Visit to Tunisia (4): Tunis
Tuesday was spent in and around Tunis. It was a long day, because we left the hotel at 8 am and did not return till 5.40 pm, so we were out almost 10 hours. But there was very little travel and fine weather and wonderful attractions.
The capital of Tunisia, which gives its name to the country as a whole, is located on the northern Mediterranean coast and the wider metropolitan area has a population of 2.7 million.
Our morning visit was to the famous Bardo Museum. The Bardo Museum is a complex of 13th- to 19th-century buildings that includes the Beylical Palace. It houses the continent’s largest selection of mosaics, arguably the finest in the world.
One mosaic is the most valued in the entire collection. It depicts the poet Virgil and the two muses: Callope, the muse of epic poetry, and Polymnis, the muse of pantomime.
The earliest true mosaics in the world – dated to the 5th or 4th century BC – were discovered in Carthage indicating that it was the Carthaginians, and not the Romans, who invented the art form.
Next we went over to the UNESCO-protected medina which was built in the 7th century. It includes mosques, mausoleums, madrasas, palaces and fountains, some 700 historical monuments in all. Most notable are the Great Mosque, the Bey’s Palace and the Aghlab Palace. There are some 400 Art Deco buildings including the Villa Boublil.
We only had time to savour the atmosphere by walking through the narrow, cobbled lanes lined with shops selling everything and locals shuffling in front and behind us, all friendly and welcoming.
Our one stop was in a government-sponsored carpet shop. The ‘soft sell’ began with a climb up flights of stone steps with carpets on every wall, all the way up to the roof, where we had excellent views of the medina.
Then we were ushered into the sales area where we were served with mint tea and small pieces of baklava before the English-speaking manager explained how the carpets are made and the choices of design and size (and price), as his colleagues continually rolled out one carpet on top of another. Two sales were obtained from our group.
We left the medina to walk down the wide, tree-lined main boulevard of the city, the Avenue Habib Bourguiba – reminiscent of the Rambla in Barcelona – to find our bus and return to our destination of two days ago – “La Victoire” at La Goulette – for a lunch of chicken and rice.