Prefect and destroyed most of the settlement. It never recovered.

Baptismal font found in the 6th-century Basilica of St Vitalis

A mosaic floor left in situ in Sbeitla

The two giant olive presses are a remnant of the towns great olive oil production era

Much of the dating of the history of the olive industry in Tunisia comes from the mosaics found throughout the cities left behind by the Romans

Tunisia was Rome’s most densely populated and coveted of overseas possessions. Due to the fact that In the classical era the climate of North Africa was wetter than now, the fields of Tunisia made it the breadbasket of Rome during an age when Rome ruled the world. In Italy, ruins evoke ”the Republic.” But in Tunisia, the site of a colosseum, as large as the one in Rome, standing in the middle of a remote mud-brick village evokes ”the Empire.”

December 3, 2019

The far south of Tunisia is sparsely populated and spreads out as a dessert landscape dotted here and there with oases, be it man-made or natural.

In the middle-ages travelers avoided this area due to the lawless and ruthless tribes. Even the French in their conquering gave this area a wide berth. Steven Speilberg, however, left his mark all over this part of Tunisia.

The Berber Villages

Southern Tunisia is a place of stark, almost alien landscapes. This is a place of isolated Berber villages on hilltops and troglodyte homes dug into the ground to protect against the harshness of the climate. Many Berber villages are home to the original inhabitants of North Africa.

The town of Chenini

In the 1890s traveler Reginal Ranken said of Chenini “I have seen nearly all the so-called wonders of the world and unhesitatingly say that the cave dwellings of the Saharan troglodytes seem to me to be the most wonderful thing of all.

Chenini is rather worse for wear, but it is possible to glean an understanding of how the homes were constructed and lived in.

Some abodes were built of stone and  had ceilings of palm wood

Chenini

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Looking inside one of the few homes that isn’t closed up tight

A rather loud inhabitant of Chenini

The term Berber is derived from the term barbaroi used by the Greeks to refer to anyone who doesn’t speak Greek, and the term barbari used by Romans to refer to all populations other than Greek or Latins. The names Tmazight and Amazigh are preferred, especially by native speakers in an attempt to avoid the negative connotations and stigmatization imposed on the term Berber.

The name of the language is Tamazight which means exactly ‘Berber Language’.

These towns are dotted all through the Tataouine Governorate, the southernmost of the twenty-four governorates of Tunisia and the only one to border both Algeria and Libya

The attraction aside from the fact that much of Star Wars was filmed in this part of Tunisia is the architecture.

As a strategy to defend themselves from invaders, Berber settlements were either built on fortified mountaintops or dug into the ground in the form of troglodyte dwellings hidden in the rockface. Today the age-old stone buildings of many of these villages and towns are largely abandoned as their inhabitants have moved to newly built satellite towns of modern buildings.

Throughout this area, the nomadic Berbers stored their grain in ghorfas.  While grain was the main item stored in the ghorfas one could have also found salted meat, fish and olive oil. Ghorfa are small stone buildings.  They are constructed on top of one another and side by side.

Sacks of earth were placed between the two side walls to act as a support during the construction of the roof.  A layer of matting was placed over the top of these sacks, in the form of an arch, and then covered with clay, mortar, and gypsum.  Once dry, the clay was chipped away, the sacks and matting removed to leave a gypsum plaster ceiling. Palmwood was used to construct the front door.    The inner walls were then covered with gypsum and often decorated.

In the tenth century with the invasion of the Banu Hilal Arab tribe, the Berbers retreated to higher mountain tops.  They were forced to build Ksour’s (plural of Ksar) which were fortified ghorfas belonging to each tribe where they could store and if necessary defend their grain.

Often a mosque would be built outside of the Ksar and the farmers would gather to share news and tea.

Ksar el Ferich is an excellent example of how large these Ksar’s can be.

A palmwood front door at Ksar El Ferich

Ksar El Ferich

The stairways up to the upper levels of a ksar are somewhat difficult to climb so wooden sticks are impaled above the entranceways and used in a pulley-system to transfer grain from the ground floor up to the storage vault.

Stairways leading to the second floor of the Ksar El Ferich

A three story Ksar in Metaneur

Looking inside various ghorfas, each just a little bit different:

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The town of Douiret atop a hill with its mosque down below

The town and ksar of Douiret were inhabited by 3500 people in 1850, only two families now live in the village, the rest having moved down the mountain where there are modern conveniences.

