Discover ancient treasures, desert oases and Star Wars film locations
In what country will you find bucolic scenery, colourful markets, ancient Roman cities adorned with mosaics and a well-preserved amphitheatre that rivals Rome’s Colosseum?
No, the answer isn’t Italy. It’s Tunisia, a North African country that’s 600 kilometres south of Rome by air.
For additional enticement, add delicious cuisine, photogenic blue-and-white villages, a drive-through lakebed filled with glittering salt and mirages, date palm-studded oases and deserts inhabited by nomads and their camels.
Such diversity is rare in a country that’s slightly smaller than Florida. The key to its discovery lies in knowing where to go and what to see.
Alluring markets & tasty cuisine
The best place to begin is in Tunis, the capital city. Head straight for the medina – the medieval quarter, where time’s relentless script has spared the souks (markets) from a vanishing way of life.
Jammed together in covered passageways and a labyrinth of small streets, the souks offer an incredible collage of people and merchandise, a kaleidoscope of colour, a cacophony of sounds, a mélange of pungent scents and an endless parade of images from another century.
The souks are grouped according to commodity, be it cloth, carpets, slippers or silver. Wander through the dim corridors, haggle for glimmering brass and copper souvenirs and pay a few pennies for a dab of jasmine perfume from a glass‑stoppered bottle. You will find that the price of an object is fixed not by its actual value, but by how much you want it.
Although primarily French and Arabic are spoken in Tunisia, most vendors can help you in English, or Swahili for that matter! They will probably also invite you into their shops for sweet mint tea and conversation – whether you buy their wares or not.
Tunis is also a good place to sample local food specialties. Try couscous, the national dish of steamed semolina topped with a spicy stew of lamb and vegetables. Brik – a crisp, flaky pastry stuffed with tuna and egg – is a popular appetizer. For dessert, enjoy kab el ghazal (gazelle horns) – horn‑shaped pastries stuffed with ground almonds and sesame seeds and soaked in syrup.
Fascinating day trips
Much of Tunisia’s fascination, however, lies beyond Tunis. You can take a day trip to El Haouaria where, in ancient times, more than 3,500 slaves quarried rock to build Carthage. One of the greatest cities in the ancient world, it had a population of 500,000 at its peak.
Little remains of Carthage today because stones from its buildings were used to build Tunis, as well as Italian, Spanish and Turkish cities. It’s worth a visit, though, to watch archaeologists reconstructing the ruins and to see the Roman theatre which was one of the Tunisian film locations for the Monty Python movie, Life of Brian.
Other day trips can be made to Kelibia – a picturesque fishing village dominated by a 16th-century citadel, to Nabeul – a city of ceramics craftsmen and to Hammamet – a beach resort.
Even more appealing is the dazzling white village of Sidi Bou Saïd, with its arched blue doorways and wrought‑iron window grilles. Climb the cobbled streets to viewpoints overlooking elegant villas and the Bay of Tunis. The panorama is more Mediterranean than African.
World’s richest concentration of ancient Roman cities
Dougga – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – is also a day trip from Tunis. Its Roman theatre, built in AD 168, is now used as a spectacular setting for concerts.
Its Baths of Cyclops are in ruins, except for the 1,700‑year‑old communal latrines. In a horseshoe-shaped stone bench, there are 12 side-by-side holes. A waste channel leads to the street gutter. Wildflowers grow in the washbasin.
You must leave your base in Tunis to explore the Roman cities that flourished during the reign of the Caesars. Thuburbo Majus, with its splendid monuments, houses and mosaics was founded by Augustus Caesar in 27 BC.
In Bulla Regia, wealthy Roman landowners built heat-sheltered subterranean villas, decorated with mosaics. You can still admire several magnificent mosaics here, including a portrait of a woman in the Palace of Amphitrite. Legend claims that there were originally gemstones in her irises, but they were stolen.
Also not to be missed is the three‑tiered Amphitheatre of El Jem – the third largest in the world. Better preserved than Rome’s Colosseum, it once seated 35,000 spectators for gladiatorial combats, wild animal fights and the martyrdom of Christians. The UNESCO World Heritage Site was one of the film locations used in the Oscar-winning movie, Gladiator.
Memories of Indiana Jones
A scene in another movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, depicted a truck speeding through a shop-lined street, overturning fruit stands and piles of wicker baskets. People and chickens scattered in all directions until the vehicle rolled over in a burst of flames. The setting, minus the truck, is essentially the same today. It’s one of the streets in Kairouan, Tunisia’s sacred Islamic city.
After Mecca, Kairouan is the holiest place that any North African may go on a pilgrimage. Nearly 1,400 years old, the Great Mosque is open to the public, but visitors must dress conservatively, speak quietly and refrain from smoking.
Although non-Muslims cannot enter the prayer hall, they can stroll through the courtyard and peek through one of the wooden doorways to glimpse the 414 columns supporting 17 aisles of arches. The 35‑metre‑high minaret is the oldest in the world. At sunrise and sunset, the call to prayer echoes throughout the city.
You can take a day trip from Kairouan to Sousse to visit its Great Mosque. On Friday afternoons, the souks close and the town becomes deserted while everyone goes to the mosque to listen to the great imam (teacher).
Monastir is southeast of Sousse on the Mediterranean coast. Sunbathers on Sidi Mansour Beach can view the Ribat – an eighth-century fortified monastery built to protect Kairouan from attacks from the sea.
