After Kairouan, we went on to Sousse, another old town on the UNESCO's world heritage site list. Since Souses is a seaside town, the road we took stuck fairly closely to the Mediterranean coast, richer in rainfall.
For the first time, I found some grazing sheep, some cows and some goats
and lots of market gardening land. Whilst farmers elsewhere separate their fields with earth mounds and trees, in Tunisia, they do so by planting cactus!
We passed by many little coastal towns and villages
Naturally, we found many small hotels
We were told that in Tunisia, land is not a problem at all. Any one who wants to build can simply apply to the government for a plot of land for as little as a few tens dinars, not as the price of the land but as administrative charges! That's what we were told.
,
No wonder that wherever we go, we find building activity going on and there were lots of new buildings.
You seldom find tall buildings in Tunisia. This one would be regarded as quite tall already.
We were told that these are new vacation homes for the rich
So are these
And these
I have seen lots of minarets in Tunisia. But it's the first time that I see a minaret with a blue roof.
New houses for sale
New hotels
Another new hotel
Another new hotel. If there are so many hotels here: there can only be three reasons: sun, sand and blue sky,
The cook of a fast food shop on rest stop. I had a Tunisian pizza. Cheap and delicious.
At long last, our restaurant for lunch
A restaurant with decor
The boss at the bar table
The bar
Wall decoration
A sailing ship clock!
Practice shot whilst waiting for our lunch
Some fuzzy effects
Playing around with our glass of water
Finally our lunch: quite tasty
After lunch we were given some time to walk around the old town of Souses, capital of the Sousse Governorate, on the Gulf of Hammamet, 87 miles south of the capital Tunis. With a population of more than 200,000, it's the third largest city in Tunisia. Its name may be of Berber origin because there are towns with similar names in Libya and south Morocco, both of which are Berber towns. It lives on vehicle production, food processing, olive oil, textiles and tourism and is home to the Université de Sousse. According to the Wikipedia, it used to be a Phoenician town called Hadrumetum in the 11th century BCE. Since it allied itself with Rome during the Punic Wars, it enjoyed 7 centuries of relative peace under Pax Romana. In 434 CE, the Vandals took the city and renamed it Hunerikopolis but the Romans under Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian retook the town in 534 and changed its its Roman name to Justinianopolis but lost it again in the 7th century, not to the Berber nor to the Vandals but this time to the Arabs who renamed the city Sûsa and within a few decades elevated it to the status of the main seaport of the Aghlabid Dynasty. When the Aghlabids invaded Sicily in 827, Sûsa was their main staging ground.In the centuries that followed, as Europe gained technological ascendancy and began pushing back at Islam, Sûsa was briefly occupied by the Normans in the 12th century, was later more thoroughly occupied by the Spanish, and in the 18th century was the target of bombardments by the Venetians and the French. After the French took control, the city was renamed Sousse, a name which has since stuck. Despite 5but the town retained its solidly Arabian look and feel. With its ribats and kasbahs, Sousse is thought to be one of the best examples of Arab maritime fortifications today. In the middle of nearly a thousand square miles of olive groves, the production of olive oil has been most important since antiquity, but tourism has now overtaken this as the main source of livelihood for its people. Hotel complexes with a capacity of 40,000 beds now extend a full 20 km (12 mi) from the old city (Medina) at its north along the seafront to Port El Kantaoui. With a Mediterranean climate of hot dry summer and mild wet winters, its proximity to the sea makes it an all-season resort town. It's visited by more than a 1.2 million tourists a year.
A picture of the Arab-Berber maritime fortification of Sousse (photo from internet) showing its towers and remparts etc.
