Tunisian Afterglow

By Stephen Harris

A few years ago I visited Turkey. I’d been looking for a country that would be fascinating, and very different. Exotic, but also safe. The Turkey experience was unforgettably wonderful that way, and it left me wondering: “OK, what now?” Well, I found a good answer: Tunisia.

Tunisia is probably the easiest country to visit in North Africa. It’s very tourist-friendly. Tourism is one of the main sectors of the economy. It’s easy to get to: there are non-stop flights from a quite a few European cities to Tunis, the capital. My wife and I flew to Paris, changed planes, and a few hours later: “I can’t believe it — we’re in Tunisia!” Europeans have a long tradition of traveling there. Actually, it’s very close to Europe, just 150 kilometers southwest of Sicily across the Mediterranean. It has longstanding, very tight, European connections. And it’s inexpensive.

It offers an extraordinary variety of attractions, in a compact, easy-to-get-around-in size. It’s about the size of Portugal. In 7–10 days, you can do the following, by car or bus (no need to fly anywhere):

Go to a hotel at the edge of the Sahara Desert, for the experience of a lifetime. See mirages. Take a short camel ride into the desert — it’s actually not uncomfortable up there on a camel. (Give your camel a pat so he knows you care. As my wife said, “He just needs a little loving.”) If you have the time and desire, take a longer trip into the desert, by special vehicle or camel, as you like. Or rent a car and drive around on good paved desert roads. (Yes, there are some.) By the way, you’ll never eat better dates than the plump, moist ones you’ll get there, right where they come from!
See sites so exotic that you’ve already seen them in films, including every one of the Star Wars films, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and The English Patient.
Go into the Atlas Mountains for pleasant, scenic walks; see beautiful gorges, waterfalls, and mountain oases.
Visit major Arab historical sites, mosques, museums, and medinas. A medina is the old, walled section of a North African Arab city, with narrow, maze-like streets, shops, fountains, mosques and sometimes palaces.
Visit famous Roman archeological sites.
Spend time relaxing at a resort on the Mediterranean Sea. You may find it hard to believe that 4- and 5-star hotel prices can be this low.
Get to know Tunisian cuisine, with its memorable Mediterranean flavors. The country has an abundance of high-quality fruits and vegetables. I’ve never eaten such sweet oranges in my life. (One was so sweet that at first I thought they’d injected extra sugar into it!) While you’re at it, get to know Tunisian wines. The country has some twenty wineries, and its own Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée system. Tunisia used to be a French protectorate, and the influence still shows in many ways, including the wine. It also shows in the language, as most people speak French. (Of course English is catching on too, as it seems to be everywhere.)

Now, you can do all those things in a week or so, but do spend more time there if you can. You won’t run out of things to do. It’s common to go for three weeks, and some people happily go for months at a time.

Tunisia is positively history-drenched, stretching back so deeply in time it’s hard for us to get our minds around just how deep that is. Here are just three high points, to give you an idea of the kinds of attractions that await you:

Carthage: This legendary Phoenician city, founded in the 9th century BC, was on the north shore of Tunisia. Virgil’s Aeneid recounts Aeneas’s escape from Troy, and his voyage, which includes landing at Carthage. The three Punic Wars were between Carthage and Rome. The famous general Hannibal (he of the military elephants that crossed the Alps) was from Carthage. The Romans destroyed Carthage in the Third Punic War (149–146 BC), then built their own city over its ruins. You can visit Roman Carthage, an archeological site just north of Tunis, the capital.

El Djem Roman amphitheatre: Tunisia was a Roman colony for centuries — a province in the Roman Empire. The El Djem amphitheatre seated 35,000 spectators. It’s remarkably well-preserved, and is often described as second only to Rome’s Colosseum among surviving amphitheatres.

The Great Mosque of Kairouan: This 9th century mosque is one of the most famous in the Moslem world.

In short: I think what’s really special about Tunisia is the way it brings together a profusion of exotic places, and different kinds of attractions, in such a convenient, friendly, and even low-cost way.

Our tour group