Adventures in Africa: Carthage, Tunisia

This morning Diana and I enjoyed breakfast in our dar's dining room, then headed out of the medina to find a cab.

After our exciting cab ride on Thursday from the airport, this one proved quite calm and peaceful, as the driver clicked on the meter without hesitation.  He drove us to the Tunis Marine train station--a trip of about 4 kilometres for 3 dinar (or about $1.50 CDN).

We rode the TGM, Tunis's light rail line, out to Carthage, now a suburb of Tunis, but in ancient times it was one of the most significant cities in all of northern Africa, and the ruins are now a UNESCO world heritage site.

We got off the train at Carthage Salammbo.

Just a block or so away was a bicycle rental place called Le Lemon, where we picked up a pair of folding bicycles.

Le Lemon gave us a nice little map to show us the route to tour the ruins, which are spread out across the mostly residential suburb.  It was Diana's idea to cycle, and it was a good one, because the sites are fairly spread out and probably too far from each other to comfortably walk, but close enough that driving might feel silly.

This was the route we ended up doing, so about 7 kilometres.  What the two dimensional map does not show is that as you go inland there is a fairly significant hill you have to climb!

Our first stop was the old Phoenician port (the semi-circle of water in the map above).

While the port would have probably been the most significant economic and military spot in ancient Carthage, nowadays the more interesting site in terms of the ruins is the Antonine Baths, just a few blocks down a shady street away.

The baths were the largest Roman baths built in Africa, and third largest in the entire Roman Empire.  

Up the hill and inland from the baths, are the ruins of Byrsa, the citadel which would have had a commanding view of the harbour and surrounding area.

The site includes ruins from the pre-Roman Punic city, as well as the later Roman forum.

The Carthage museum is next to the Byrsa hill ruins, but it was closed today.

Interestingly, besides the Byrsa ruins and the Carthage museum, the hill also hosts the Saint Louis Cathedral.

Apparently the building is no longer a church and is just used for events.  We snuck inside and they seemed to be preparing for some sort of party or concert.