Its ribat, a combination of a mosque with a fortress
The entrance to the ribat , in the middle of the strong wall, is very small
From this corner, one could see the tower of the famous Arab maritime fortress
A cat sleeping in front of the mosque
Two women fully dressed in black and all covered up are entering the mosque
Another entrance to the ribat-mosque on the landward, not the seaward side
below the wall of the ribat-mosque is the market
Since business isn't that good, one might as well take a nap until prayer time
The department store on the right is our meeting point
Digital watches and sunglasses and belt on sale, probably made in the PRC.
gilt wooden carvings
a boat in the form of a paper windmill
camel chair
The newer part of the city
The typical square minaret of another mosque
Some newly completed building
The entrance to the ribat , in the middle of the strong wall, is very small
From this corner, one could see the tower of the famous Arab maritime fortress
A cat sleeping in front of the mosque
Two women fully dressed in black and all covered up are entering the mosque
Another entrance to the ribat-mosque on the landward, not the seaward side
below the wall of the ribat-mosque is the market
Since business isn't that good, one might as well take a nap until prayer time
The department store on the right is our meeting point
Digital watches and sunglasses and belt on sale, probably made in the PRC.
gilt wooden carvings
a boat in the form of a paper windmill
camel chair
The newer part of the city
The typical square minaret of another mosque
Some newly completed building
More new building. The buildings here seldom exceed 10 storeys.
This is the harbor of Sousse
The watch tower at the harbor
The water looks very clean
little boats for ferrying goods
It can accomodate even cargo ships with its cranes
A young couple waiting to board?
The police station
A statue at the bottom of the palm tree
a pirate ship for tourists
A rusted barbecue stand and metal chairs
Sailors waiting for tourists. Want a water tour?
The rear of the pirate ship
a broken window
A slave tied at the head rig
Another fierce look pirate ship. The so-called Barbary coasts used to be infested with Berber pirates.
The major of the city?
There's an inscription. But I don't read Arabic.
A horse carriage. You can smell the horses from across the street
Some sculpture at the base of city wall
Romans?
Like in Tunis, the Medina of Sousse has also got its souks (covered bazaars) and archways. Its Medina is surrounded by the city walls. The Medina of Sousse had been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1988.
The medina souks are full of shops selling wood carvings. Here,a lively elephant head
An Arab on camel with frame
An Arab on camel without frame
A happy Bob Marley
Bob thinking of his smoke?
Two ladies
Mother and child
Rock and rollers
All kinds of people and animals of different sizes and expressions
Che Guevara seems a popular subject too
Oriental looking heads
Soldiers and sailors
a finely crafted bronze lamp
Turkish glasses
Crocodiles, dolphins and fish
Various stone carvings
A close-in on a woman
A man
Two more
More heads
All kinds of door knockers
A string of nuts. Chinese call them "horns"
All kinds of tiles and plates
different sizes, colors and designs
colorful plates of intricate patterns
of all shapes and sizes and motifs
Animals, birds, trees, flowers and the protective palm
and ladies and men's heads
aromatic boxes, vessels and candle holders
big jugs and urns
and smaller ones of traditional or more contemporary colors and designs
Various drums and percussive instruments
a hand drum
Another type of hand drum
Trestles
decorative wooden frames
Arab hats
wedding baskets
More wedding baskets
in pink, blue and red
A real basketful of flowers, laces and ribbons
A different style of basket
A simpler version
Finely crafted silver caskets
buckets, caskets and even slippers
Jewellery casket with hand mirror and perfume bottles
reed baskets and hats
Colorful floral bottles
almond candy
All kinds of pastries
Buns and other pastry
puffs and rolls
More pastry
Tunisian dough nuts, big and small
More sugary or syrupy desserts
pastries, biscuits and chocolates
and nougats
A fast food shop serving sandwiches and wraps: want some?
His competitor: roast chicken
breads and pan cakes
meat pies and omelettes
wraps with all kinds of meat paste
freshly made plain wraps
Kebabs
All kinds of palm dates
red dates
yellow dates
dried plums?
Olives for all kinds of taste
Bay leaves?
dried plums or raisins?
safran
different dried herb spices
gingers
beans or peas?
pickles
A more organized spice and general provision store
A butcher's
tripes
Another butchery
minced meat
sausages
A house gardening shop
A fruit seller: No customer. Better read how my favourite football team is doing.
vegetable seller
Fresh fish for sale
Come on, come on, real fresh, true bargains, here's your last chance, grab 'em afore they're gone
a road side cafe or tea house
Three young men enjoying their water-filtered tobacco smoke
Here. Some smoke for your photo, Monsieur
What you looking at, dude? Never seen this before?
Met this freelance journalist at the bakery. He had been to China and Hong Kong many times! You really never know what kind of people you'd bump into unless you go out into the world!
To be cont'd
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