Trip Journal - Utica, Bizerte and Zaghouan 31 Oct

We decided to play it easy today, we are still recovering from yesterday. We woke up relatively late 7 am! Our destination today was Utica, Bizerte and Zaghouan.

Utica is not far away from Tunisia. It is considered to be the first colony founded by the Phoenicians in North Africa. "Utica" is from the Phoenician atiq meaning "old [town]," contrasting with the later colony "Carthage", meaning "new town." Today, Utica no longer exists. Compared to Carthage there is nothing much to see.
Our first stop was Utica Museum; a small museum with not so many artifacts. I laughed from my heart as the guy in the museum while he was explaining about one of the statues that it is without a tail in their Arabic slang that means something notty in my slang. We moved after to the archaeological site “The Punic Graves”, the excavation site has a huge Punic cemetery and Roman relics.

I loved the history behind Utica but was not impressed by the site. Yet, the surrounded scenery was worth it specially with the fresh sand smell coming from the land when it is raining.

Rain.. Rain all way to Bizerte

Bizerte
I didn't have enough time to read before traveling to Tunis. This added a sense of excitement to each place we went to. I was not prepared to any site Sidi Bou Said, Carthage, Kairaouan nor Bizerte. I was in OW status or maybe, I am a simple person who takes joy from any unexpected view.

The old port in Bizerte caught my eyes. I loved watching the local people, walking around, having coffee, fishermen on their brightly painted boats. We stopped by a small shop that sells Lablabi. sandwiches IT HAS NO TUNA :-) The ingredients are chick-peas, harissa, & olive oil.

Bizerte is known as the oldest and most European city in Tunisia. It was founded around 1000 BC by Phoenicians from Tyre. It is also known as the last town to remain under French control after the rest of the country won its independence from France. You can read more about its history on Wikipeida there is more to know.


Zaghouan, here we come..

On the way we saw a 138km long acqueduct from Zaghouan to Carthage that carried the water all way to Carthage. Amazing structure, I guess they are the longest in the world. I wonder how many years it took them to build it!

We reached the Water Temple a roman monument surrounded by a beautiful scenery. The location is very impressive. It’s the first monument of the big water system destinated to supply the roman city of Carthage in general and specifically its Antonin Baths. In the middle there is the cella, the most sacred part of the temple, typical example of the african style architecture of that time. Inside there was the source that represented the first step of this water system and it was permanently surveyed by the statue of God Neptune. The source came from the temple’s cell, the water arrived to the basin where it was filtered and then went to the aqueduct we saw on our way.

With an unusual shape of an “8” it was used to filter the water before going to the aqueduct.

First thing we did when reaching Zaghouan the city is to freshen up with the public fountain, water is fresh and good… directly from the mountains . Our driver filled some bottles to take it home. The fountain is colorful decorated with ceramic tiles in Andalusian style.

We passed by a Zawouia, which is a kind of chapel where a saint is venerated. Sidi Ali Azouz was the saint patron of Tunis and its said he is buried here. The walls are nice decorated and the building is finished with a beautiful green dome.
We walked or accurately we climbed it's typical narrow streets, passing houses with many decorations and tiles.

No day is complete without sweats. Zaghouan is famous of its Kaak Al Waraqa, round cakes stuffed with an almond base & flavored with rose-water.
We were supposed to go to Zaghouan mineral bath to pamper ourselves but it was closed by the time we arrived. Something to keep for next trip.

Tomorrow, is going to be another great long day.

Trip Journal - Kairouan , Monstri, and Sousse 30 Oct

Our destination for today was Kairouan , Monstri, and Sousse, be ready for a loooong day.

Our first stop is Kairouan. In few word, Kairouan is the 4^th holiest city in Islam and one of the most important cultural centers in the Arab world, have the oldest mosque in North Africa, and the world's oldest minaret. Bas.

Islam has spread from this city towards the Maghreb by its founder Uqba bin Nafi. I felt like walking in the past within the old city walls. The city has not been touched by moderation.

What have we seen in Kairouan?

Zaouia of Sidi Sahab

House the tomb of one of the prophet's companions, named Abu Zama al-Belaoui. It is also called Mosque of the Barber, as he was known for always carrying with him 3 hairs of Muhammad. Zaouia contains a number of courtyards, a madrasa, a mosque and a hotel (for pilgrims).

