Travels with Olga

Friday, January 31, 2025

Tunisia -- Hammamet

Hammamet is an historical city on the Mediterranean Sea that goes back to the 2nd century colonizing Romans and the 8th century Arabs when they swept across North Africa. The Arabs controlled this area until the Turks arrived in 1534 and stayed for the next 300 years except when the Spanish ruled for 60 years starting in 1601.

During World War II, Hammamet became one of the headquarters of the Nazi general Erwin Rommel. Former Italian prime minister Bettino Craxi moved to Hammamet in 1994 as a fugitive. He died and was buried here in 2000.

The reasons why Hammamet has long been a popular place are the thermal baths, the fresh seaside air, and the fertile land. I can attest to the fresh air. It seems to cleanse the soul especially in the moderate January sunshine! The beautiful beaches on the Mediterranean Sea are accessible to all although there are many private beaches as well.

Today, Hammamet is a popular tourist town with hotels, discos, lounges, alcohol, night life, and a theatre (built in the 1950s) all that don't seem to belong in an Arab country. In short, Hammamet is known as a "party town" to the point that other Tunisians don't believe people really live here. In fact, over 100,000 people reside here, but the summertime tourists can double, triple, and even quadruple the population. Tunisia is one of the most progressive Arab countries in the world, and Hammamet attracts tourists--especially jet setters.

Migrants from the southern region of the country have come here to find employment. So suburbs are being built out from the city center even though the central city is a vibrant and bustling place. Many Italians also retire here and live a good and inexpensive life.

Boats are mostly given female names. (See boat names on the right.) In general, female children are highly prized in Tunisia.

Life in the medina

During the 13th century, walls like this one were built around the town and in the 15th century came the medina. As with other medinas, they are comprised of homes, souks (market shops), a Mosque, and a kasbah (military fort). Each medina in each city is different. Hammamet's medina streets are narrow, more like alleyways. The buildings are whitewashed and trimmed with a brilliant sky blue color.

Shopkeepers keep an eye on passersby as potential customers. Then they almost trap you and aggressively start the bargaining process by pushing their wares on you if you show even the slightest interest. It's really too intimidating for me. I don't like to bargain, and I tend to limit my buying. But this was the way it was in all the cities we visited in Tunisia. I had a brief encounter here with a seller that wasn't at all pleasant.

Hammamet is known for its jasmine and there's plenty of it for sale in the souks as flowers and as lotion. A very aggressive shopkeeper tried to sell me a tube of it along with the two small ceramic bowls that I wanted for 50 dinars (equivalent to $16.66). He gave me a sample of the lotion to further lure me in my purchases, but I turned him down. All I wanted were the two bowls, so I took my money back from his hand. Then he agreed to sell the bowls for 20 dinars ($6.66). He even looked in my wallet to tell me that I had 20 dinars sitting there!

The trick to bargaining is for both parties, the seller and the buyer, to feel good at the end of the transaction. In this little encounter, neither of us was happy, and the seller said so under his breath, which I ignored. I had all I could do to get away.

In another of my encounters I wanted one copper plate (the size of a saucer). The seller offered to put my name on it in Arabic. I agreed. I asked him the price and he didn't bargain; he said it was 5 dinars ($1.66). I gave him a 20-dinar bill, and he gave me back 10 dinars. I asked for the other 5 dinars, and he wouldn't give it to me. Instead, he held out a 10 dinar note saying that is what I gave him. So the lesson I learned in the souks (a $1.66 lesson) is to hold my money until the seller is ready to make the transaction.

Tons of cats patrol the neighborhood for rodents when they are not lounging in the sun or begging for food from passersby. (One of the women in our group spent a lot of time feeding the cats on the streets from the scraps of our meals. She was like St. Francis of Assisi taking care of them!)

The great Mosque sits proudly in the Medina. Five times a day the people are called to prayer in a chant that has been recorded and projected from the single minaret or tower. This call to prayer makes cities and towns enchanting and exotic places.

