On to Carthage!!

 

Up this morning about 7 after an incredibly great night’s sleep!  Wow, did I need that, and it felt SO good!  Down for breakfast about 7:45 – hmmm… breakfast was interesting, to say the least.  It was a buffet, and a combination of some European dishes – semi-scrambled eggs, some sunny side up, some potato slices and several dishes of grilled vegetables.  Would have been fine, actually, if the eggs and potatoes had been warmer … pretty cool, which didn’t make them very appetizing in my view!  There were also some Tunisian things that I didn’t recognize, as well as cold cuts, cheeses and fresh veggies.  R made his breakfast of those – good tomatoes and cucumbers along with cheeses and bread.  They also had several good varieties of pound cake, which were good, so all in all we both got enough to eat.  

 

Went from the breakfast room back across the street to get more $$.  Tunisia, it turns out, has a “closed” currency – that means that one is not allowed to take any Tunisian dinars out or, or bring any Tunisian dinars in.  So, as one of our hotels next week does not accept credit cards (all the others do) we want to make sure we have enough ahead of time to be able to pay in cash.  Back up to the room to collect our things – guidebook, GPS and my hat and down to our car to head out to Carthage.

 

As I indicated yesterday, driving in Carthage is an adventure, and as we are in the city center now, traffic can get a little crazy!  Also, turns out that Emmy (our GPS) doesn’t exactly have the precise locations for the places we want to get to.  It doesn’t help that Carthage as one “site” really doesn’t exist.  Rather, Carthage as a “place” spreads up and down the coastline.

 

Carthage was founded in the 9^th Century BC by Phoenician settlers from the city of Tyre in the Near East.  It is located about 14 km northeast of where downtown Tunis lies today.  Because the Romans tended to cover and rebuild wherever they settled, after capturing Carthage at the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BC, most of what was Punic Carthage was destroyed.  There are, however, small bits remaining, and those were what we were most interested in seeing. 

 

Our first site were the Punic ports, two contiguous basins of the Mediterranean, the eastern and western, one rectangular and one round.  This provided anchorage for travelers and ships from all over the world to have access and communication as well as convenient access from and to the sea with a 21 m wide entrance.  Along the ports, in the olden days, were various hangars which could accommodate 220 warships as well as merchant ships in need of repair.  The ports were, of course, highly fortified (knock! Knock!  Our CLEAN laundry has just been delivered – LOVELY to have all clean clothes again!!!) To continue … 

 

Following the freeway...

My head still spinning, at the punic port

Oh!  I almost forgot my own personal highlight – or rather LOWlight of the day.  When we were picking up the car, the nice gentleman told me specifically to watch out when opening the trunk.  Turns out, the trunk lifts up, and then automatically goes back down to half height … he warned me not to hit my head.  Well, this morning, at the Punic Ports, I did just that.  Talk about ringing my bell!  I saw Elvis, as I think the saying goes…Sheesh, did that hurt, and I have to admit that yes, the air was momentarily BLUE with some very, very bad language.  I’d say that I had the sense knocked out of me if I’d had any sense in the first place … and now I have, as a great souvenir, a really large RED patch “right in the middle of my forehead.”  Like a bull’s eye, actually.  It’s still quite sore, but I’m managing.  UGH!  Between that and my slip the other day, this is definitely getting to be a dangerous trip for me!  

 

So … on to definitely more pleasant things!  From the ports, we went in search of the Tophet – the ancient sacred area dedicated to the Phoenician deities Tanit and Baal.  This Tophet is actually a combination of sanctuary and necropolis, and contains a large number of children’s tombs, as well as the remains of many small animals.  While many of the stele have been moved to museums primarily in Paris and Tunis, there were some remaining that had Punic symbols recognizable on them.  All of the stele were small, I assume befitting babies and children, and the entire area was covered with them.  The area, I am happy to report, is still under excavation, as there was a crew working today in a large area that, while it isn’t open to the public to walk in, is very visible to look at.  

