Basic information National name: Al-Jumhuriyah at-Tunisiyah President: Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali (1987) Population: 10,276,158 inhabitants Location: North Africa Total area: 163,610 sq km Capital and largest city: Tunis Monetary unit: Tunisian dinar =1000 millimes Languages: Arabic (official, commerce), French (commerce) Ethnicity/race: Arab-Berber 98%, European 1%, Jewish and other 1% Religions: Islam (Sunni) 98%, Christian 1%, Jewish and other 1% Climate: moderate temperature

Tunisia: A country of great diversity

History and heritage:

The history of Tunisia is a history of empire and conquest. Tunisia was the center of the Carthaginian Empire. The city of Carthage was sacked by the Romans and Tunisia became the center of Roman North Africa. After the fall of Rome, there were periods of occupation by the Vandals, and then the Byzantines, until the Muslim Arab conquest. The French also made of Tunisia a colony, and ruled until 1956 when the country gained its independence.
Until The November seventh change, which was a historical event and has deeply changed the face of Tunisia; it was a starting point of 20 years of prosperity and progress.
Achievement and accomplishments give Tunisia confidence, social peace, stability and harmony.
Thanks to its modern resorts, it preserves cultural and civilization heritages. And owing to its climate of serenity, Tunisia has become a favorite destination for visitors and tourists (7 millions tourists visit Tunisia each year) charmed by the warmth of the welcome they receive and the beauty of its sites…

Geography and climate:

Tunisia is a very hospitable country; a land of contrasts, with a dazzling array of landscapes and architecture - from the sparkling blue Mediterranean Sea to the dunes of the Sahara, and from the narrow, winding streets of the Medina to the well located, modern and prestigious hotels and amenities.

Large part of Tunisia is dry, but the north is green and fertile, with many forests but little agriculture and few inhabitants. The coastal area south of Tunis is fertile and producing almost all of Tunisia's agriculture products. This is also the region with the largest part of the population.

The interior is stony desert, while sand desert is found in the very south; there are some mountains in the north-west, but not reaching higher than 1544 meters. There are some winter lakes, dry and salty through summer, giving the country a special character.

Places Of Interest in Tunisia

KAIROUAN: the spiritual capital of Tunisia

Through our way to Kairouan you will see a wonderful chain of olive trees encircled by cactus, then small villages, ships and smiling faces saying hello to you everywhere you go. Once we are in Kairouan, you will be surprised by vitality and energy in this city, decoration and embellishment of city walls, colours, perfumes, hand made carpets, abundance of mosques and a big number of zaouias (tombs of holy Muslim men). All this has made of Kairouan the focal point of religious life in Tunisia and, as such, offers plenty of places of interests to the visitors. The Great Mosque is probably the most impressive mosque in the country. Of all the medinas in Tunisia, Kairouan is always the most impressing.

Great mosque in Kairouan: The Great Mosque is one of the highlights of Kairouan and one of the oldest in Tunisia. You will be allowed to walk around the courtyard but not into the prayer room just look into it and you will see its numerous columns, which have given rise to interesting traditions and stories over the years. Mosques have been found since the 8th century .Much has been added over the centuries but always in good taste in an architectural sense. The minaret is the outstanding feature of the mosque. Also very prominent are the walls. Water was very important to the mosque and it very clever how they managed to get so much of it.

SOUSSE: Tunisia's third largest city

Medina: Founded by the Phoenicians, ruled by the Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Spanish, Ottoman and French, the city of Sousse has had a long and colorful rich history. Medina of Sousse is on UNESCO World Heritage List http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/tn, because it is almost untouched from the centuries and gives the visitor the idea of how the towns looked like, from the first centuries of Islam, how they lived and how they built up their history through years. Thus, visiting Sousse is almost like going back in time. Even the modern hotels in the resort area evoke a feeling of being from another era.

Sousse boasts two outstanding sites in its old Medina, renowned worldwide for its beauty, its winding streets and stunning architecture, these sites are: the fortified Ribat and the main Great Mosque. This area also served as a major part of the coastal defense of the city to fend off attacks throughout the middle Ages.

The Medina will charming you by it’s narrow streets, where children are playing, shops exposing colorful hand made items, leather, gold, silver, souks, spices, natural perfumes; everything is traditional, everything is absorbing!!!

Port El Kantaoui:

Port El Kantaoui was Tunisia's first purpose built tourist town, and has now established itself as the country's most popular holiday resort for tourist, with a plenty of attractions - hotels, restaurants (which offer a mix of Tunisian and European style food), lovely waterfront cafes, shops, and above all, its own beautifully appointed 340-yacht international marina, it is definitely the best marina you have ever seen.

Swanky boats are moored in the harbor and it’s a real delight to stroll around there.

Among other things, it’s a captivating place to enjoy the sunset, and a kind of romantic place to wander in, especially by night.

Apart from the marina another feature of this tourist village is “the dancing fountains” with wonderful musical displays at different times of the day and at night they are colorfully light up. It’s simply amazing!!Many seaside resorts in Tunisia are aimed just at tourists and in some of them you could pass a whole holiday without any interaction with the locals. Sousse, in that respect, is interesting as you see the coexistence of mass tourism and the local way of life.

