Tunis, the capital of Tunisia and the start of what should be a great story, and we aim to hear it.   Our group of discoverers includes: the navigator of our vessel Ali, Sadok as head story teller, both kindly provided by Tunisie Voyage and two young kids from Quebec, Michel and Sophie.  Together we are on a voyage to uncover the magical 3000 year history of this county.

After departing the beautiful El Mouradi Palace Gammarth, where we spent the night,  it is off to the National Museum of Bardo well known for it's roman mosaics.  The museum is housed in a former palace dating back to the 1800's.  Two birds with one stone, as not only do we get to see some amazing roman history, we also get to see how royalty lived.  The museum is filled with mosaics dating back to Roman domination of the region.

Let me in! 

This is a sample of a mosaic from the 11 century taken from the floor of  a palace in the southern part of Tunisisa. We are fascinated by the natural colours (all earth tones) of those exceptional specimen...(they would fit perfect in our Palm Springs home, hard to fit in the luggage though!)

This is a Demna Baptistery found near Tunis.  Catholicism played an important role in the country at this time. Dated VI AD.

 Music room in the palace.  Women sat in the balconies above.

 This piece is interesting.  In the centre is Saturn, the figure in Roman history to represent the day Saturday.  Each figure in the next ring represents each day of the week, the outer rings are the months, represented by astrological figures.

Well worth the visit for sure.  Next, we visited the famous street named after the father of Independence in 1956, Bourguiba. It connects to the souk and Medina of Tunis. This is no tourist Medina, real local so no sales pitches here.  We really enjoyed this area as you could actually look around without getting bombarded.  It was so laid back that we had to wake a storekeeper up to get some service.

This area of the Medina had nothing but wedding flower shops.  At least 25 of them, all selling the same stuff.  Can you say price war? 

 Ok, I don't have a bra fetish.  The loud speaker was my focus with this shot.  You see in all the Medinas we have visited so far, the noise from the vendors shouting out their offers was part of the charm.  Here they have the loudspeaker connected to a recording of the vendor's voice on a loop. It just plays full blast all day. Smart, except every stall had one going.  Gotta love technology.

After the shopping, we went for lunch.  And we got formally introduced to the Brik!  Not the furniture store but a tuna and egg wrapped in a spring roll like pastry then deep fried.  The cool thing about the Brik is the pastry is crispy but the egg is soft like a poached egg.  The tuna is combined with herbs and spices.  Very interesting taste and texture sensations.

Lunch behind us, we are off to the historic village of Carthage, a suburb of Tunis and the centre of the Carthaginian Empire from the era of Antiquity.  The city has been around for 3000 years.  Starting as a Phoenician village, it grew into the political power centre and the home of Hannibal.  We visited this site reputed to be a child sacrifice monument. The oldest son of the rich families had to be offered to the Gods of the time (a little bit like the oldest son of catholics had to be a priest).Turns out the Romans spread these rumors to discount the Cathaginuans during the Punic wars.  There are children buried in this area, but it is now believed they died naturally or were stillborn, child mortality was high in those days.

Also found in Carthage are the ruins of a Roman bath and a Roman theatre along with a former Catholic church called Saint Louis Cathedral. The Muslims made a deal with the Vatican, "the church can remain but will no longer be used as a Catholic church". It is one of two in Tunisia, the other one 

is in Tunis and is still functioning as a church.
The baths. The tall pillar below was the base for the roof some 36 ft above the floor.

The church now used as a concert venue.

Our final stop for the day was a quaint little village called Sidi Bou Said.  The views from this blue paradise were spectacular.  A haven for artists and a great place to enjoy a meal in one of the many restaurants pitched on the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean sea.

Oh yeah, a good place to try the national pass time. Coffee and a hookah. Sadok, our guide, gave me a lesson. One puff.  Not my thing. Day one visits complete we hit the road for a 155km road t rip to the 5 Star Golden Yasmine Kasbah Hotel in Kairouan, the holy city of Tunisia.

Be well

Salam