The Wider Tunis: Carthage, The Coast And More 

The teenage boys are just as boisterous on the train now as they were half an hour ago performing outrageous gymnastics on the beach, which in itself is pretty impressive, particularly if they’re practicing Ramadan and leaping around like that when they can’t even take on water. Now, on the train, they jump off and run from carriage to carriage at each station, open the doors while the train is moving, swap shirts and throw bags at each other: we just smile at the fact that wherever you are, whatever the culture…..boys will be boys.

We are on the short suburban railway which runs out from Tunis, across the water on a man made causeway and along the coast north of the city, out to the beaches at La Marsa. By taking this route and hopping on and off the train, we explore three coastal towns of very different character. La Goulette has the look of a popular beach town which hasn’t quite recovered from COVID: some restaurants have reopened, some seem to be waiting till after Ramadan and are being repainted and spruced up, others show no signs of life at all. 

At the far end, La Marsa is a bigger resort, though we struggle to work out whether its usual clientele is Tunisian (90% of signs are in Arabic) or international (there’s a KFC). It’s pleasant enough but probably extremely popular given the number of seafront holiday apartments.

But between those two towns is an absolute gem which just has us purring with pleasure from the moment we walk across its fine golden beach to the moment we get back on the train. This is Sidi Bou Said, a gorgeous blue and white village perched way up on a virtually sheer cliff, looking down on the glistening Mediterranean, on boats bobbing in the harbour and on to that stretch of golden sand where families and teenagers swim and play.

Within the village, doors, tables and chairs are painted blue, whilst quiet streets wend their way around snow white cottages. Traders chatter, city visitors wander around the shops, the smell of coffee is in the air even during the day. Think Greek island chora with a dash of North Africa: it’s ridiculously lovely.

Sidi Bou Said sits just beyond the ancient site of Carthage, the modern developments of which are also served by this handy railway. Carthage is held by historians to be pivotal in World history – or at least, it might have been. Having been settled in 814BC, Carthage grew into a major power, dominating the western Mediterranean and colonising parts of southern Iberia, northern Africa and many of the Mediterranean islands, and engaging in numerous wars most notably with Sicily, Greece and Rome.

Its strategic location and extended mercantile network enabled Carthage to become, according to many commentators both contemporary and ancient, “the richest city in the World”. That pivotal moment came when its powerful and iconic general Hannibal came close to defeating the Romans in the second Punic War, the war during which Hannibal famously crossed the Alps on foot. Scholars tell us that, had Hannibal succeeded in defeating the Roman Empire, world history in terms of western civilisation would have been markedly different  economically, politically and socially.

The third Punic War saw the Romans ultimately victorious, and, in true Roman style, Carthage was destroyed, its histories banished, and a new, revitalised Roman city built in its place in particularly lavish style by first Julius Caesar and then Augustus. 

Sacked and invaded many times, often engulfed in combat, razed and rebuilt by the Romans, plundered for materials to build Tunis, and laid siege by many, Carthage almost suffered again in the twentieth century as housing developments were built over the top of ancient ruins, thankfully stopped before too much damage was done.

The ruins of the Roman city are a wonder to walk around, particularly the lower section where the Antonine Baths constitute the third largest Roman baths in the world. After centuries buried beneath the ground, these magnificent structures were only excavated after WW2. This must have been one commanding, bold city, perched here on the very edge of the continent.

The nightly pageant of iftar – the meal at sundown to mark the end of each day of Ramadan fasting – continues to intrigue and educate us, and we have done our best to embrace and become part of the ritual. Whilst a large part of the population desert the streets and head home to make iftar a family occasion, the rest head for the medina and to those places catering for the celebratory meal.

It’s an exciting but slightly surreal experience as we sit alongside the other diners, some food and water already on the table but everybody steadfastly denying themselves so much as a breadcrumb until the muezzin’s call signals the end of the fast and the time has come to eat.

In the last moments before the call, excitement builds like the approach of midnight on New Years Eve. Before experiencing this, we had no appreciation of the euphoria that each Ramadan evening brings, but seeing it first hand, actually being part of it, is a revelation. And then we’re in, multiple dishes arrive quicker than we can eat, and once again our mouths are alive with flavour.

Amongst the courses are some that seem to remain constant and appear at every iftar meal and others which vary from night to night or from cafe to cafe. It is said that an iftar meal provides the perfect balance of nutrients for those breaking a fast and shortly to embark on another: if that is true, then given that this is an ancient unchanged ritual, it shows how much our forefathers knew, long before food fads and “qualified nutritionists” came along.

There has been a need to adjust our own mechanisms to cope with Ramadan in Tunis – not only are restaurants closed all day but buying from shops or market stalls and consuming in public is very bad form – it is considered obscene and insulting for non-Muslims to eat in the open during Ramadan. We even have to be discreet when swigging from a water bottle. So we too have been eating nothing between breakfast and iftar – not quite full fasting but enough to help us engage with the ritual as well as outsiders like us can.

It’s also been back to long trousers (me), covering the shoulders and keeping a head scarf handy (Michaela) and of course alcohol is off the agenda once more. All a bit different from Camp Sunshine!

For our last day in Tunis we just have to go and spend another few hours at Sidi Bou Said, it’s such a gorgeous little place. As we travel, we often keep an eye out for somewhere which could become a home for several months, where we could spend an idyllic summer enjoying the sun and inviting over friends and family. Sidi Bou Said is so close to ticking all the required boxes, but there is one thing missing, and it’s a dealbreaker: there is no alcohol in the village. And let’s face it, if you’re going to spend a summer looking at Mediterranean views like these, then you want to do it with a beer in your hand. Don’t you.

Tunis has been so interesting, educational and fulfilling – and with both Carthage and the coastal towns on the doorstep, our activities have been satisfyingly varied. We head south and inland next, to the ancient town of Kairouan.