Sunday, May 17: Carthage, Roman ruins & Sidi Bou Said

Narration by Kit:

The next morning we had breakfast at the Ramada (a terrible hotel in Tunis, by the way, full of old people with puffy white hair and comb overs that comprise large tour groups -- but my work was paying for it thankfully). We had our fill of crepes, fruit, and liquidy scrambled eggs and then decided to make our way to Carthage for the day.

It's always risky in Tunisia to find a taxi driver outside the hotel, especially when your hotel is in the middle of nowhere, like ours was, 20-30 minutes out of downtown Tunis. We'd already gotten burned the day before by paying too much so we were especially suspicious on Sunday morning. Turns out, the driver we got (after rejecting two drivers who tried to convince they didn't use meters in Tunisia) was actually a good guy named Fathi, and he was very knowledgable about the area. Lucky for us, on the way to Carthage, he told us that we were passing by the North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial for US WWII soldiers killed in Algeria and Tunisia during the war. So we stopped to see it.

This had special resonance for me, as my grandfather landed with the British in Oran, Algeria during the war as part of the US 1st Army and served as a truck driver and medic in North Africa and Italy until he was shipped home toward the end of the war with malaria. Anyway, he fought at Kasserine and all the big battles in North Africa so I have no doubt he knew some guys who perished there. More than 60% of the soldiers killed and buried in the cemetery were eventually repatriated back to their hometowns in the US for reburial, but nearly 3,000 soldiers are still buried at the cemetery.

Here's a view from the visitor's center:


And us in front of the graves:

I'm glad we stopped to see it...

After saying goodbye to the Tunisian historian at the cemetery visitor's center, we made our way about a mile down the road to the main site of the ruins at Carthage. I had always thought Carthage was located in one distinct location, but it turns out most of Carthage was destroyed, the Romans then rebuilt it as a Roman city, then the Vandals decimated it, and then it was built on again over the years. And it was a big city. So the sites are actually scattered all over a several square mile neighborhood/area of Tunis known, appropriately, as Carthage (pronounced car-TAHJ in Tunis).

There is a hilltop, however, that serves as the Carthage visitor's center because most of the only real Carthiginian ruins are located there. And it affords an amazing view of the sea. The city was really ideally situated on a peninsula, surrounded by water on three sides and was well protected. You can still see remnants of their very advanced sea ports a mile or so down the hill looking toward the water.

This is us on arrival -- you can't totally see the water and mountain in the far background in this picture, but in real life, the view was incredible:

These are the only real remaining Carthiginian ruins... former villas:

The weather was seriously heating up. It had been freezing the day before, but I quickly realized that I'd over dressed with the sweatshirt...

Miguel takes on the views:

Miguel LOVES photos... we took lots:

Here is Miguel outside the visitor's center and museum in front of maps of the original city:

There are a lot of beautiful flowers in Tunis so here is a natural shot looking up toward a Catholic church that has been built on the hilltop of the old ruins:

Now, we didn't really count on the fact that the Carthiginian ruins are basically, like, sprinkled throughout an entire neighborhood in Tunis. Plus the map they give you at the museum is ridiculously bad and totally not to scale, which means we got lost for a while trying to get out of the main ruins site en route to the Roman villas, baths, and theater. And there are NO signs telling you where to go on foot (most chubby tourists roll up in tour buses that cart them around). We ended up wandering down a residential street and ended up at some poncey fancy club, where my mangled Arabic served to inform us (via burly body guard posted outside) that we were nowhere near where we wanted to go. Long story short, it was about a two mile walk to the Roman baths, and despite the serious sun and intense heat, we enjoyed the scenery...

This reminded me a bit of L.A.! Very ritzy neighborhood with palm trees and a beach at the end... I was feeling very Donna 90210.

We ran into this gaggle of little Scouts. They were psyched to get their picture taken, and we even got the "Scouts' Honor"!! As a former girl scout, I related:

A typical villa in the neighborhood:

And finally the beach!! (a small detour from our original destination, the Roman Baths -- we were still slightly lost)...