Aghlabid pools

The has been used as a water reservoir. Water came from the hills 35 km west of Kairouan, delivered by aqueduct.The largest pool is 128 in diametre and 5 metres deep.

The Great Mosque

The great mosque is called as well Sidi Oqba mosque on the name of the founder of Kairouan. I started WOWing just by looking at the exterior walls & the minaret. The mosque became far more impressive upon entering and understanding its particularities.

The courtyard is paved with flagstones and slopes to intricately decorated draining hole in the center, which filters dust from the rainwater and deposits it into a 9th-century cistern.

Around the courtyard are beautiful horseshoe-arched porticoes containing some 400 ancient pillars. These were reused from Roman, Byzantine, and Latin Christian buildings.

On the north side of the courtyard is a massive, three-story minaret. The lowest level of the minaret dates from 728 and includes two reused Roman slabs with Latin inscriptions (one upside down).

According to popular belief, seven trips to Kairouan was worth one hajj to Mecca.

Museum

Can't recall the name of the museum :-(, but in their theater we watched an interesting short documentary about Kariaoun & its role in the Maghrib.

Time to eat! We had a fast food lunch; Tuna Pizza. I am destined to have Tuna every day in Tunis. I can't escape it. I have noticed to my pleasure that they don't have any of the American fast food chains such as Macdonald's, Pizza hut, Kentucky. Lucky them.

Our trip in Kairouan could not be completed; as our guide mentioned without stopping at the local delicacy, to eat & buy makroud–little pastries filled usually with dates but also available with peanuts and almonds. I loved the baked one, not sweat or oily.

Monastir City

On our way to Monastir: City of Bourguiba we were dozing in the car, I guess I took a 15 minutes nap. We were up since 5 am in the morning. Ya... I am a morning person when it comes to exploring.

We parked the car in front of the Ribat. Awesome! It is well preserved, it was used to scan the sea for hostile ships. "Ribat" in Arabic means fortresses, typical of those built in major cities along the southern coast of the Mediterranean, forming a defence line that stretched from Morocco to Egypt to protect the Muslim empire from invasions. We climbed every inch, entering every room & climbing up to the tower. We were joyful and playful. I guess it is the reaction of spending so much time in the car & the effect of watching the blue sea & smelling the sea.

From the Ribat, we could see cemetery with hundreds of graves, and behind we could see Bourguiba mausoleum. Habib Bourguiba was the first president of Tunisia, he is generally considered as the father of the modern Tunis. He was an advocate of women's rights, he made a huge impact on the country's law, to name a few: polygamy was outlawed. Marriage was redefined as a voluntary contract that conferred rights upon the wife as well as the husband. A minimum age for marriage was set, and the consent of the bride was made mandatory. Salute!

I was very eager to enter the mausoleum where Bourguiba is buried with his parents and his wife. Just by the time we reached it, it was closed. We presented the guard with a set of arguments of how we are are coming from abroad, we are not staying the night over & we sincerely would like to pay respect to Bourguiba. It is obvious why! We waited till last tourist went & we were allowed to go in after working hours. No more battery in the camera.

By the time we left the mausoleum we were tired and considering the option to skip Sousse, but then we put the extra step to at least check it out; specially it is considered as the largest tourist center in Tunisia.

Once we reached Sousse, we decided to have a walk on it corniche, with a long line of hotels on the other side. I am happy we left it to the end as for me it is too touristy.

Today, my new Tunisian friend gave me a new nickname. I love it, shall I consider changing Blue Dolphin!

Y3yscheck Ta7founa o 7bib for the good day. M3 Slamah!

Trip Journal - Hammamet, Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia 29 Oct

Hammamet, is a very touristic area; except for the old quarter “Medina” surrounded by walls and crowned by an ancient fort overlooking the sea. On the beach lays down colorful fishing boats.

I took my time cultivating the view from top of the fort, watching the sea from one side & the roof of houses from the other side.

This guy sells Jasmine of which the city is famous of.

I had a new salad today for lunch “Mechouia Salad” made from a pile of grilled sweet peppers, topped with tomatoes and onions mixed with oil lemon and some tuna fish aside.