 A graveyard at Douiret. The domes are zaouias where the revered marabouts (a Muslim religious leader and teacher in West Africa) are buried

Cemetery

Heading north to Sfax there are a few more Berber towns one completely abandoned on the side of a hillside, that has a view to the end of never.

The nearly abandoned village of Toujane

This area has views to the end of the world.

So yes I did do one Star Wars location visit at Matmata.

The Hotel Sidi Driss in Matmata was used in 1976 as a filming location for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, in which it featured as the home of Luke Skywalker, his Aunt Beru Lars and Uncle Owen Lars on the planet Tatooine. It was featured again in the 2002 prequel film Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones

The hotel is designed as a traditional Berber troglodyte underground building.  The rooms radiate off of a central courtyard that is open to the sky.

If you are so inclined, here is a list of all the places in Southern Tunisia that George Lucas shot parts of Star Wars.

November 29, 2019

Approaching the lower entry to Dougga from the P5 motorway

Dougga (or Thugga) was a Punic, Numidian and then Roman settlement outside of Tunis by about 2 1/2 hours.  The current archaeological site covers 160 acres. UNESCO qualified Dougga as a World Heritage Site in 1997, believing that it represents “the best-preserved Roman small town in North Africa”. The site, which lies in the middle of the countryside, has been protected from the encroachment of modern urbanization, in contrast to Carthage.

Excavation of the site is still ongoing by both the French and the Germans

Dougga, sitting atop a mountain with excellent access to water was first a Numidian city that existed long before the Romans arrived in Africa.  It is possible it came under Carthaginian rule in the 5th century BCE after the 480 BCE Punic defeat when Carthage realized that it needed an empire inland.

Little is actually known of its pre-Roman history.  The most important landmark of that era is the Lybico-Punic mausoleum.  Archeologists have found that the walls surrounding the city, once thought to be Numidian date to pre-antiquity with a possible construction date of 308 BCE.

The archeological site of Dougga was quiet in the month of November as witnessed by the sheep grazing undisturbed

Dougga’s later monuments attest to its prosperity in the period from the reign of Diocletian (Roman emperor from 284 to 305) to that of Theodosius I,(Roman Emperor from 379 to 395) but it fell into a sort of torpor in the 4th century.

There are few remains of Christianity, suggesting an early decline after the Romans.  The Byzantine period saw the area around the forum transformed into a fort; several important buildings were destroyed in order to provide the necessary materials for its construction.

Dougga was never completely abandoned following the Muslim invasions of the area. For a long time, Dougga remained the site of a small village populated by the descendants of the city’s former inhabitants.

The Dougga Theater

The theater is built against a hillside and was completed in 168 or 169 It was funded by Publius Marcius Quadratus.  It follows the classic layout of a Roman theater and could hold approximately 3500 spectators.

This sculpture would greet the attendees as they entered. Romans commissioned statues with detachable heads so if a ruler was replaced, or a hero was disgraced, they could swap them out without having to pay for a whole new body as well.

Looking towards the Temple of Mercury and the Wind Rose Square

The Temple of Mercury and the Wind Rose Square were built between 180 and 192.  The Wind Rose is said to symbolize the role of Mercury as a traveler through the universe and that of the market receiving commodities from the four corners of the world.  While difficult to see, it is carved in the marble on the ground and consists of three concentric circles.  Two main orthogonal diameters are drawn from the inner circle to the outer circle, and according to the cardinal points, connecting, on the one hand, the North (Septentrio) to the South (Auster) on the other the West (Faonius) to the East (Volturius).  The space between the two larger circles is occupied by 24 cantons: 12 of which are filled with the names of the winds.

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The Temple of Mercury

This large public works project of the Temple and the Wind Rose was paid for by a couple from Dougga. a Quintus Pacuvisu Saturus and his wife Nahania Victoria at a cost of at least 120,000 sesterces.

Looking down into Antoninian Baths built between 211 and 217

The frigidarium

The Antoninian baths were originally called the Licinian Baths as it was thought they were donated to the city by the Licinian family. A text later found during research showed their construction took place during the reign of Marcus Aurelius Severus Antonius at an undetermined date between 253 and 268.  The baths are interesting for having many of its original walls intact, as well as a long tunnel used by the slaves working at the baths.  They were primarily used as winter baths. The frigidarium has triple arcades at both ends and large windows with views over the valley beyond.

Possibly a second entry to the baths

One of potentially three entries to the baths

What is left of the temple Dar Lachheb built between 163 and 166

The House of the Trifolium

This is the largest house found in Dougga to date, built around the 3rd century.  It was at least two stories tall.