Festivals in SOUSSE: The most famous festival in Sousse is called “Baba Awessou”, it is the Arabic name of POSEIDON (Roman name: Neptune), the God of the sea and one of the supreme gods of Mount Olympus, he used to spend most of his time in his watery domain. This festival takes place each year on July 24th honoured by the presence of The President.

TUNIS:

Fascinating Tunis Tunis is highly functional, charming, and is mixing the old and the new, all at the same time. To meet Tunis and understand the character of the country, we will take you to some wonderful places which will embrace your heart. Tunis is fascinating owing to its old Arab medina at its core, surrounded by a French colonial city reminiscent of New Orleans' French Quarter, bounded by the modern city. Tunis encloses one of the greatest cities in the world, which is CARTHAGE; an extremely beautiful suburb with amazing seaside homes, and ancient ruins. Besides, there is the Bardo Museum, which has the best collection of Roman mosaics in the world.

It gives you such quietness…is a relaxing way to get in touch with this part of the city…

The Medina, also called the Souk, is far from randomly arranged, and that makes it more unique. Each souk appears to specialise in its own particular goody - be it clothes, slippers or perfume etc... There are also areas for goldsmiths, for metal workers, for fabrics etc. And then there are areas for touristic items.
The tiny alleyways seem to be endless and it is wonderful to meander aimlessly around them. It's easy to lose all sense of direction! But don’t worry we’ll be there …

The Great Mosque: Jemaa Zaitouna

Another groovy interest inside the medina, it’s “Jemaa Zaitouna”, its name means "olive tree", and comes from the mosque's founder who taught the Koran under an olive tree. It was first erected in the 9th century by the Aghlabid rulers. It’s one of the more important religious centers of the Arabic world, built employing 200 columns recovered by the ruins of the Roman Carthage.
While the mosque today serves mainly as a house of worship, its was also a house of higher learning from times before the first European universities, and until the 1950's when Tunis' universities started to take over.

Bardo Museum:

The Tunisian equivalent to the Louvre, the National Museum of Bardo contains an impressive collection of archaeological artefacts from several periods in the country's rich history.
It is a wonderful opulent museum; dominated by a vast collection of wonderful Roman mosaics that once adorned Roman Africa's grandest villas.

So the principal focus of the exhibitions is the “Roman relics”, particularly the fantastic collection of mosaic floors, depicting everyday life including some fascinating illustrations of early Christian buildings.

In addition to the mosaics, it also has many historic and archeological artifacts.The building is magnificent as well; this gorgeous museum is housed in a former palace surrounded by gardens, and full of well regarded mosaics from various sites around Tunisia so the historical value and preservation value of them is high on the list. That’s why Bardo Museum is recommended as one of the Worlds must-see museums!!
In fact, there is no other museum in the world, even in Italy, where you get the chance to see countless huge mosaics, statues, figurines and other remains. The exhibits come from all over Tunisia from such places as nearby Carthage, Dougga, Sousse, El Jem, Bulla Regia, Thuburbo Majus and  Oudhna. Not  only  does  it  house  Roman  remains  but  it  also houses Punic and early Christian finds.

Carthage; Punic, roman, but very Tunisian: Who has not heard of Hannibal and this city who dared brave the might of Rome? Now the ruins of both these great empires lay open to the sun and wildflowers. You won’t believe how gorgeous the view against the background of the Mediterranean Sea is! Declared a national monument, the sacred land of Carthage abounds in vestiges of the Punic and Roman empires, baths, dwellings, temples, shrines and the fabulous naval port of the Carthaginians. Carthage is simply an amazing place, full of history, which will take you back in the time...

Carthage used to be a very powerful city-state founded by the Phoenicians in 814 B.C. It certainly had confrontations with the Romans, and after plenty of ugly wars Carthage was levelled to the ground by them. The land here is extremely expensive, the excavations are being held constantly, and a lot of finds can be seen in Bardo museum.

The name Carthage is derived by way of Greek and Latin from the Phoenician meaning "new city." More than one Phoenician settlement originally bore this name, although only one city has the distinction of being the Carthage of the ancient world.

Carthage remains an astounding tourist attraction and a popular residential suburb.

Sidi Bou Said

Whenever tourist brochures show a typical Tunisian village of cobbled streets, white walls and studded blue doors, it is consistently the picturesque “Sidi Bou Said”!!

Now it is possible to visit this hilly coastal village of white buildings, huge doors and big windows with blue shutters. People visit this idyllic artists' town for its unique attractive architecture of white-washed buildings with deep exotic blue accent on doors.

That’s why Sidi Bou Said is called the "Village of Artists" and had been a desired place for artists, poets and writers in the early part of the 20th century. The intense beauty of the sea, the architecture and colour of the place is simply awe-inspiring.

Capturing this amazing beauty in watercolours or oils wouldn’t be a simple accomplishment.