In the afternoon we left to Sidi Bou Said, a town near Tunis. Named after Abou Said ibn Khalef ibn Yahia Ettamini el Beji. Nah, not a long name!

I was not mentally prepared for what I saw; extensive use of blue and white colors all over the town. My best ever colors :-)

We spent 3 hours walking in the narrow streets, inner part of the town and around white-blue traditional houses. Once we reached the top my heart started pounding from the beautiful view.

We stepped into a family house turned into a museum, showing a traditional Tunisian life.

In Sidi Bou Said there is two typical Arabic coffee shops, one is called Café des nattes, where people sit on top of high seating area. The other one Sidi Shaban is on the top of the hill, where you have spectacular view of the Mediterranean Sea and the Bay of Tunis.

No way, I could have resisted the smell of Bambaloni - fried sweet donut-like cake served with sugar. Finally, we sat down watching the sunset & drinking tea with almonds. We could choose either to have tea with almonds, pistachio, or hazelnut.

A traditional product manufactured in Sidi Bou Said are bird cages, colored in white and blue

One more accomplishment of this day I DID NOT HAVE tuna for dinner :-) I had Houria - cooked carrot salad, & grilled fish.

Ya'ychak a beautiful Tunisian word for Shukran “Thank you”

Trip Journal - Marsa, Carthage, Gammarth 28 Oct

Cafe SafSaf

Today my destination is Carthage, on our way we stopped in Marsa & Gammarth both coastal towns. Where most middle class Tunisian spend their summer. The small centre of La Marsa is quite charming & not much to see. Safsaf cafe is the main attraction a camel draws water from a well.

We had a sandwich Fricasse - tiny delicious sandwich with tuna, harissa, olives and olive oil.

All the coast road is beautiful a combination of green & blue. I am lucky that the weather is great sunny with cold breeze.

Carthage today, is mainly Roman sites, including theatres, temples, villas and baths. Many of the sites stand in ruins, including the Roman Amphitheatre and the thermal Antoine Baths, which were once the largest baths built by the Romans.

All these sites have one ticket of 7 dinars value! I started from the theater, moved to the museum, cathedral, baths & then the villas. I walked up the nearby Byrsa Hill enjoying the view of beautiful houses and gardens. Once I reached the top at St. Louis Cathedral I had a superb view of Carthage.

The Baths left me with a calm sensation & appreciation for Roman civilization at that time. I loved it, I felt like touching all the stones, ruins. The battery of my camera decided to die in this particular place. Maybe so I carry the feeling of this place in heart than in a digital format.

We stopped for lunch. I had a Tunisian salad made from diced cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, onions seasoned with olive oil and garnished with olives, eggs and tuna. It is similar to the French Niçoise. I have never in my life been in a place where Tuna & Eggs are as essential ingredients as in Tunisia! Maybe as a person who don't eat chicken or meat I am left with less options. Maybe!

Mild headache I started to catch up with Tunisian version of Arabic.

Trip Journal - Medina, Tuisia 27 Oct

Bab Bahr

The old quarter of Tunis is called Medina which means in Arabic "city". Median has a strong Arabic flavor; as most old Arabic cities, they have different doors to enter the city. The main entrance is called Bab El Bahr "Sea Door". More Arabic city characteristics are the narrow allies, covered souq, wonderful buildings, doorways and tilework can bee seen all way around. I loved strolling aimlessly in the maze of narrow allies, putting my head inside open doors to see the hidden treasures of each house.

Medina is classified as world heritage by the UNISCO.

Unfortunately, I arrived after the opening hours of Al Zitouna Mosque (Mosque of the Olive Tree); something to keep for future visit.

In the souq, there are everything you could thing of; colorful hand-made carpets, hand-crafted jewellery, leather products, copper and brassware, pottery, exotic spices, and much more. I can spend days as shops offer a fascinating insight into Tunisian culture and lifestyle. I found out that they have two types of souqs one is called the Arabic souq which is the Tunisian one, the other is called the Syrian Souq which refers to any imported merchant.