The Cyclops Baths

The Cyclops baths owe their name to the mosaic, now in the Bardo museum of Cyclops forging Jupiter’s Thunderbolt in Vulcan’s den.

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What is left of the arch of Septimus Severus built in 205

The Lybico-Punic mausoleum

It is thought this tomb was built around the late 3rd century BCE. It was relatively well preserved until, in 1842, Sir Thomas Read, the then British consul to Tunis removed the inscription commemorating the end of work on the mausoleum. This inscription is now in the British Museum. The monument owes its current appearance to the work of French archaeologist Louis Poinssot, who essentially reconstructed it from pieces that were left lying on the ground.

The inscription was written in two languages: Punic and Lybic.  The inscription is incomplete leaving the identity of the person unknown.

On the mausoleum can be seen this carving near the top, of a procession accompanying the deceased.

The area has so many lovely pieces simply lying around or ruins standing with no explanation.  Here are a few of those.

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The Ain el-Hammam Aqueduct built between 184 and 187

After a 20 minute drive from Dugga to find this aqueduct, a dead-end road prevented our continued pursuit. The real distance between the catchment in Dougga and the reservoir where the aqueduct begins is greater than 7 miles.

Ain Tounga

Ain Tounga is a small Roman archeological site with no tourism or signage. It sits alongside the roadway on your way to Dougga

Ain Tounga is often said to have to be finest Byzantine fortress in Tunisia. The fortress was built in the 6th century and has 5 square towers. 

Testour

When Muslims and Jews were expelled from Spain in the early 17th century, North Africa was flooded with refugees. Some of the wealthy settled in Tunis, but others who wanted to put down roots nearby had to ask the Ottoman government for land, and they were given the old Roman ruins of Tichilla, now called Testour.

The minaret at the Grand Mosque in the town of Testour

This is one of the few minarets in the world with a clock, but the numbers are placed backward. The story as to why seems to have been lost over time, but most claim it’s because locals wished they could go back in time and return to Andalusia.

The minaret also features the Star of David, a nod to the Jewish community who were also forced to flee Spain and who helped construct the mosque.

Sloughia

The only reason for mentioning this town is our stop for lunch.  We began by purchasing the local cheese.  It is a simple cheese made from cows milk.

A cheese vendor with honey and olives to sell as well.

The cheese vendors bird.

Pomegranates and Olives were being picked and available for sale from vendors every few feet.

Oranges were being picked as well

Lunch was some of the most delicious BBQ’d lamb one can have. Sliced in front of you and thrown on the grill.

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The traditional Berber bread, tabouna, was warmed on the grill giving it a special smokey flavor.  The bread is very subtly flavored with hab hlaoua (aniseed) and named after the traditional clay-domed ovens in which it’s baked.

The two sauces you often find on the table are called harissa.  Tunisian cooking revolves around harissa, a fire-red concoction made from crushed dried chili, garlic, salt and caraway seeds. It is served with a pool of olive oil. This is served with bread for dipping.  Many say the green is not as hot as the red, this author would disagree. It was the Spanish who introduced hot peppers to Tunisia. The word ‘harissa’ comes from the Arabic, meaning ‘break into pieces’, as the paste is traditionally made by pounding red chillies in a mortar. An old tale says that a man can judge his wife’s affections by the spice in his food – if it’s bland, then the love is dead.

Thus ended a long and wonderful day in the countryside of Tunisia

November 18, 2019

Carthage is not at all what this author expected.  It is far larger than one can comprehend, and yet the ruins lay scattered amongst a vibrant, very wealthy part of Tunisia.

Just one of the stunning tree-lined streets and beautiful homes of present-day Carthage

Most people are introduced to Carthage through books 1 through 4 of Virgil’s Aeneid and this alone was my greatest reason for wanting to explore this area of the world.

A quick and very simplistic recap of The Aeneid:

Aeneas is destined to found Rome. As he and his entourage near their destination, a fierce storm throws them off course and lands them in Carthage. They are all heartily welcomed by Dido, Carthage’s founder, and queen.

On the first night, Aeneas spends a long dinner recanting the tales of the sack of Troy that ended the Trojan War.

He then tells how he escaped the burning city with his father, Anchises and his son, Ascanius and after the loss of his dear father Anchises and a slew of terrible weather, they found themselves in Carthage.

