Sousse, El Jem and Mahdia
13/05/2012 14:38:32
Hi there from Sfax!!
Even if it is with a little delay we will tell you what we saw at Sousse, El Jem and Mahdia.
At Sousse we tried to take the image of the city walls from the outside, just as the Archduke, but it was not possible. Nowadays everything is constructed, there is a large harbour y a large industrial site.
Afterwards we went to the Kasbah, and we climbed to the tower where we can find now a lighthouse. We could not visit the rest of the building because it is now being refurbished for a museum.
We could see the following doors: Bab el Garbi just after de Kasbah, and Bab el Szdid, in the lower part of the city.
In the city of Sousse we found plenty of small beautiful comercial streets. We found a building which belonged to the Bey of Sousse, and now it has been converted into a bar.
Also we were able to visit the market of fruits, vegetables and fish at Sousse. We bought a very good octopus there and several types of vegetables.
For lunch we were invited to the house of Emilio, who is the director of a very well know hotal chain from Mallorca. Mariam, his wife, prepared a wonderful cous-cous for us.
El Jem is normally visited to enjoy the wonderful Coliseum that has been preserved in quite good condition. A part of the coliseum is missing anyway. Part was used to build other buildings, and part was bombarded and destroyed.
The basement of the coliseum is very impressive. It is posible to see different romos where the animals and the gladiators were placed waiting to be thrown into the sand.
At El Jem there are also some old romans houses and a museum that has many roman mosaiques.
Finally at Mahdia we could see the Rabat and the mosque that belonged to the Fatimides. They made Mahdia their capital, and then moved into Cairo.
We can see also some roman remains, an old arab port y, justo on the sea, a cemetery.
We hope to be able to tell about the beautiful island of Djerba very soon.
Best wishes!!
