Category Archives: Travel

More history in Tunisia, along the coast

6th to 9th March 2026

From the desert we headed to the coast and learnt more of Tunisia’s history.

The land was flat from the desert, and we crossed many salt lakes.

We reached Djerba, an island connected by a causeway. Djerba is known for its mixed cultures living harmoniously. We were introduced to pottery, perfumery and olive oil manufacturing. We visited the oldest known synagogue and the Jewish quarter with its wonderful mural. We visited the Turkish souq where Bruce found coffee, despite Ramadan.

Next stop was El Djem, home of the most intact roman colosseum – but it was never completed. We also visited the archaeological museum which had a reconstructed Roman villa and magnificent mosaics on display.

Our last stop for the day was a tour of the medina in Sousse.

We started our final day with a tour of the Ribat at Monastir. Next stop was the mausoleum of Habib Bourguiba the first president of Tunisia from 1957 to 1987, after they gained independence from France.

Our last stop at Hammamet was to visit George Sebastian’s eclectic home and then tour the medina.

Our time in Tunisia will finish with a couple of rest days (catch up on photos and correspondence), and then off the Morocco.

A cultural journey in Tunisia

2nd to 5th March

We left the ancient history of Tunisia behind, and embarked on a cultural tour, driving south to salt flats and the desert, home to the Berber people and a number of Star Wars locations.

We started our journey with a tour of the Great Mosque of Kairouan. It is considered one of the holiest and most important mosques in Tunisia.

We were also treated to a display of ethnic rugs. I loved the natural colours of the rugs, taken from white, brown and black sheep.

It was a long drive for our next stop in Tozeur, on the edge of the Sahara desert.

We were taken to the market, where our guide and chef Nabil Chokmani bought some fresh vegetables for a cooking demonstration. Then it was a quick horse and buggy ride to see a date plantation and learn just how important these palms are to Tunisia and its people.

Our lunch at the Eden Park Date Plantation with Nabil Chokmani was a spicy chicken with a salad and wonderful brick as starters. We then had more opportunity to learn about dates, their history in Tunisia and their uses.

In the afternoon we were taken by a four wheel Toyota to visit a mountain oasis, and a waterfall famous as a film set for The English Patient and Raiders of the Lost Ark. We returned to Tozeur via the desert, in a sand storm and were astounded at how the driver could “see” the road. This took us to the Star Wars set – Mos Espa (1997).

The next morning we toured the medina of Tozeur and in our free time returned to the market to indulge in a few photos of local produce and people.

Lunch was supplied each day, and today it was in a guest house. These old villas are becoming popular boutique hotels and restaurants.

A long drive, across the Chott El Jerid salt lake and deeper into the desert. Date palms were thinning out. We arrived at our desert camp in late afternoon and settled in to the sandy experience. In the evening musicians and a dancer entertained us, along with a horse and rider demonstration and an introduction to sand bread.

Next day we drove to Matmata where the locals have lived in underground troglodyte homes for centuries. This was inspiration for George Lucas films.

We climbed high into the Atlas Mountains with stunning, if not dusty views. Here we came to Ksar Hahda, another Star Wars filming location.

Our accommodation was in a Berber guest house, set high on the hill of Chenini. Masoud came to greet us and lug our cases up the hill, then showed us around the amazing terraced houses. I noted that our guest house was the highest on the hill. Quite a climb for these old legs.

Tunis, Carthage and Dooga

26th April to 1st March 2026

Our first days in Tunis were discovering the city and some magnificent Phoenician and Roman ruins. We continued on to Testour and Dooga.

We are here for Ramadan – shops and cafes aren’t open. We hadn’t anticipated this but we had. chosen a cooler time of the year to travel here.

The Burdo Museum is famous for its collection of mosaics. A lot of them have come from houses of richer people in Carthage, an old Roman city. Some mosaics are enormous covering walls. Of course they would normally have been on the floor.

There was also an interesting exhibition from Zama Regis, a newly discovered Roman archaeological site. I was particularly taken by a statue that had a lot of colours still on it.

The original private quarters of the ruling Bey family form part of the museum. It is a showcase of beautifully tiled walls with intricately carved ceilings.

We wandered through the Medina, of course these days it’s mostly tourist type options, such as leather boots, leather bags, friendly looking toy camels and lots of shiny brass. There was some jewellery and lots of fez hats in all colours.

We visited three separate areas of ancient Carthage. Firstly the national museum which is closed for renovation but we were able to see some monuments and understand the layout of the old settlements. The Basilica of St Louis 9th of France commemorates where he succumbed to the Black Death while on a crusade. He was considered the holiest king and is the only royalty to be canonised.

Our second stop was the Antonina Roman baths with a very good display showing how they worked.

Lastly to the Phoenician port. It was in two parts – a rectangular pond where the merchant ships stopped and a discreet channel that took military ships into a circular pond with a large island in the centre. This was used to repair and maintain the 18 foot sailing ships in the 4th to 1st centuries BC.

Carthage was originally a Phoenician settlement and towards the end of the third century and into the second century BC Hannibal defended it in three separate Punic battles. In the second battle he introduced elephants probably brought up from Africa. He crossed the Alps with them. He lost badly in the third battle and retired to Armenia where he suicided by poisoning himself. The Roman victors burned Carthage to the ground. It burnt for a year. For the next hundred years the site was ignored until the Romans realised that it’s in a strategic position in the Mediterranean basin so they built over the top of the Phoenician Settlement.

Next day we left Tunis . Our first destination was Testour, an Andalusian village. It was settled by Jews and Arabs who had been driven out is Spain by Isabella the Catholic Queen. There was a great souk full of interesting food derived from the Jewish and Arabic settlers.

Next stop was the Dooga Roman ruins, they were absolutely amazing. The amphitheatre was as good as anywhere and beautifully presented. The temple of Mercury was massive and seemed to dominate the site. We wandered up to the Temple of Caesar that has an oriental (as in Greek) construction which us semi circular with a rectangular temple situated inside it. The Roman baths were in very good condition as well.