Tunisia, Northern Africa

Arrival in Tunis

I went to Tunisia with my wife in Feb. 2026 for 10 days arriving in Tunis from Munich airport. Somehow I got by with my lousy French, which is widely spoken in addition to Arabic. We arrived at night so had to take a taxi to our hotel. Taxis are very cheap in Tunisia but the taxi drivers at the airport know they have a captive market as the buses stop running after around 8 pm. They demand a fixed price at least 5 times the real rate. But as a foreigner coming for the first time, with luggage, it is hardly possible to leave the airport and wave down a taxi not out to cheat you. We had a couple of other incidents of drivers trying to overcharge but the majority complied when we made it clear we wanted the meter used or we would get out.

Otherwise, the people were pretty laid back compared to the aforementioned countries, or Morocco, which was my only other experience in northern Africa. We never felt unsafe or targeted as tourists. But it took us a while to realize there simply aren’t many independent foreign tourists there. The majority of foreigners only come May to October and spend most of their time at resorts on the southern Island of Djerba. There had been a major terrorist attack at a museum in Tunis in 2015 and despite improvements in public safety, there are still uncertainties and controls and most tourists are going elsewhere. We had to go through multiple police controls on our trip especially before and after taking the ferry to Djerba.

Tunis is spread out, run down, shabby and lots of things poorly maintained. There are definitely things to see for some days but time is better spent elsewhere in the country. The main attraction is the Medina or old city where we spent a lot of our time. The backstreets were as interesting as the shops in the Souks (covered markets) and other shops where both modern and traditional good are sold. There are many mosques scattered about. Most are not elaborate in design from the outside but unfortunately none in the country want non-Muslims to enter the interior prayer halls. At best one can sometimes take a peek inside the door or take a few steps into a courtyard. The majority of people did not seem excessive in their practices, the majority of women, especially in Tunis wearing clothing similar to in Europe, without head coverings. Yet non-believers are unwanted in mosques; something I found much more tolerated in countries like Turkey, India, Indonesia and Malaysia.

I am starting the pictures with the Zitouna Mosque in the center of the Medina. This is one of the most significant of the city’s many mosques. The surrounding old city is a maze of shops, backstreets and smaller mosques,  characterized by wooden doors with curved tops.

Tunis central market

South of the Medina and a bit west of the main train station is the central market. Like most markets it is a colorful display of all kinds of fruits, veggies, meat and seafood. One sees an abundance of Tunisia’s main crops; olives and dates. Oranges are also found everywhere but what I never saw was a banana although I once saw a peel on the ground in the city of Houmt Souk. Seems the climate is too dry and water too precious to raise them on a commercial basis.

Tunis, Bab el Khahdra, Thameur Gardens, Place de Republic

Our hotel in Tunis “Le Parisien” was northeast of the Medina. The street Avenue de Madrid where it is located starts at the Place de Republic where there is a major Metro station which was a major place for our orientation since many Tunisian streets have no signs. The metro ran infrequently and was so full that people were literally hanging out the doors. Some pictures here show a kiosk, a sweets store and the Café San Stress that was closed while we were there. The simple Haffa Restaurant next door was where we had our first Tunisian meal had cheap good food. Just south of the Plaza was the large Thameur Gardens. It was well kept and home to many cats but then one sees cats everywhere in Tunisia. The other direction from our hotel to the NE is a daily street market and the Madrid Avenue ends right before the Bab el Khahdra monument consisting of a large gateway and next door a mosque.

In the area, I took the photo of the typical very run down yet still inhabited building. In contrast, some blocks south is a photo of one of the not sledom French colonial styled buildings. The bottom 2 photos show a statue of Mongi Bali on a small square just west of the main train station. The train station itself was decently functional but the train shown was the first class train car we took south to Sousse. It looked like it was OK when first put in service but so run down and the upholstery filthy as if it had not been properly cleaned or maintained in decades. Hadn’t seen anything like this since taking third class trains in India 35 years ago. Some of the locale/regional trains in the station looked acceptable. But not a mistake that the hotel personnel in both Tunis and Sousse strongly recommended taking buses rather than the long distance trains.. 

