OUR ROUTE: NAVIGATE WITH+ AND- OR HAND SYMBOL
Tunis is probably the worse introduction to Tunisia. It’s a dystopian
nightmare, dirty, unbelievably, nerve jangling noisy, razor wire still lying in
huge rolls along the main avenues since 2011, one is forced off the pavement
and into the very scary traffic. The medina is an area of relative peace
with some beautifully restored old houses, islands of tranquility in the chaos.
The souks were a disappointment with very few shops selling traditional, Tunisian
work but put me in a souk anywhere and I will delve around determined to spend
some dinars or dirhams or lira. We bought a felt skullcap for Manfred, a
variation of a fez but called a chéchia,there is a special area of the souk for these which are still made in
small workshops.
hammam towels, spices, silver rings, baggy white pants,
several pairs of babouche, a chicha pipe with lots of aromatic tobacco and
charcoal discs, incense, some plain cotton djellabas is apposed to wildly
flamboyant polyester numbers….oh and a new suitcase on rollers to pack the
plunder (I swore never to go around with a bag on wheels but am now
convinced).
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| A battered but beautiful traditional bird cage on a roof terrace with view of medina |
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| minaret of the Al-Zaytuna mosque |
There are some gems hidden away in the medina and even the immediate
area around the Bab ek Bahr, known as the Porte de France, is interesting with the old colonial
consulates of Britain and France and a dilapidated old hotel where we stayed, Grande
Hotel de France, in fact the hotel where Edward Rae stayed in 1877 whilst on
his travels, his account "The country of the Moors" is a fascinating
insight into Tunisia at that time, not too many echoes left nowadays…..or maybe
there are?
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The Grande Hotel de France proudly announces........
There were many aspects of the medina and souks to admire,
after all it is a UNESCO world heritage site; the old cafés are atmospheric
with men popping in for a quick puff on the chichas (water pipes), mint tea and sticky pastries.
The ancient
doors are beautiful, painted in strong colours and intricately studded.
The
architecture of the souks is marvellous, vaulted ceilings, wonderfully worn old
paving slabs.
The different streets still retain their names denoting which activity
and trade went on there, leather, cloth, perfume, wood, metal, gold, gems, the
more precious trades such as gold and gem craftsmen were clustered around the mosque
with more lowly trades, blacksmith, dyers at greater distance.
The mosques have very decorative minarets unlike the austere towers of Morocco.
Naturally we were not allowed to enter any mosques but the Al-Zaytuna (olive tree) mosque could be viewed from a balcony in the mornings. It was built in 703 using many architectural elements salvaged from the ruins of Carthage.
Not too lucky with food, street food is good but restaurants seemed to
be closed in the medina in the evening and we couldn’t face trawling around the
modern town. Wine was a distant dream, not served in any cafés or bars or
regular eating places….not like Morocco where there is always a hotel bar in
the bigger towns and some shops sell the excellent wine. We did eventually
track down a supermarket that sold wine after asking the hotel reception and
getting quite a disapproving look, we were led through long passages down to a
sort of dungeon where there were some dusty bottles of red wine which were
handed over very firmly wrapped up……….we felt like criminals sitting closeted in our room with a picnic and our
illicit substance.
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One of the highlights of the stay in Tunis was the visit to the Bardo museum housed in the
old Bardo palace some way out of the centre, there is a metro line directly
there but we decided to get a taxi, unlucky to get a totally deranged
taxi driver, got the metro back! http://www.bardomuseum.tn/
The Bardo! I
had been waiting to visit for a long time and it was certainly
splendid. The
original palace from the 18th and 19th century, the last
palace of the ousted Beys, now has a
fantastic new wing added so there were two very different atmospheres as one
walked around. The curating is impeccable, a walk through wonders.
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| A unique portrait of Virgil. Cartoon labyrinth with Theseus chopping off head and other bits of very human minotaur |
Fabulous collections from all the civilizations that
have existed in this part of North Africa but the mosaics are simply
spectacular.
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A late Roman mosaic showing farm activities, olive harvest etc. c. 300 a.d.
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It was time to hire a car and get the hell out of there. But we couldn’t
because it was May 1st next day and we hadn’t realized that it would
be a national holiday, also all the car hire agencies mentioned by Rough Guide
had closed down after, 2011 even Avis. We were desperate to get out Tunis so got
the bus to Bizerte where we were assured we would be able to hire a car.
Bizerte on the North coast and the journey was through lush green countryside
and lots of lakes. The town has a great situation with deep inlet from the sea
into the old port which has the Kasbah on one side and lots of cafés and
restaurants along the quays.
We sat down at a table and ordered some grilled
fish and salad, ages later it was explained that we would have to go to the
fish market and buy the fish first………aaaah! We did that and came back loaded
with far too much, it was all so fresh and tempting, straight on the grill and
very delicious………..still dying for a glass of wine, just not possible.
Finally under our own steam, no more terror taxi rides or
slow bus journeys. Headed South and didn’t see much to detain us on the way.
Went through an eerie ex-colonial ski resort in the Jabal ad Darayn mountains
with huge old abandoned hotels glowering from overgrow heights, mouldering away
since the 60s, no doubt scenes of scandal and vice among the petit bourgeois
bureaucracy of colonial times.
We stopped at Bullia Regia and important Roman site.
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| I love the two chubby cherubs holding necessary objects for vain Venus, a mirror and a jewel box. Amazing mosaics in the middle of nowhere , quite wonderful that they have survived. |
The unique domus architecture was developed in the city. A ground level storey open to the warming winter sun stood above a subterranean level, both built around a two storey atrium. The lower chamber was a cool retreat in the baking heat of summer.Bottle shaped terracotta shapes were built into the vaulted roof, water sprinkled through these brought out the stunning colours of the mosaics and cooled the chambers by evaporation.
Some great mosaics were still in situ, rare as
the Bardo seems to have requisitioned most throughout Tunisia.
The site was minimally maintained which didn’t detract from the fascination as one stumbled over ancient
masonry and overgrown paths grazed by goats and sheep. A strong spring and well
still feeds the stream that runs through the site, no doubt the reason for its
foundation by the Berbers and later development as a Punic outpost. It was
conquered by the Romans in 203 B.C. when the unique nature of its architecture
encouraged more development. After a slow decay it was finally destroyed by an
earthquake which caused many of the ground level buildings to collapse into the lower levels. It was
only in 1906 that excavations started and the underground chambers and their
mosaics were discovered.
