Carthage
"delenda est Carthago", Carthage must be utterly destroyed, a phrase with which Cato the elder urged the Roman people to the destruction of Carthage, which he looked on as a dangerous rival to Rome.
Now the ruins of both the Carthaginian and Roman empires lay open to the sun and wildflowers. Declared a national monument the towns of Carthage and nearby Salammbo abound in vestiges of the Punic and Roman empires, baths, dwellings, temples, shrines and the fabulous naval port of the Carthaginians.
How strange that this breathtakingly beautiful site should have been the theatre of such violence, as a Roman historian wrote of the fall of Carthage "the city was then razed and its soil made sterile with salt.
On the top of the Byrsa hill, where in the 8th century BC, Carthage was founded by the legendary Princess Elyssa-Dido, is a storehouse of history with the national museum of Carthage that holds an impressive collection of Punic statues, steles and urns and the newly restored cathedral of Saint Louis, which crowns the hill and is now a cultural center.
The Medina of Tunis
Located at the heart of the capital, the ancient medina of Tunis is a world heritage site and one of the best preserved medieval cities in the Islamic world. It features the souks, traditional markets arranged according to the goods sold: wool merchants, perfume sellers, jewelers…
Virtually unchanged since the XIIIth century, the souks are overwhelming with their heady smell, chatoyant colors, and oriental charm. The Medina of "Tunis", considered as one of the most beautiful Medinas of the Mediterranean houses the casbah, palaces and mosques, medersas (schools) and the famous Zitouna mosque.
The national museum of Bardo
Housed in a former ottoman bey palace, the museum of Bardo is one of the best archeological museums in the world. With more than a thousand exhibits, it provides a very complete outline of the art of mosaic that emerged in the IVth century B.C in the Punic world and made really great strides during the 2nd century AD. Mosaics that should not be missed include the portrait of vergil, the triumph of Bacchus, the triumph of Neptune.
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