Green Hills of Africa – 2-day journey through northern Tunisia

The Green Hills of Africa. The north of Tunisia is a land of coniferous forests and oak trees, lakes and reservoirs, dizzying serpentine, snowy winters and almost entirely Swiss houses with a red tiled roof.

A two-day trip to the north of Tunisia will reveal an unexpected and amazing side of this African country - deserted rocky coasts and long shoals, patchwork of hills with golden arable land and emerald gardens, freshwater lakes, cork oak plantations and a grove of fragrant pines and cypresses.

Our route begins in the first Phoenician city in Tunisia, Utica, founded almost 300 years before Carthage. You will learn about the brilliant fate of the city - its role as the most important Punic, and then the ancient Roman port, the first capital of the pro-consular province of Africa. During a walk through the archaeological park you will see well-preserved ruins of rich villas with decorated mosaics and marble inlay floors, fountains and pools, living rooms and bedrooms, as well as household services - stables and a "garage" for chariots. In the Utica Museum you will see the objects found at the excavations – not only pompous statues and busts, but also bluster boxes, perfume bottles and ivory studs.

We continue our journey along the ancient coast of Utica. Where once the waves of the Mediterranean Sea splashed and merchant ships rushed to the harbor of the capital of Africa, today only reed-covered swampbanks, a favorite habitat of herons.

Our next stop is in the coastal town of Gar el-Melah (“salt cave”), located at the foot of a 300-meter hill. Who would have thought that this modest fishing settlement was once the center of Mediterranean piracy? The legendary pirates Barbarossa and Piri Reis, Emperor Charles V and Sinan Pasha, King Juan of Austria and future author of Don Quixote Miguel Cervantes – the fates of so many are intertwined here. As a legacy from those turbulent and glorious times, the city got three powerful fortresses of the XVII century. and an arsenal, and the central square is decorated with Ottoman guns. One of the fortresses houses the Bay Museum, which tells about the history of these places and the wetlands of Tunisia of international importance.

From the seafarers of antiquity and the Middle Ages to the sailors of modern times: we continue our journey to the northern Tunisian port city of Bizerta. Founded by the Phoenicians in the VIII century BC. Hippo Diarritus is the predecessor of modern Bizerte, one of the most convenient harbors of the Mediterranean Sea. The Romans, the Vandals, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Spaniards, the Turks, the French all left their mark here. But there is the story of Bizerta and the unexpected side is Russian. In 1920-1921, ships of the Russian Imperial Navy entered the port of Bizerta, and life began in exile for almost 6,000 sailors and their families. We will visit the house-museum of the Russian squadron, visit the Orthodox church in the name of Alexander Nevsky and venerate the graves of sailors in the Christian cemetery.

Keeping our way to the west, along the Coral Coast, we will pass through the small town of Ceznan - one of the pottery capitals of Tunisia. Local craftsmen make primitive and charming figurines, dishes and household utensils - artless and soulful. Today, as 3,000 years ago, products are sculpted by hand from clay and burned in an earthen furnace, and then painted with natural paints in intricate Berber patterns. Oaks, fish, stars, crescents - each drawing has its own explanation and purpose.

Plains are replaced by gentle hills, thickets of pinium - eucalyptus groves, the aromas of wild grasses - fresh sea breeze ... and finally the road leads us to Tabarca - the capital of the northern coast of Tunisia. Thabraca - "shady place" - so called the city its founders, the Phoenicians, and, as if to confirm their words, here is always noticeably cooler than on the resort coast. We will be staying in a hotel, a colonial building of the 1890s. Hospitable hosts will feed us with a dinner, after which you can go out to the city: walk around the yacht port, look at the shops of coral sellers and drink aromatic tea in a traditional cafe.

Early ascent, breakfast - and we go to see the sights of the city. The symbol of Tabarka is its picturesque fortress of 1540, located on a small island. Incredibly, for centuries it belonged to the only Genoese family. Directly from the sea rises the famous Needles - 25-meter free-standing rocks, like the silent guardians of the city. Nearby is a modern amphitheater, which annually hosts a popular jazz festival.

After leaving the hospitable Tabarka, we go to the region of oak-covered hills, freshwater lakes and reservoirs - Krumiri and its capital Ain Draham. The temperature drops sharply and, perhaps, we are enveloped in fog, in which bright spots appear red tiled roofs of houses. Our path runs along a dizzying mountain serpentine under the crowns of cork oaks, during which we will repeatedly meet road signs “Beware, boars!” You will learn all the subtleties of extraction and processing of cork bark and you will be able to see its entire warehouses in the open air.

The mountains are gradually giving way to the plateau - and here before us already spread the endless plains of the west of Tunisia - the legendary breadbasket of the Roman Empire. The look is bathed in dozens of shades of green, yellow, ochre and brown! Surrounded by wheat fields rise the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Bulla Regia. "Royal" and "brilliant" - so often called Bulla ancient authors. The pearl of the archaeological park is a unique villa with an underground floor. These are not utility rooms at all, but full-fledged living rooms in which citizens of Bulla Regia escaped from the summer heat. Slender columns, light windows, ventilation systems - and the incredible beauty and safety of the mosaic - a real miracle!

Our journey continues among cereal fields and vegetable plantations and runs through the small settlement of Tibar. It gave the name to the popular liqueur Tibarin. Another picturesque serpentine - and we climb the once impregnable rocky plateau, like a crown crowned by the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Dugg. The ancient capital of the Numidian kingdom and then a prosperous Roman colony, Dugga is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with over 25 monuments. The 3,500-seat theater, the capitol and the forum, therms and cisterns, triumphal arches and temples, houses, streets... – 2000-year history comes to life before us!

From Duggy, we set off on our way back, taking with us wonderful memories of the picturesque north of Tunisia.