A cool café. I looked for it after our formal tour but couldn't find it. Instead, I had coffee on the street with a group of friends.

Doors

Doors are fascinating in Tunisia. Here are my favorites in Hammamet. This one is my favorite style where it incorporates a garden. The one on the left below is the entrance to the women's hammam, a bathhouse where they scrap you down and heat you up for a skin treatment that is relaxing and lasts about a month. The one on the right is a residence. The left knocker at the top of the door is for women and the one on the right is for men. They emit different sounds so those inside have an idea of who to expect. Sometimes there is a knocker on the lower right of the door that children use to announce their presence.

Tourism is king in Hammamet to the point that in the high season the streets are blocked with traffic jams of cars.

This sculpture of the three mermaids welcomes visitors to this beautiful seaside town. I would come back here for a January vacation it is so appealing and generally inexpensive.

Street scenes

Hammamet is a vibrant and busy city. It has lots of shops with lots of colors. Here are some street scenes taken from our tour bus as we passed them.

Taxis seem to be a favored mode of transportation in Tunisian towns. Here they are awaiting their next gig. They are yellow with a lit marker on the passenger's side. If it is green, the taxi is busy. If it is red, it's available for hire.

I would return to Hammamet for a January vacation where the sun is out but the winter heat is not as intense as the summer heat. And, the tourists are minimal. Our guide said that there are many Airbnbs operating all year round. And, the town is about an hour away from Carthage and the Tunis-Carthage International Airport. A fast and comfortable coach service runs from the Tunis city bus station to Hammamet, so you must take a taxi from the airport to Tunis (about 30 dinars or $10) and catch the bus to Hammamet. Taxis are always available in town.

Resources

Hammamet -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammamet%2C_Tunisia

Turks in Tunisia -- https://enwikipedia.org/wiki/Turks_in_Tunisia

Thursday, January 30, 2025

Tunisia -- El Djem

This Roman amphitheater was built in 238 C.E. in the ancient city of Thysdrus, which is now called El Djem.

It is the third largest in the world, best preserved, and most complete. It held 35,000 people whereas the Coliseum in Rome had a capacity of 50,000-80,000 people. The amphitheater is built of stone blocks over a flat ground.

Amphitheaters were part of the Roman dictators' quest to keep the mobs quiet and happy by offering them "bread and circuses". It was a distraction so that they wouldn't think about politics and allow the government to do what it wanted to do. As I see these Roman ruins I think about my own country's flirtation with dictatorship. It's easy to see it will not end well, but it's hard to see the end of its nonsense. In my opinion, our civilization is not as grand as the Roman civilization, nor as long lasting.

Amphitheaters also served as an advertisement to others that the Roman Empire was a supreme and advanced civilization. They helped to make the cities where they were built famous.

In the Middle Ages, this North African amphitheater served as a fortress where the population sought shelter during the attacks of the Vandals in 430 and the Arabs in 647. Then in 1695, during the Revolutions of Tunis, Mohamed Bey El Mouradi opened one of the walls to stop the resistance of his brother's (Ali Bey al-Muradi) followers who gathered inside the amphitheater for safety.

At the end of the 18th and into the 19th century, it is believed that the amphitheater became a saltpetre factory. Around 1850, the breach in the wall that Mohamed Bey El Mouradi had made was enlarged by Ahmad I ibn Mustafa to approximately 98 feet. It was used for shops, dwellings, and grain storage.

What made the construction of these two- and three-story buildings possible was stone, concrete, and sand.

The cavea (Latin for "enclosure") were the seating sections of Greek and Roman theaters and amphitheaters designated by social class. In Roman theaters, the cavea is traditionally organized in three horizontal sections:

the ima cavea (in blue) is the lowest part that surrounds the arena. It was usually reserved for the upper echelons of society.
the media cavea (in red) above the ima cavea was open to the general public but mostly reserved for men.
the summa cavea (in yellow) was the highest section for women and children.