Carthage, Tunisia  – Byrsa Hill, St. Louis Cathedral, National Museum of Archeology

Carthage is a town about 20 KM east of Tunis known for its Roman ruins. The regional train line is cut off since a bridge collapsed. We opted for a taxi to get there one this rainy day trip. One pays one price for a handful of sites but they are so spread out that one cannot really see them all. We started at the Byrsa Hill. The view was not very impressive but the St. Louis Cathedral (no longer in service) is here and next door is the Carthage National Museum of Archeology. The museum building was closed for renovation but one can visit the grounds where the remains of ancient buildings are visible but it’s mostly rubble and piles of artifacts.

Carthage, Tunisia  – Roman Villas, Mosaics

A good walk away was a collection of Roman villas. Most of what is left is roofless  and even missing most of the walls. The highlight here are the mosaics. Just above the site is a very large more modern mosque.

Monastir, Tunisia – Medina, Bourguiba Mosque

When we arrived in Sousse, we checked into our hotel got lunch and went right off to see the close by city of Monastir for the afternoon. The metro station was just 15 minutes’ walk along the harbor and the train was fine although running only every 30 to 40 minutes for the 40 minute ride.  Monastir has round 93,000 inhabitants so smaller than Sousse yet still sizable. Much of the city walls around the Medina are preserved but inside there are not the narrow streets like in Tunis or Sousse. Most of the architecture is not modern but also not ancient. Included are some graffite murals. Not uncommon in the cities we visited but usually quality over quantitiy large artworks rather than tags or people names everywhere. The main attraction going through the Median was to come out on the northeastern side where one sees the large Bourguiba Mosque.

Monastir, Tunisia Place des Arts Habib Bourguiba, Mausoleums of Habib Bourguiba, Iman Mazari, “Martrys”

From the front of the Bourguiba Mosque is a square called Place des Arts Habib Bourguiba. North of the square is a larger open area one sees the 2 similar Monuments of the Martyrs consisting of columns but no walls. Close by is the larger building Mausoleum of Iman Mazari which non-believers can only see from the outside and is flanked by a large cemetery. To the NW is the again larger Mausoleum Habib Bourgauiba looking more like a mosque with its dome top and 2 high minarets.

Monastir, Tunisia – Ribat

As one sees in the background of many of the mausoleums photos, just to the east is the Ribat or fort. It is the oldest such fort in Tunisia built by the Arabs and largest, most complex one we saw. The top of the tower gave great views over the harbor, cemetery, mausoleums and Grand Mosque next door to the east. The fort is so large with different levels and winding passages that it took a while to even find the entrance to the tower. The many narrow steps are only lit by the occasional small window so not for one afraid of tight dark places. I made my way up without but then used the flashlight on my cell phone to assist getting back down.

Monastir, Grand Mosque

Just to the east of the Ribat is the Grand aka Great Mosque of Monastir. The term great or grand seems to refer to its long history and significance rather than size or intricacy of style from the outside. This seemed typical of Tunisia mosques compared to ones I’ve seen in other countries; simple from the outside and usually just a single minaret.

Sousse, Tunisia

Sousse is on the coast about 150 KM south of Tunis. The train ride took about 7 hours. Pictured is a large mosque in front of the train station. It was about a 10 minute walk south to the Place de Martyrs square where the Medina begins. One of the points of interest here is the pictured Sidi Yahia mausoleum. Our hotel “Paris” in a historical building was just 100 meters along the inside of the ramparts that belong to the Medina fortifications. Early Islamic peoples built the fortifications including the Kasbah and Ribat over earlier remains from the Byzantine empire. The well preserved construction gained UNESCO Heritage status. The Kasbah is a fortified city within a fortified city that now contains a museum but was sadly closed the day we went to see it.