I have a rule when traveling is to taste every day something new, mine for the day is a Brick (pronounced breek) is a Tunisian version of burek consisting of thin pastry around a filling of egg, chopped onion, capers, tuna and boiled potato. Brick is served in a plate with a slice of lemon and Harissa. I later on found that Harissa is an essential part of the Tunisian cuisine. My days & nights filled with it. It is a hot red pepper sauce made of red chili peppers, garlic and olive oil. Ah, Sweat shops kept offering us pieces to taste, yummy... mostly are made from nuts specially almonds.

I am having a headache from concentrating on understanding what the people accompanying me are saying. How different is there Arabic. I guess I will have to start a dictionary of East & West Arabic dialects.

M3 Salamh

http://picasaweb.google.com/Bluedolpin14/Tuni

Trip Journal - Bardo Museum, Tunisia 27 Oct

The Bardo Museum is located about 4 km from the Tunis city center, in the suburb of Bardo. It occupies the former Bardo Palace, official residence of the Husseinite beys. The present palace was built at the end of the 17th century and became a museum in 1888.

Fishing

Mosaic pieces have be categorized in correspondence to the main Tunisian historical stages:

1. Prehistoric era
2. Carthaginian era
3. Roman era
4. Christian era
5. Islamic era.

I was not astonished merely with the mosaic & how well they are preserved. I was fascinated with the ceilings. Moving from one room to another takes you from one style of ceiling to another. All beautiful. Why now we have only plain ceilings!


Generally speaking, I guess we stopped building artistic buildings!

More pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/Bluedolpin14/Tunis

Dido Queen of Carthage

On the 15th of Oct I was in a bus heading to Syria, after cycling for some days in Lebanon, I was sleepy, could not keep me eyes open.
Out of no where, the old lady besides said: I want to tell you the story of Dido. Me... I started mumbling who is Dido & why now!
But, out of respect & curiosity I listened. I enjoyed the story, and did not have any clue of what I should learn from it :-)

Here I am on the 26 of Oct landing in Carthage Airport, Tunisia. What a coincidence.

Once upon a time... There was a king dying in Tyre (Lebanon now), made his very beautiful daughter Dido and son Pygmalion his joint heirs. But on his death the people took Pygmalion alone as their ruler though Pygmalion was yet still a boy. Dido was married to her uncle Sychaeüs but the marriage didn't last long, as she was widowed by her newly crowned brother, who murdered Sychaeüs for his money.

Sychaeüs’ ghost warned Dido to leave Tyre and she fled with her loyal followers across the sea to the Libyan coast, taking with her sacks of gold. The party arrived at Cyprus where a priest and some women joined them in their expedition.

Eventually Dido and her followers arrived on the coast of North Africa, where she asked the local inhabitants for a small bit of land for a temporary refuge until she could continue her journeying, only as much land as could be encompassed by an oxhide. They agreed. Dido cut the oxhide into fine strips so that she had enough to encircle an entire nearby hill, which was therefore afterwards named Byrsa "hide". That would become their new home. Many of the locals joined the settlement and both locals and envoys urged the building of a city. In digging the foundations an ox's head was found, indicating a city that would be wealthy but subject to others. Accordingly another area of the hill was dug instead where a horse's head was found, indicating that the city would be powerful in war.

But when the new city of Carthage had been established and become prosperous, Iarbas, a native king demanded Dido to become his wife or he would make war on Carthage. Dido preferred to stay faithful to her first husband and after creating a ceremonial funeral pyre and sacrificing many victims to his spirit in pretense that this was a final honoring of her first husband in preparation for marriage to Iarbas, Dido ascended the pyre, announced that she would go to her husband as they desired, and then slew herself with her sword. After this self-sacrifice Dido was deified and was worshiped as long as Carthage endured. In this account, the foundation of Carthage occurred 72 years before the foundation of Rome.

Maybe people who read or listen to Dido's story eventually go to Carthage :-)

Warning! Challenges All Way Long

These words caught my attention. I have changed them a bit to reflect my opinion of why people don't take a stand for injustice in order to make this world a better place for all of us to live in.

Warning! Challenges All Way Long

People...Don’t know

Know but don’t care

Care but don’t know what to do

Know what to do but don’t know how to do it

Know how to do it but don’t have the support

Have support but terrified to do it.