Near the amphitheater I was able to buy some miniature mosaics. Later our group went to a modern mosaic shop and learned how mosaics are made. The small staff of men and women produced some beautiful pieces. Some were stand-alone portraits and scenes that could be placed on a wall. Some were table tops. And some were the miniatures that I had just purchased. Here are a couple samples.

I really love mosaics, and this area has been producing them for millennia. They are durable and their colors are vibrant especially when water is poured on them. It is fascinating that they are composed of such small pieces that when put together they create a unique and beautiful artwork. By the way, the Roman mosaics were designed as floor decorations. Only in museums (and modern homes) are they placed on a wall.

El Djem

Thysdrus was a Carthaginian town and Roman colony. It had Berber roots. Under the Romans, it was the center of olive oil production and quite prosperous.

In 670 the Arabs founded Kairouan, forty miles north of Thysdrus, and made it the capital of the area. This fact, associated with the arrival of Arab nomadic tribes led to the abandonment of farming, and caused the decline of Thysdrus.

In the next centuries, Thysdrus largely disappeared as the worsening arid climate apparently damaged its olive oil production. By the 10th century, many of Thysdrus' buildings were dismantled for use in the construction of buildings in Kairouan. The 19th century French colonizers found only a small village named El Djem left where Thysdrus had been and a few hundred inhabitants living around the remains of the amphitheater eking out a living from their farms.

El Djem was historically a center for trade, and it still is today. The difference is that people buy smuggled goods that are more affordable so they can have a reasonable life with modern conveniences. It's a lifestyle that is cobbled together through some enterprising ways as people access information about where to find these goods.

For example, they buy car tires that were smuggled from Libya or Algeria. Sometimes the cheaper tires are from China. Gasoline and electronics are also popularly traded goods. Cars will carry 23-liter containers of gas and hope they are not caught because the penalty is severe. Anas told us about one instance where a car tried to hide from police by reversing the headlights and taillights. Many cars will trek across the Sahara Desert much like the caravans did in the old days.

These practices are all a part of the culture. People learn how to do it in order to survive. All trades are done in cash so there is no trace. It is also a way of avoiding taxes. It turns out that about 50% of the economy is this informal trade.

With couples that are about to marry, the groom will plan to buy a refrigerator, microwave, washing machine and other necessities for his bride through smuggling. Word of the products to buy are through word of mouth and on FaceBook.

Museum of Mosaics

We had some extra time so we made an unscheduled stop at The Villa Africa, a Roman African house that was reconstructed on the ruins of a Roman house that existed around 170 CE. It has been restored to suggest its true size as a grand aristocratic residence. It was discovered by chance in the 1990s and named after two mosaics found inside: the "Princess Africa" and the "Province of Africa", the only known representation of the African continent. Below are some outstanding examples of mosaics and sculptures the house contains. Their themes reflect the mythological characters and stories of antiquity.

Princess Africa

The nine Muses are represented in this mosaic: Cleo--history; Uranie--astronomy; Melpomene--tragedy; Thalie--comedy; Terpischore--dancing; Calliope--epic poetry; Erato--love poetry; Polymnie--religious songs and rhetoric; Euterpe--lyric poetry and music.

(second half of 3rd century)

Dionysus leads a procession where he is riding a lion. Around him is a Bacchanta dancing and playing the tambourine. Included are two Satyrs, drunken Silenus perched on top of a camel, a panther, and Mystis his nurse. (mid-2nd century CE)

The crowning of Dionysus. Even during this solemn ceremony we find Silenus drunk being carried towards a donkey. This panel is one of eight that represents the life of the god.

(late 2nd to early 3rd century CE)

Sometimes a complex decoration was enough.

Animals were often depicted in the mosaics. Above is an animal fight that was a form of entertainment in the amphitheater. Below two lions devour a wild boar.