Sousse, Tunisia – Grand mosque, Ribat fort

The main highlights of the Sousse Medina are the Grand Mosque and Ribat fort next to each other on the north side of the Medina. The grand mosque is large but not very decretive from the outside and one is not allowed inside as a non-Muslim. One can look in the door of the mosque to see the courtyard or one gets a similar view from the top of the Ribat.

Sousse, Tunisia – Medina

The rest of the Sousse photos are a collection of mosques, shops, cafes like the iconic Gharbi Khemis cafe with it’s ceramic murals, museums like the El Kobba Museum and Dar Essid Museum, narrow backstreets and the harbor that flanks the old city.

Kairouan, Tunisia – Zaouia Sidi Sahabi

Most of one of our days in Sousse was spent on a day trip to Kairouan  a bit over an hour’s drive to the west. Kairouan is a UNESCO heritage site and known as the city of 300 mosques. The Great Mosque of Kairouan is conspired one of the most holy Muslim sites in Northern Africa.  This was our first experience with the Louage system of vans. We took a taxi to the station where one finds many ticket windows with their destinations written in both Arabic and French. With the tickets one is lead to the appropriate vans and when full, usually 8 passengers, they take off for their destination. There were food stalls by the Loauge station upon arrival. It was a 10 minute walk to the Zaouia Sidi Sahabi. A Zaouia is a religious complex, this one containing a Mosque, Madrasa (Koran school) and a tomb of a holy Imam. One pays to enter and see the first courtyard, through some decorative halls to another courtyard. Attached are the prayer halls, school and tomb, which are reserved for Muslims only. Across from the Zaouia Sidi Sahabi was a large cemetery on one side and on the other a religious looking complex that was actually a kids’ amusement park.

Kairouan, Tunisia – Okba Ibn Nafaa -Great Mosque

From the Zaouia Sidi Sahabi site and after having lunch at the restaurant at Kidsland we took a taxi to the Okba Ibn Nafaa AKA the Great Mosque of Kairouan. There is a modest graveyard in front and a couple of canons. The Mosque complex itself is extensive and looking more like a defensive fortification than a clearly a religious one. Just one of the doors was opened so that one could peek inside the courtyard but unfortunately non-believers are not supposed to go inside. The Mosque is flanked by a number of carpet shops.

Kairouan, Tunisia – Medina: 3 door mosque, Ave. Habib Bourguiba, Bab el Jardine Gate

Other than the Grand Mosque and Zaouia Sidi Sahibi we didn’t see many specific large sites. Rather we strolled through the old town Medina seeing souks and many small mosques, the first shown here referred to by the guidebooks as the 3 door mosque for obvious reasons. It should also have significance as the oldest mosque with a sculpted façade. But just the winding streets with white houses with often blue doors and windows were charming. We zig-zagged SW from the Grand mosque usually staying within a few block of that part of the Median fortifications, down the Avenue Habib Bourguiba, a major pedestrian shopping zone until around the Bab el Jadine Gate. So we did not even get to most of the northern of far western parts of the Kairouan Medina before be returned to the Louage station to return to Sousse.

Djerba Island, Tunisia  Houmt Souk

Our last day in Sousse after our day trip to Kairouan the day before was spent seeing more of the Medina. We took a taxi in the morning to the long distance bus station which was also SW of the center like the Louage station but another place. The hotel workers have told us that there was a direct bus at 10 but one needs to be there at 9 when the ticket sales would begin. It was reliable information since there are only a few buses the whole day and not all direct. There is an internet site but very confusing and it didn’t even show this bus. To be on the safe side we went extra early and ate breakfast in the station which turned out to be orderly and not overly crowded. Bus was ok, n toilet but we did make a longer stop at a rest area with restaurant and toilets in the late afternoon.

