Typical Tunisian House, Sid Bou Said

Today was a bumper one for photography as we visited Carthage and the hill villa ge of Sidi Bou Said. I probably took as many photos as I have over the whole of the rest of the holiday. We first visited the only extant bit of Punic Carthage as the Romans when they conquered raised the city to the ground and then built the Roman city over the top of it. What remains is a Punic burial ground with lots of stelae in among a tree covered site. I might have normally been a bit bored with a load of old gravestones but the lighting in this site was magical and sort of brought the stelae to life.

We moved onto the Roman Antonine Baths which is a large site just below the Presidential Palace and we were warned not to point our cameras in that direction as there were armed soldiers who might take umbrage. The size of this site made it perfectly possible to take reasonable pictures as despite the crowds there you could easily find a quiet spot and there were also many shady areas away from the glare of the noonday sun.

The trip was rounded off with a visit to the main forum area at the top of the hill which gave splendid views of the Bay of Tunisia. The remains were few and far between and the museum had a few mosaics but none so stunning as those at Sousse.

Our lunch was had at a hotel next to the Roman cisterns that supplied the town with water. The highlight of the trip for me was the visit to the old hill town of Sidi Bou Said with a visit to an extensive typical town house. There were so many delightful nooks and crannies there I could have spent the whole day taking photographs. I have chosen an image where the shadows echo the foliage in the courtyard.