Grave stele at the Tophet

Love the symbols

 

From the Tophet we headed to the Magon Quarter, which contains a fine example of Punic architecture from the 5^th C. BC.  This area, excavated by the German Archaeological Institute was turned into a garden and is in a lovely setting right along the sea front.  Truly, if I had to pick a location to build a city – either inland Rome or sea front Carthage, I think the Phoenicians won on this one!  It also helps that it is a stunningly beautiful day, about 75 degrees or so – R is, of course, wearing shorts, and with the blue sky, fluffy white clouds and a gentle breeze and the sea rolling in, these are amazing sights to see!  

 

A beautiful day along the Med!

And a beautiful Egret!

Punic house foundations

More punic houses

From the Magon, we headed next to the Theatre; totally Roman (of course) built in the early 2^nd C. AD.  Not a lot left of the original, thanks to the French authorities’ use of concrete during their “restoration” process, but the setting is magical, and it is at this site that Winston Churchill addressed the Allied troops here on June 1, 1943 after the successful battle of North Africa pushed the Axis troops out of Tunisia in WWII.

Definitely modern but attractive!

Lots of cement on the original stones!

 

Our last – and really most complete site of the day – were the Baths of Antoninus, not very far away.  (Actually, all of these places were within a mile or two of each other, so not too much individual traveling about, just enough to have to drive – but fortunately, where there are tour buses, there is parking!)  The Baths at the time were the largest bath complex outside of Rome, after Carthage became the Royal city of Africa Proconsularis (as well as Rome’s “bread basket.)  Developed over a 20-year period beginning in AD 145 under Emperor Antoninus Pius, they are, quite literally, enormous!

 

The best part of the site (in my view!) is an ancient Punic necropolis that has been excavated, showing shaft tombs, among others for burying the ancient Phoenicians.

We also traversed the Avenue Decumanus which ran through Carthage to the sea.

 

Punic necropolis excavated within the baths

Including shaft tombs

Main street through town!

The bath layout is very symmetrical with gymnasia and outdoor exercise areas on both sides built around the axis of the main swimming pool.  The interesting thing is that, while there were several tour groups in the area, when we were physically “in” the baths, we didn’t see or hear anyone at all until we were back outside and sitting looking down by the sea front!  It was amazing, having this – and the other – places to ourselves!  The only places where there were people were in the Tophet!

 

Tower of the baths overlooking the sea

Wandering through the bath complex

At this point, we had covered all the Carthage sites that we wanted to see -- there are a few others that were strictly Roman, so decided to head back to the hotel.  Took about half an hour or so to work our way in – as I say, traffic gets really crazy the closer we got to the hotel, and R has me driving down some streets that quite literally I didn’t think the car would fit through!  However, we managed somehow and arrived safely back at Hotel Belvedere Fourati for a nice afternoon nap!

 

Heading out in a few minutes for dinner!  So, more later!

Much love,

m

xxx

 

Back from a really excellent meal!  At least mine was – R’s was a bit messy!  For starters, R had their excellent red lentil soup, and I tried their shrimp “brick!”  It was fabulous!  Apparently it’s a Tunisian mainstay, made from phyllo dough stuffed with an egg and then something else – then cooked crisp.  In this case, I ordered my brick with shrimp.  It was so light and tastiful – and then the egg yolk was bright and yellow and went really well with the shrimp and phyllo dough!  Hard to describe, but I really enjoyed it!

R's red lentil soup

My "brick" with shrimp!

R's sea bream...all of it...

My chicken in cheese sauce

Special dessert!

 

For mains, I ordered their chicken in cream sauce, which came out with French fries and veggies.  R ordered their sea bream, which also came with fries.  In R’s case, though, they brought out the entire fish … UGH!  Fortunately, R is an expert in de-boning fish, and he managed quite well … I wouldn’t have managed at all!  But he said he very much enjoyed it – I could never get past all the bones!!  For dessert, our waiter brought us “something special!”  Turns out, we got nice glasses of pomegranate seeds in honey water!  Wow!  That was special, although I had to have R finish my portion, as it was way too much for me!  We each enjoyed some white wine with our meal, and I asked where the wine was from.  Turns out, it’s Tunisia wine, and it is really excellent!  More complex than a Sauvignon Blanc, and nice and smooth!  Very impressive, both tonight’s white and last night’s red!  Then, back upstairs and hopefully to bed earlier tonight!

 

Lots of love,

m

xxx