Tunisia

Our first visitors of the year were Ian’s Mum, Irene, and her friend Jan, in Monastir. So time for some sightseeing. Our first trip out was to Sousse. We took the train which is a half hour journey for just 25p each way. We visited the Dar Essid Museum which is located in the medina of Sousse. The house belonged to an aristocratic family and shows daily city life in the 18th and 19th centuries. There is a Roman lamp with a graphic depiction of a couple ”in the act” in the master bedroom. This was to demonstrate the husband’s control and stamina, only ending when the lamp went out.

We hired a car for a few days and ventured a bit further afield. The small town of El Jem, originally the Roman town of Thysdrus, has a Roman amphitheatre which held up to 35,000 people and was thought to have been built between AD 230 and 238.

Apparently it is the third largest colosseum in the world.

Ian was keen to see Carthage which was founded in the 9th century BC by the Phoenicians. Its situation meant it could influence and control ships passing between Sicily and the North African coast. It was a thriving port and trading centre, it eventually developed into a major Mediterranean power and a rival to Rome. Carthage is over a number of sites and there isn’t much of the structures left. These are what we call “more piles of rock”.

We next made our way to the Bardo Museum in Tunis. First, we thought we’d get a spot of lunch before visiting the museum. Thinking as we were in the capital city, even though it was Ramadan, there would be somewhere to eat, WRONG, nothing. We ended up having a snack in the museum café. The Bardo museum is the biggest museum in Tunisia and has one of the largest collections of Roman mosaic in the world.

Just a short ride from Monastir was the Palace of Habib Bourguiba. Habib Bourguiba led Tunisia’s independence movement which they eventually gained in March 1956. He was the first Tunisian Prime Minister. Bourguiba spent 20 years in various French prisons in his pursuit of independence for Tunisia.