After another short walk down the coast, we finally found the Roman baths... here is Miguel making his way to the ruins through a beautiful garden:

And the actual sites:

Most of all that is left is the underground floors of the baths, but the scale of the place is positively immense...

I love this picture of the flower wall motif with the real floral vine:

Nerd reading his library book about Cathage:

Here's what it looks like from up on a hill:

The original floor plan:

And how it once looked (before the Vandals ransacked it):

Nerd #2 reads up on Roman history:

As we walked about a mile up the road to the Roman villas, I shot this pic of the amazing flora along the road in front of a modern day villa:

Here's a great view from the Roman villa (which also looks over the President's Palace)... did I mention this is in the middle of a really nice neighborhood?

An original Roman mosaic in a villa courtyard:

Here's a shot of the villa courtyard:

I'd like everyone to know that this was Miguel's idea. The consummate tourist photos:

We walked about another 1/2 mile to the theater, but it was so disappointing we didn't even take any photos because it's been totally renovated and modernized, and we could barely find anything original in it.

So instead we ventured back to Sidi Bou Said via TGM train for lunch from our favorite sandwich shop and juiceman, Shokri, who got a little overzealous in his service (ie: racing behind the counter and booting out the real sandwich maker so HE could make our lunches and then setting up a 'special' table for us and then offering to give us a driving tour to Kairouan where his parents live, which started to freak us out).

After running away from lunch, we took a LONG walk around the hillside town that has amazing seaside views and the most beautiful doorways in Tunisia:

Solidarity and socialism rule!

Great cobblestone street scenes:

I became a little obsessed with the interesting door knockers, particularly the hand knocker (here's a far away and up close view):

I like this photo, and luckily you can't see the raging farmer's tan/burn that I was developing:

We wound our way up to the top of a beautiful hilltop overlooking the entire sea front. There was a cemetery up there, which made it even more peaceful. And NO tourists willing to climb so far up the hillside... we were all alone!

Cemetery entrance (that says "Allah"):

Check the views:

Alone, except for this little cat, dubbed "Graveyard Cat" who was the most loving and sweet creature I might have ever encountered. I am not an animal person and usually have only fleeting sympathy for animals, but this little guy broke my heart. He just wanted love, and he was so mangey. I felt terrible. However, I'm allergic to cats (not to mention not really into fleas, lice, or rabies) so I sort of kind of tried to pet him, and he kept trying to jump up to get some attention. We tried to photograph it, but we could never quite catch him mid-air. This was the best we could get (oh, and check my redneck):

We took a different road down with equally great views looking out over Tunis. We sat and looked out over the city for a long while:

Another cool door:

Street view:

Looking into the courtyard of a home:

Hibiscus growing wild!

After a LONG day of walking miles, we decided to chill out that night at the hotel. We took a taxi back and had a crazy driver who had curtains on all the windows that blew in our faces and who blared Tunisian music by an artist named Muhammad Ramzi so loud I'm afraid I might have permanent hearing loss. He then tried to sell the bootleg CD to Miguel.

Once back to the Ramada, Miguel decided to brave the hotel pool, which was way too cold for my liking. I was perfectly happy perched on a chaise.

The pool adventurer (notice no one else is at the pool -- mostly because only old people were staying at our hotel and also because the water was seriously ice-like):

Not yet hypothermic:

And yet not venturing so deep either:

After that weak effort, we decided to hit the beach instead, and we came across these guys out on the shore! Who knew some camels come with reclinable humps.

Then Miguel took a plunge in the ocean. There was a Tunisian family picnicking nearby, and they were so nice. It was a lovely evening...

I look like some creepy, pale daddy long-legs here, but I won't edit this out b/c it was a nice part of our day:

We ended it by going swimming together in the heated indoor pool. Much nicer, although I shouldn't have worn my goggles in b/c it highlighted how much hair and debris was in the water, which forced me out immediately. Here's Miguel still blissfully unaware of what he's floating in:

Since I had to work early the next morning, we curled up, had dinner in, and went to bed early.