Dido is impressed by Aeneas’s exploits and sympathetic to his suffering, as she, Dido, a Phoenician princess had fled her home and founded Carthage after her brother murdered her husband.  Dido, sadly, falls in love with Aeneas. They live together as lovers for a period until the gods remind Aeneas of his destiny. He is determined, despite his knowing that he will break Dido’s heart, to set sail once again. Dido is devastated by his departure and orders the building of a huge pyre with Aeneas’s castaway possessions. Dido climbs upon the pyre and stabs herself with a sword Aeneas had left behind.

Then there is the recorded history of Carthage that is just as full of plot twists, cunning, and intrigue.  I ask the forgiveness of historians, for this cryptic, incomplete summary of the great history of Carthage.

Who were the Carthaginians, and if I understand that will I understand the rest of Tunisian history? Well…it is a start.

Carthage was founded as a Phoenician colony, ostensibly by Dido.

The Phoenicians were a maritime trading nation, they were originally drawn to northern Africa as staging posts for the long haul across the Mediterranean.

While these ports date back to 1100 BCE, Carthage dates to around 814 BCE, as mentioned by Virgil, founded by Queen Dido, who, in history is also known as Queen Elissa. The people that found their way to Carthage were a band of nobles exiled from their Phoenician homeland.

The society of Carthage was dominated by an aristocratic trading class who held all of the important political and religious positions, but below this strata was a cosmopolitan mix of artisans, laborers, mercenaries, slaves, and foreigners from across the Mediterranean. The city’s population at its peak was somewhere around 400,000.

The aristocracy of Carthage was not based on land ownership but simply wealth. Indeed, this was a criticism of Aristotle when commentating on Carthage – that such a preoccupation with wealth would lead inevitably to a self-interested oligarchy dominating society.

Aristotle was correct. This desire for money above all else meant that when needed, the cantankerous money-grubbing Carthaginians had no allies to help in defending their territory.

There were problems on the horizon when the Greeks began to expand in the seventh century BCE.

However, when the Romans began to supersede the Greeks in both Sicily and Italy, Carthage had a formidable opponent.

The Roman desire for this territory gave us the THREE Punic wars.

(The name Punic comes from the word Phoenician as applied to the citizens of Carthage, who were of Phoenician ethnicity. As the history of the conflict was written by Roman authors, they labeled it ‘The Punic Wars’.)

The first, 263-251 BCE, was majorly a naval skirmish around Sicily. Carthage lost the war and had to accept Roman terms.  These included surrendering its fleets and agreeing to accept influence by and to pay war debts to Spain (Hispania). A side note, Hannibal’s father was a leading Carthaginian commander during the First Punic War.

The Carthaginians then turned their attention to Spain. The Carthaginian general Hannibal crossed over the agreed border in 218 BCE and began his legendary march, elephants and all, through France and over the Alps. Eventually, Hannibal was tied down in Italy and forced to return to Carthage. He was defeated at the Battle of Zama by the Roman Scipio Africanus. Hannibal eventually fled to what is now Turkey where he maintained a reputation as a dreaded and respected opponent. Carthage had to once again relinquish its fleet and this time agree to never train elephants.

The Romans continued to feel threatened by Carthage, despite these two victories. Senator Cato the Elder, also known as Cato the Censor, Cato the Wise, and Cato the Ancient, was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian who ended each of his speeches in the Senate with “Carthage must be destroyed”.

In 150 BCE a third war resulted in the complete sacking of Carthage. The historic descriptions are particularly gruesome. Ruins were plowed under and the proverbial salt was poured into the furrows to ensure the fields remained barren.

Carthage was gone and eventually, the Romans moved in.

In 46 BCE Julius Ceasar refounded Carthage where it grew to be the second city of the empire with an estimated population of between 400,000 and 700,000 people.

As Carthage’s Roman moral and military foundations began to crumble the Christians began to have a say. St. Augustine said of Carthage “Up to very recently those effeminates were walking the streets and alleys of Carthage, their hair reeking with ointment, their faces painted white, with enervate bodies moving along like women, and even soliciting the man on the street for sustenance of their dissolute lives.”

The Vandals and Byzantines attempted to keep Carthage alive but Arab invaders did a rather thorough job of destroying Carthage once again, hauling away most everything for buildings elsewhere in what we now call Tunisia.

An aside, as it is not fair to throw in two previously undiscussed cultures.

The Vandals were a “barbarian” Germanic people who settled in Carthage making it their capital for about a century.  They remained in Carthage until it succumbed to an invasion force from the Byzantine Empire in 534.  The Vandals successfully sacked Rome in 455 CE proving Cato had not been wrong about the risk of an enemy on the shores of Northern Africa.