To get to Djerba the bus went on a ferry that took almost an hour despite looking to be just a few kilometers across. The water was flat and calm but the ferry took its time. There was a police control shortly before getting to the fairy where the police intensely checked everyone’s ID. Then the same procedure at the ferry and again upon arrival on the Island. Although it went onto a final destination towards the east coast close to where most of the large resorts are, we were able to disembark centrally in the main city of Houmt Souk. Took another taxi to get to our rental apartment a bit north from there not far from the harbor. Had a bit of stress when 2 local guys acting strange tried to take our taxi and I had to shout them off. The driver had GPS coordinates but still had to call to figure out to find the place as it was in a maze of streets and compounds with no street name signs.

The apartment was a single story place attached to the larger compound of the family that owned it. It was tastefully decorated with furniture NOT from Ikea like virtually all of the other such places we rented in Europe in recent years. We not only had a bedroom, living room with TV that actually worked but we kind of gave up after scrolling through a few hundred stations all in Arabic without finding something like CNN, BBC or even Al Jazeera  in English. We had a bathroom with a good shower a large completely outfitted kitchen and an enclosed terrace with patio furniture and a stand to hang up laundry. There was a funny small washing machine but we ended up just washing a few things by hand. There turned out to be a few shops to buy food within a 5 minute walk and were even some restaurants about 10 minutes away by the marina. There would have been a shorter way towards the center but after not finding it so easy we stuck to going by the marina as a way to avoid getting lost in the neighborhood.

The marina area itself looked like it would be an interesting place in the high season but at this time of year was almost empty and at least half of the accommodations, shops and restaurants appeared to be closed.

Houmt Souk – Ribat and amphitheater

Next to the Houmt Souk marina was an interesting large amphitheater; open air but with a tent like roof. Next to it is the Ribat or fort. It rivaled the size and complexity of the forts in Kairouan or Sousse yet we were the only visitors there for nearly an hours’ time.

Djerba Island Tunisia, Houmt Souk Medina

South of the Marina and Ribat is the main Median or old town of Houmt Souk. One sees numerous mosques, one of the most attractive near the main plaza and pedestrian zone is the Mosque of the Turks. But nearby is also the St. Joseph Catholic church. Near the Marina is an old Greek Orthodox church tht is supposed to be significant but didn’t look like much from the outside. It is surrounded by high walls and only open one day a week for a few hours  so we didn’t get to see the interior of either church. Through the medina are many Souks and souvenir shops and some very old buildings now used as hotels, a youth hostel and the Fendouk Ben Ghorbel. Also known as a Caravanserai, it was a hostel for travel merchants and commercial travelers. This one is the oldest remaining one and well preserved and renovated; the courtyard being presently used as a place to repair shoes. We also found an iconic local eatery serving Tunisian staples including “Brik” which is flat dough looking like a small tortilla. It is then smeared with mashed potato, a chili paste called harissa added to almost everything in Tunisia, some herbs and a raw egg. Then folded over the edges pinched shut it is tossed into hot oil and cooked to a crispy light brown while the yoke remains runny.

Djerba Island Tunisia; Zone Touristic, Sidi Mahrez Beach

On the east side of Djerba Island starting from the north is a nature reserve. Going south is the 6 kilometer long Sidi Mahrez Beach flanked by big tourist resorts mostly owned by international companies. Known as the “Zone Touristic”, we took a taxi to check it out. The sand was fine and some seaweed but little garbage. Most of the resorts were closed and while one can stroll all down the beach the access to get to it is very limited. We had hoped to get a closer look at the resorts facilities but it was guests only, even obviously being foreign tourists could not get us inside. I think it was beyond trying to be exclusive but for security reasons as well. Past terrorists attacks means that symbols of foreign institutions are a likely target. One can’t argue with a security job whose job is to deny access except to registered guests: not within their decision making realm. We only saw 2 open resorts and a handful of guest on their lounge chairs. There were only a couple locals walking their horses, which are used for horse riding and carriages for tourists. The weather was about 25 degrees Celsius but very windy. The waters were calm but we saw zero swimmers. There are actually multiple sites and other small cities worth visiting on the Island but we didn’t have the time and one needs a car or to hire a taxi for the day to really make a tour.