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We had two days to get back to our overnight ferry from Tunis to Malta. The first day we saw the huge Roman amphitheater, and more impressive mosaics, in El Jem. We spent the night in Kairouan, getting a tour the following morning. The rest of the day was spent driving past interesting and picturesque places.
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On the way to El Jem, gas sold in plastic jugs. I'm not really sure why -- there were plenty of gas stations. |
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More relevant to us was pomegranates. Tunisian pomegranates are much yellower on the outside than California ones, and the fruit is much more pale. They're very tasty, and these were larger than most grapefruit. Notice all the new crop dates hanging. |
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This rebar horse was part of the International Festival of Plastic Arts in Mahares. More Plastic Arts... |
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The amphitheatre in El Jem, said to hold 30,000 people in Roman times. You can see a large grate in the center. |
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The hallway underneath the grate. Somebody knows what happened down there -- maybe it's where animals and gladiators and Christians got ready to rumble. Maybe it was just a shopping mall. |
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We had about 15 minutes to see this wonderful museum in El Jem, featuring perfectly-preserved mosaics lifted from floors of wealthy Roman citizens who lived there millenia ago. Because of Ramadan, the museum closed early. |
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A fancy house in El Jem. |
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The first two hotels we found in Kairouan were completely full (it was a weekend). The third hotel was practically empty, and quite austere. We made it more austere, but more comfortable, by taking the bed off its pathetic springs and putting it directly on the floor. The hotel was located near the market, which was closed when we parked the car. When we got up the next morning, the only path of escape for the car was to go directly through the market. At one point several people lifted up the back of the car and moved it sideways about six inches so that I could drive between two tables covered with fruit. |
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Kairouan has been a large city for a long time, and these tanks served as the water supply. |
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An old mosque, now a museum. This tour group has been issued wraps to cover their naked legs and shoulders. |
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Kitties hanging out in the medina. |
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The main mosque. More pictures from the main mosque... |
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Kairouan is not only a holy city, it's also the center of Tunisian carpet manufacturing. All the other looms we'd seen had woven carpets; this was different. This woman was hooking individual snippets of yarn through the mesh, creating a much finer design. |
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The carpets were shown in a very ornate former palace bought by the city, repurposed to show tourists the types of carpets that were available, and how they were made. And of course, they were for sale. |
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A ceiling in the carpet palace. |
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President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is hooked into a rug for a better future. Nobody ever hooks George Bush onto a rug. Your search - george bush hooked rug - did not match any documents. |
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Another small mosque in the medina. The various levels of decoration are visible -- the tile walls, above that the intricate plaster designs, and above that the intricate designs in the cedar ceiling. More Kairouan Decor... |
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Elsewhere in the medina, a camel with blinders walked in a circle, pumping water from a well. This well dates from the founding of the city, and is supposed to have some indescribable connection with the well in Mecca. |
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High noon during Ramadan -- the feeding frenzy of tourists at the Hotel Kasbah. |
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The most offensive ad we saw the entire trip. Ramadan is basically Eat Nothing Month, and here's an offer of a 4-year warranty on all TVs bought during Ramadan. Happy Holidays! |
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We decided to see a dramatic seaside town, where the road plunges down the cliff to the ocean. Getting there we got rerouted so that we approached the town from the other side. Here's where the road we would have taken had plunged down the cliff to the ocean. |
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There was a hot spring going right into the Mediterranean, which seemed pretty popular. |