The artists who hand paint the intricate designs of the beautiful Tunisian pottery, the leather crafters and weavers will certainly impress you by their artwork.

Another amazing activity that is a MUST is simply taking a sit in a Tea House in Sidi Bou, order some Mint tea, why not smoke some chicha and start to knowing people. You will see, Tunisian are so gentle, and very close, so it will be quite easy to communicate with people and  know new persons during your trip.

This is very exciting as you can open your mind, and check things from another point of view, see how people are thinking, have some fun etc. what is out of the ordinary!

Hammamet:

Hammamet is one of the best elegant resorts around the Mediterranean, situated in the north of the country. At the moment, more than 30 luxury hotels surround the place, with a brilliant gold sandy beach, all along a wonderful path side by side with it and finishing at a lovely marina, where all the fuss take place at night

Families can enjoy Carthage Land, a theme park with thrilling rides, and Blue Ice, the only ice rink in the country. Adults may choose to relax on the golf course in one of the many Thalassotherapy centres, on miles of golden sandy beaches.

Hammamet has a compact and charming old town, surrounded by its ramparts and crowned by an ancient fort overlooking the sea. It’s a sophisticated new Medina, with luxurious boutiques, cafés and restaurants, theatres and museums and a fabulous residential complex. It is also noted for the beautiful 20th century Sebastian's Villa.
Located in the old city (the Medina), the Souks offer a selection of objects of unsurpassed beauty and distinction, excellent arts and craft, and traditional work.

Shopping in Hammamet is definitely an art!

Nabeul:

Nabeul, so often presented as the Tunisian capital of pottery. It truly is. When strolling around, nearly everywhere you will find Pottery.So the economic base of Nabeul is pottery and ceramics, tourism, stone cutting, quarrying and the production of perfume. The agriculture is also of much importance, specializing in citrus fruits, flowers and wine. Nabeul also has substantial beach tourism. One of the things you'll notice in Nabeul, are in particularly these interesting doors of the houses. Basically, there are two or three types of doors; those made of iron, which are adorned by minted arabesque motifs, and wooden doors with nice frames mostly in olive green.

El Jem:

El-Jem or El-Djem is a mid-size town in eastern Tunisia, in the middle of a rich agricultural plain, 60 km south to Sousse, and 40 km west to the coast and Mahdia. El-Jem belongs to the province of Mahdia.

The Roman amphitheatre:

El Jem Roman amphitheatre is the third larger Coliseum in the world after Roma and Capua for its size (148m long, 123m wide and 36m high). The theatre is similar to the Coliseum in Rome and just as impressive. Actually, it is one of the best preserved of its kind and in relatively good condition. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World heritage list in 1979. It seems that it remained completely untouched until 1695. You can’t be aware of its huge proportions only when standing right in front of it.

When we approach El Jem from the road from Sousse you will suddenly discover on the horizon the huge structure of the amphitheater, which seems to fill the entire horizon line appearing almost from nowhere. When getting closer, the view is even more striking.

Although the amphitheatres were built for many different events, El Jem Roman amphitheatre was only as a place for gladiator games. In its glory days, it used to have seated up to 35.000 spectators in three tiers of arcades. Parts of the theatre have been restored to their former glory.

When you stand in the middle of the stadium it is easy to feel like a gladiator!!

Mahdia:

Mahdia is an adorable seaside town between Sousse and Sfax. You can hardly imagine that this was once the capital of Tunisia. It has a long history that began with the Phoenicians but the city has suffered so many destructions that their remains little of its far away past.

The Central Mosque dates from the 10th century. It is an austere building. The entrance to the Medina is through an enormous 16th century gate. Wandering through the old city, you can see the vestiges of the ancient ramparts and fortress. In the Medina, you will encounter fashionable boutiques where resplendent traditional tunics and caftans rival the shimmering sun. Mahdia is also the main fishing port of Tunisia with an agreeable atmosphere. The part of Mahdia's charm lies in the maritime heritage. The local specialty are sardines, anchovies and Herring, and the fish market is held every morning in the covered market and is a Must see. A few kilometers from the town itself a myriad of modern first class hotels offer visitors one of the finest beaches in Tunisia.

One of the things to see in Mahdia is the cemetery of Mahdia “A unique sense of peace”!!

Mahdia magic cemetery extends from seashore to the other of the headland its immaculate whiteness. With the sharp yellow of its daisies fields in spring, the deep silhouettes of the ramparts which surround it, this marine cemetery acquires, like nowhere else, an appeasing spiritual relaxation.

Sahara desert

One day you might find yourself in the green parks in the north of Tunisia or somewhere along the beautiful white beaches of the turquoise blue Mediterranean Sea. And the other day you might find yourself on a camel in the great SAHARA DESERT!

Tunisian Sahara is the unique place which will open up for you a new world of exploration and adventure! It's something quite exceptional to see an oasis and feel real desert especially if it is the first time, this is the trip you will always remember …

You’ll have two or three days of absolutely unforgettable experience, with pretty unique and memorable impressions.

More than a land, a unique lifestyle and an exceptional people!!