Sousse

Sousse is Tunisia’s third largest city, situated approximately 20 miles North of Monastir. With a regular direct train running between the two cities, we took the opportunity to visit. The cost was very reasonable, a return trip for 2 people came to a grand total of £1.00, we went a couple of times!

There’s plenty going on in Sousse, it is known as a holiday resort, hotels and long sandy beaches line its coast. We walked along the beach close to the town, although there wasn’t too many people visiting while we were there, I imagine it gets very busy during the height of the season. In addition to the beaches, there’s also many other things to see here, so we set off to explore and headed to the old town.

It is suggested that Sousse has one of the best Medinas in the country and is a UNESCO world heritage site. Once within its surrounding high and strong walls, it feels more like a small town than a big city. We walked around the maze of narrow streets, many of which are lined with market stalls selling everything including pottery, jewellery, leather goods, clothing, kitchen items, soaps and spices, you can easily find plenty of souvenirs here.

After wandering around, we found an interesting cafe, very elaborately decorated over several floors with a roof top terrace, we were the only ones to venture to the top, I’m not sure the waitress was too impressed to have to carry our coffee all the way up to us.

As with many of the towns and cities along the North African coastline, Sousse also has a Ribat inside the Medina walls.

These fortresses were built to provide protection from Christian attacks. A system of signalling with fire warned the different forts of approaching assailants. The Sousse Ribat is the oldest structure in the city and dates back to about 821 AD, it has been well maintained and is still very much intact. It remains as it’s original structure and is much smaller than the Ribat in Monastir.

We climbed up the narrow spiral stone staircase, within the tower, to the peak. From there, we had good views of the entire city, the Kasbah (castle) on the hill, the fortified Great Mosque and the Ribat just below us.

We couldn’t visit Sousse without going to the Archaeological Museum which is located along the high Medina Walls and has some impressive mosaics.

Byzacena was a Late Roman province in the central part of North Africa, which is now roughly Tunisia. The golden age of coastal Byzacena occurred during the 2nd and 3rd century’s, the many ports dotted along the coast between Sousse and Sfax prospered from serving as an outlet to the Mediterranean. The bourgeoisie built luxury dwellings, exceptional mosaics and lavish monuments in the towns ensuring the decoration was equal, if not greater, than Rome. Many of these mosaics are displayed in the museum.

This is the Bekalta baptismal font covered in mosaics dating back to the 6th century.

I was strangely drawn to this 3rd century vase labeled as ‘The drunken old woman’.

After our visit to the museum we went for tea at Dar Lella Khadija.

This teahouse is an example of a typical Tunisian palatial home inside the Medina walls. It has been maintained and run by a local family. The walls of the centre courtyard are covered with colourful tiles and it has several tables to relax and enjoy your tea. Our drinks arrived in silver teapots and were served with cookies and nuts, all presented on a large silver tray.

You can look around the adjoining rooms leading off from the courtyard to see the typical interior design of the mid 20th century. We recognised some old familiar items from our childhood.

On our second visit, we found a simple seafood restaurant for lunch overlooking the small fishing harbour where we sat watching fishermen repairing nets and day trip boats coming and going.

It was our anniversary so we treated ourselves to a variety of fresh fish from their catch of the day, this was all perfectly barbecued and served up on a sharing platter with a selection of salads, dips and bread. Unfortunately we had eaten half of it before I took a picture!

If you ever find yourself in Sousse, we would recommend that you visit ‘Restaurant At Bibichou’s’. It was extremely good value, we had a delicious meal for £25.

After these two visits I can say that we have been very impressed by Sousse and can confirm that it is certainly much more than just a beach resort.

In next week’s blog we hire a car and head south from Monastir.