Sbeitla – the site of three spectacular temples in the Roman ruins of Sufetula – is also near Kairouan. Its buff‑coloured stone walls blush pale orange as the sun melts into the horizon. For the best sunset and sunrise views, spend the night at the hotel which overlooks the archaeological site.
Before leaving Kairouan, try lagmi or palm wine, sold from pottery vessels. Made from the sap of palm trees cut early in the morning, it must be consumed within 24 hours before it ferments.
Sand dunes, date palms & oasis villages
No visit to Tunisia is complete without venturing into the Sahara. Near Tozeur, vegetation becomes sparse and roaming camels cross the road in front of you.
While exploring the small town, you’ll encounter its friendly residents. Don’t be surprised if curious children approach you with smiles and questions about your cameras and your country of origin.
From Tozeur, a narrow road snakes its tortuous way up a rocky red canyon to the mud‑brick village of Chebika. If the scenery looks familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen it before in the movie, Star Wars. Barely distinguishable from the tawny rock surrounding it, the buildings of Chebika cling to the mountainside.
A short drive further, followed by a hike through the imposing gorges of a wadi – a dried‑out riverbed that catches the run‑off from flash floods – you’ll find the abandoned 18th‑century Berber village of Tamerza. Desert winds whisper through its time‑gnawed walls.
The most spectacular oasis in Tunisia is in Nefta, a village of beige dwellings overlooking nearly half a million date palms, pomegranate, almond and apricot trees. Time stands still here. You can still see farmers using donkeys to transport hay and circles of men sitting in the sand, playing games with black-and-white stones.
Salt lakes & camel treks
Tour operators in Douz, another oasis village, offer Land Rover tours of other desert villages and the 100‑kilometre‑long Chott El-Jerid (Salt Lake of the Palms). The English Patient’s base camp scenes were filmed by the lake.
Glittering salt crackles under the vehicle’s tires. Hot air distorts the landscape, giving the illusion of lakes and palm groves that recede as you approach. Over the centuries, similar mirages have led many caravans astray.
Most hotels also offer village tours, as well as guided camel treks into the desert. To see the desert as it was meant to be seen, you must travel by camel. Select a late-afternoon excursion, when the sun stretches the shadows of palms across the desert and gilds the sand in molten light.
Traversing the desert is like watching a movie in slow motion – a biblical epic where the characters and countryside seem straight out of another era – Bedouin shepherds watering their sheep at artesian wells and Berber farmers riding their donkeys across a monotone sandscape.
If you are unable to join a camel excursion, take a side trip to Sabria – southwest of Douz – to see its enormous dunes, rippled by the wind. Climb to the top of one of the dunes and listen to the desert winds. This is the Sahara – vast and overwhelming.
Berbers & Bedouins
Equally overwhelming is the annual December International Festival of the Sahara (also called the Douz Festival). For four days, camel competitions, traditional music and dancing celebrate the cultures of Berbers – an indigenous ethnic group of mostly settled farmers and Bedouins – nomadic and semi-nomadic herders.
Like swirling desert winds, Berber dancers whirl to haunting tunes played on traditional pipes and drums. Festival participants feast on lamb roasted on spits and on countless bowls of couscous.
If your trip doesn’t coincide with the Douz Festival, visit the weekly Thursday market in Douz. Semi‑nomadic shepherds bring their sheep to the marketplace to sell or barter for food, clothing and supplies.
The most fascinating desert village is Matmata. Hidden in the craters of a lunar‑like landscape, subterranean dwellings still house several families. Years ago, Arab invasions drove the Berbers underground. Today, the cool, dark interiors keep them there, even though there is a nearby modern village.
Dug‑out rooms for living, storage and animal shelters surround each courtyard. If you peer into the open courtyards eight metres below ground level, you’ll likely see children playing, chickens scratching for insects and women hanging clothing to dry.
Tunisia was a major filming location for the Star Wars series. The interior of Hotel Sidi Driss in Matmata played the role of Luke Skywalker’s childhood home on the planet of Tatooine. Some of the set decorations remain today. Diehard fans can dine in the hotel’s restaurant in one of the rooms used as a film set.
Don’t leave the Tunisian Sahara without visiting Chenini. Where does the village begin and the mountain end? It’s difficult to say, for more than 500 Berber shepherds and farmers live in grottoes tunneled into the top of this craggy peak.
Sand‑coloured brick walls hide the entrances to homes, schools and stores. A narrow, winding path leads to a mosque at the top of the village.
Even with your eyes wide open, you can see the Tunisia of 900 years ago in Chenini. Time dissolves as veiled women lead donkeys to branch‑roofed stables and camels carry pottery jugs in handwoven saddlebags.
This entire trip can be done in as little as two weeks or stretched to many more. Either way, Tunisia is not so much a place on a map, as it is an experience – one that will give you memories to last a lifetime.
Story and photos © Barb & Ron Kroll
Resources
For more information, visit the Tunisian National Tourist Office at www.discovertunisia.com/en/
In May 2025, the University of British Columbia (UBC) will run a Tunisia tour that will be guided by Canadian archaeologist and UBC professor Megan Daniels. For an itinerary, email travel@worldwidequest.com or call 1-800-387-1483.
Barb & Ron Kroll publish the trip-planning website www.KrollTravel.com