Tunisia – Sousse, Port el Kantaoui, Hammamet, El Jem, Sahara, Tunis visited in 2005
Sousse a tourist city called “the pearl of the Sahel has been founded in XI century BC. Mosque, ribat, and Khalaf Tower are famous places for visitors as well as souk with lots of tunisian handworks and pottery. Port el Kantaoui, in proximity of Sousse, gives the most modern and complete service to the ever more sophisticated and demanding tourist. This is a city with lots of beautiful gardens, interestingly shaped trees, port for luxury yachts, and luxury hotels.
Hammamet an internationally famous seaside resort hosting thousands of visitors from all over the world in its sumptuous hotels and one of the best is Iberotel Lalla Baya.
El Jem has amphitheatre elliptical in form, 149 meters long and 124 meters wide and 36 meters high. Its three floors of galleries can host up to 30000 spectators.
Gabes - Animated and multicoloured, the “Jara” market in Gabes is worth the visit.
Matmata at 600 meters in altitude surrounded by mountains built very curious dwellings. They are not fortified villages built on rocky peaks to protect themselves from Arab incursions they built houses with open air courtyards entered by open air passages through the side of the hill. The rooms are disposed radially around the courtyard and these are also excavated from the stone; sometimes a secondary courtyard served to house the animals; in other cases there is another floor with bedrooms and storage spaces. All of this is camouflaged underground and one can hardly suspect the existence of such a place.
Douz – Gate of the desert as it is called, is the host of Sahara Festival and visitors are attracted by camel races, folklore dances, and parades.
Tozeur – The capital of the “land of the palm trees” is worth of its name, first for the high quality of the dates (deglet ennour) produced together with the nearby oases such as Nefta, El Oudiane and El-Hamma, than for its architecture made up of bricks creating pleasant geometric designs on the facades of the buildings.
Nefta – one can enjoy a splendid view of the palm trees to the bottom of basin called “corbeille of Nefta”
Mountain oasis Chebika and Tamerza situated to the west of Redeyef and one of the main features of this region is a harsh climate (large temperature differences between night and day, highs and lows between winter and summer) and scarce rainfalls.
Kairouan with the Great Mosque is the holiest city of Tunisia and the 4th important place in the world for the Muslim pilgrims. The famous rugs called “from Kariouan” are the pride of Kairouan’s craft
Sidi Bou Said lovely village of unique charm with paved streets, flowering gardens, whitewashed walls, blue doors and interesting metalwork. On the top of the hill is the famous “Caffes Des Nattes” traditional meeting place during the hours of free-time.
Bardo Museum – with its six sections: Prehistory, Greek (underwater excavations of Mahdia), Roman, Pagan, Paleochristian (early Roman empire, Vandal era, and Byzantine) and Arab-Moslem is considered one of the richest museums on the African continent with famous collection of antique floor mosaics.
Anyone who wants to read more about Tunisia should visit Adventures of Tunisia by LexicOrient and editor Tore Kjeilen. This is a comprehensive web site about North Africa and Middle East and I would like to recommend it to everyone.
Please, feel free to look at my photo album about visit to Tunisia.
Here are some links which might be useful:
Adventures of Tunisia
Tunisia info
Tunisia online
Tunisia attraction - Carthageland
Trips to Sahara
Philip Martins photography |
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