The Byzantine Empire was often called the Eastern Roman Empire or simply Byzantium and existed from 330 to 1453 CE.  They lost Carthage to the Arabs in the 7th Century CE.

It has been difficult to excavate Carthage, first thanks to the Romans complete destruction of the original city and the fact, that what was left by the Romans was carted away by the Vandals and the Arabs.   Then in modern times, it was buried under the modern city of Carthage.

These are stelae in the Tophet, a sacred enclosure where the Punic people offered sacrifices especially of young children in honor of the protective divinities of Carthage, Baal Hammon, and Tanit. While remains of children have been found, it is doubtful the number of sacrifices were as large as Roman propagandists wanted the world to believe.

The Punic port is now a meager pond. The only way to understand what was once the glory of Carthage are the models on the small island in the center of the pond. One of the models shows the island as one big shipyard.

Byrsa Hill was the heart of Carthage under Punic rule. While the homes were close together, they were as tall as 5 stories each with their own cistern. The scorched remains found at the foundations show the Rome did indeed burn Carthage to the ground.  The distance of Byrsa Hill from the Sea is only a small indication of how large Carthage was.

On Byrsa Hill is the Cathedral of Saint Louis, dedicated to the French King Louis IX who died in Carthage while laying unsuccessful siege to Tunis in the hopes of converting a Hafsid (Sunni Muslim) ruler. “Instead of a proselyte, he found a siege”

A street in the Villas Romaines which is now not much more than a series of foundations.

The house known as the “villa of the aviary”, was restored to provide a reconstruction of the inside of an African Roman villa.

One of the many mosaics giving the “villa of the aviary” its name

A view from the Villas Romaines giving one a perspective of how far they are from the port and how large Carthage was.  The Villas were halfway between Byrsa Hill and the port.

The Antonine Baths are the vastest set of Roman Thermae built on the African continent and one of the three largest built in the Roman Empire. The baths are also the only remaining Thermae of Carthage that dates back to the Roman Empire’s era. The baths were built during the reign of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and sit on the beach of Carthage.

The size of the baths is unimaginable. This map is just a hint at their size

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A Punic Funerary Chamber 5-6th Century BCE in the area near the baths

Inside the 5/6th century Punic Funerary Chamber

Another Punic Funerary in a different part of the grounds

A Punic kiln

Sidi Bou Said

A delightful respite from the walking and mind-bending history of Carthage is a trip up into the mountains to the city of Sidi Bou Said with its very high-end hotels, restaurants, and shopping.

In the 1920s the town adopted its blue and white color scheme inspired by the palace of Baron Rodolphe d’Erlanger, a famous French painter, and musicologist known for his work in promoting Arab music, who lived in Sid Bou Said from 1909 until his death in 1932.

Sidi Bou Said has a reputation as a town of artists. Artists who have lived in or visited Sidi Bou Said include famous occultist Aleister Crowley, Paul Klee, Gustave-Henri Jossot, August Macke and Louis Moillet. Tunisian artists in Sidi Bou Said are members of École de Tunis (painting school of Tunis), such as Yahia Turki, Brahim Dhahak and Ammar Farhat. French philosopher Michel Foucault lived there for a number of years while teaching at the University of Tunis. French author Andre Gide also had a house in the town.

A glass of wine in Sidi Bou Said

Tunisia is a very Muslim country. This means alcohol is often only found in hotels that cater to foreign tourists and nightclubs that are in the more sophisticated towns and do not open until late in the night.

Tunisia has a long but turbulent history of winemaking.  The production of wine in the area dates back to around 814 BCE during the Punic era. Ancient Carthage was known for its wine production and was in fact home to the world’s first documented viticulturist – Mago (or Magon). Mago was an agronomist who wrote a long guide to agronomy and viticultural practices in Ancient Carthage sometime before 146BCE. When the Romans sacked Carthage, they stole Mago’s book and took it to Rome, where it was translated from Punic to Greek and Latin, fragments of which still exist today. Mago’s book included advice on how to plant and prune vines, where to plant, according to the topography of the land (it was his suggestion to plant on north-facing slopes to protect vines from the heat of the African sun), and how to make wine. The Phoenicians and the work of Mago were instrumental in developing the Roman and Ancient Greek culture of winemaking, which spread across Europe some centuries later.

I have no idea why these two men were pulling this ram through the upscale streets of Carthage, but I hope the picture is a nice break from all the history you have just muddled through