Place Jabbanet el Ghorba

We packed up and headed out of Hammamet after breakfast. Our next destination was an hour south to Sousse, one of Tunisia's largest towns, and a base for many sites we plan to visit.

We had arrived in Hammamet by bus, but we were told the best way to get to Sousse is by louage (in French, literally "a rental"). A louage is a minibus with eight seats, and when the seats are filled, the louage takes off like a bat out of hell. This is a pretty standard and cheap way of travel in Asia, Africa, and parts of South America, but unlike every other minibus/louage we've used, Tunisia's fares are set by the government. So, there's no sketchy dude trying to roll tourists for ten times the locals' fare.

The louages fill up quickly, and we reached Sousse before noon. Our AirBnB is in the medina again, and I have now realized I've made a crucial error by staying in the medinas. Unlike virtually every other medina or old town we've ever visited, there are almost no places to eat in Tunisia's medinas, and they're utterly deserted at night. It seems most Tunisian life happens outside the old city walls. But for this trip, I guess it's just us and the 500 or so stray cats.

There's quite a bit to see in Sousse, given that it's been inhabited by the Phoenicians since the 6th century BC, and the Romans since 2 AD. Most of the historic structures remaining today were built around 800 AD.

We started exploring at the Rabat, or Islamic Monastery, of Sousse. The structure of the Rabat, and the lifestyle of the Muslim knights who lived here, were the inspiration for the Knights Templar...which is a bit ironic when one notes that the Christian Crusaders admired the architecture and organization of Islam, but not so much the people or religion itself.

Anyway.

The Rabat dominates the medina, and for just 10 dinar (about €3) you can walk in, and all over it. We braved a very steep, very narrow, and very claustrophobic spiral stone staircase to reach the top of the watchtower, but the views over Sousse to the sea were amazing.

We visited the Kasbah (we did not, as one might assume, "rock it"), the former palace of Sousse. It's one of those gorgeous ancient buildings that has been repurposed into something else- in this case, an archaeological and mosaic museum and garden, and a mosaic artisan workshop. We've seen some of the most impressive Roman-era mosaics in Cyprus, but in my uneducated opinion, these were just as impressive. One particularly amazing piece was a complete, intact submersible baptismal font covered in mosaics; it resembled a massive, Roman-tiled hot tub.

We headed out to eat around 8pm, and discovered that most nearby restaurants only serve "fast food"- Tunisian kebabs and sandwiches. So after fruitlessly searching for real food, we gave up and ordered ojja (like a tomato pasta dish, minus the pasta) and a salad. We've not been able to find much of the "famous" Tunisian food we'd been looking forward to eating, like shakshouka, chickpea soup, or tagine. Even couscous isn't that popular anymore- more locals eat pasta now. One thing we have found everywhere is tea; and here, their mint tea is served with almonds or pine nuts in it. At first I thought "Why the fuck are you putting nuts in tea?" but after four days I wonder "Why doesn't everybody put nuts in their tea?" I can't explain it, I think it's something in the water.Read more