Dec 17, 2010 04:00 PM
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Last month I visited Tunisia and stayed there for a month to attend a seminar. To my surprise, Tunisia is no more like an African country. With its beautiful Mediterranean beaches, Saharan deserts, hills, picturesque towns, villages and 3000 years of history makes Tunisia one of the best countries I have visited. More over world’s best archaeological sites, Roman and Phoenician ruins dated back to 7th Century B.C lies here.
Tunisia is the North African country facing Europe and very close to Sicily, bounded by Mediterranean sea on north and east. Tunisia is like a bridge between European, African and Islamic countries.
I stayed in Tunis Regency Hotel in Carthage, half an drive to my company’s council and advice centre in Tunis. During weekends I visited some of the important places in Tunisia.
TUNIS:** Tunis is the capital city situated on the Mediterranean sea gulf and a lovely Tunis lake behind and mountains on other side.
TUNIS MEDINA:** This is a Arabic old market area with maze of colourful narrow streets situated around 9th Century mosque. The entrance is called as port of Paris with full of shops of perfumes, leather goods, handicrafts, silks, jewellery etc covering an area of more than 200 hectares. It was the ancient wealthiest trading and learning centre.
RUINS OF CARTHAGE:** Just located few kms from Tunis, lies the carthage suburb with ancient remains dated back to 815 B.C. The ruins of Phoenician city, the child sacrifice ground called Tophet, the roman amphitheatre, baths of Antonian, the Bysra hills, carthage mosaic museum are some of important places I visited.
SID BOU SAID**: It is a small village located 20 km from Tunis overlooking the Tunis Bay. All the houses in the village are painted in white and windows in dark blue. It’s a nice place for shopping.
DOUGGA**:It is the world famous Heritage site of Roman remains located 150 km from Tunis. This city was constructed in 2 AD in a remote village called Dougga. One needs a full day to see all the ruins.I enjoyed walking through the ruins. Al jem, Sousse, Djerba, Hammeret are also some of the important ancient sites.
BEACHES**: Tunisia is famous for its lovely sandy Mediterranean beaches. These Tunisian beaches are the favourite holiday destinations for the Europeans.
Apart from this, Tunisia has lot of museum, national parks and amphitheatres. Don’t forget to visit the star war sets in Tunsian deserts. Most of the desert seen in star war movies were flimed in Tunisian deserts.
HOTELS**: Tunisia has very good hotels like Tunis Regency Hotel, Sheraton, Oriental Hotel, laico Tunis, situated in the capital city.
TRAVEL:** There are no direct flights from India. We have to fly from Dubai or Doha. It’s better to stay in Tunis and travel to all these places. Tunisia has good network of roads and railways, it’s better to hire taxi to save time.
SAFETY**: There is no safety issues in Tunisia, we can travel anywhere, but carry passport and hotel details.
LANGUAGE**: 99% people are Muslims and they speak French. It will be tough if u don’t speak French.
CUISINES**: The Tunisian cuisine is combination of Mediterranean and North African cuisine, based on fresh products, olive oil and spices. Tunisian, the fish couscous and Kus Kus is a specialty and a true delight. It can be found in most of the local-food restaurants of the capital city.
Tunisia is not a place with limited things to do. If you plan to make a long stay in the country, you will discover there are many exciting activities and adventures to enjoy in Tunisia. From the golden sand beaches to trekking in desert by camels, diving in the coral reefs, sailing, windsurfing, exploring the ancient ruins of Phoenician and roman periods.
Added some of the photos. I will right a detailed review on some of the important places
