Travel Eye on Tunis (Tunisia)

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Overview:

Compared with most mega-cities elsewhere in the world, Tunis comes across as little more than a large country town. The city centre is compact and easy to navigate, with almost everything important to travellers within the medina and the compact ville nouvelle.

The capital city of Tunisia has been the victim and the victor of a classic 'east-meets-west' saga that has seen great empires overthrown, armies defeated, fleets captured and palaces ransacked.

With each new ruling dynasty, the city has risen again, finally appearing as it does today - part modern metropolis, part mediaeval settlement.

Despite its relatively small size, Tunisia contains some of the North Africa's most varied landscape: from vast stretches of the Sahara to green valleys and lakes with abundant birdlife. Its coastline, projecting into the Mediterranean towards Sicily, has many historical sites from its occupations by the Phoenicians and the Romans - the most famous of these being the ruins at Carthage, on the outskirts of Tunis.

The climate is Very hot from June to September; December to February much cooler in the north of the country.

Locality:

Tunis is situated on the north eastern border of Tunisia.

Entertainment/Facilities/Attractions/Things to do:

For more than a thousand years, Tunis has been the crossroads where people from the continents of Africa, Europe and the Middle East have converged, collided and flourished.

The medina , or old quarter, of Tunis was built during the seventh century AD. From the 12th to the 16th centuries, Tunis was considered to be one of the greatest and wealthiest cities of the Islamic world and its medina is testimony to its former grandeur. Today, visitors can step back in time through the maze of narrow, winding streets and barter for souvenirs with the locals; goods on sale include colourful hand-made carpets, hand-crafted jewellery, copper and brassware, pottery and exotic spices.

The city of Carthage , which is located on the outskirts of Tunisia's capital city, Tunis, was, for many years, the arch-enemy of the ancient Roman empire. Between 264 and 146 BC, the two great cities were embroiled in a series of wars that saw Hannibal's famous attack on Rome, and Rome's subsequent sacking of Carthage in 146 BC. The Romans eventually settled in the conquered city, which went on to become the administrative capital of Roman Africa.

Matmata is one of the most famous villages in Tunisia as it was the setting for the opening scenes of the film 'Star Wars'. The village's lunar-like landscape and subterranean cave dwellings attract hundreds of visitors every day.

They come to see the home of the Star Wars characters Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, which was located in the fictional town of Sidi Driss.