"The West End"

I did not realize until my recent travel to Tunisia that my experience of the Mediterranean has been disproportionately of the eastern end of this amazing region. I’ve walked the Mediterranean coast in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt. I’ve not experienced much of the 'west end' of this great sea or its diverse and ancient cultures. 

An early Christian grave - 5th century - Bardo Museum

I’m enough of a student of history to know something of the role of North Africa — today’s Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria — in the Greco-Roman world. This was the land of Hannibal, of Saints Cyprian and Augustine, of Tertullian and other Latin fathers of the early church. It is easy to forget in the modern world that Carthage, just north of modern Tunis, was one of the main centers of the early Christian church, as this church largely, if not completely, disappeared by the Middle Ages. 

Early Punic sculptures, showing Egyptian influence - circa 1000 BC

Yet there is abundant history before this, the history of the city of Carthage before its defeat and destruction by Rome 146 BC. Carthage was a Punic city, tracing its roots to Phoenician traders from what is now Lebanon at the dawn of the first millennium BC. Carthage presided over a rich and wide-spread Punic civilization that stretched across North Africa and into the Iberian Peninsula. A few remnants of this society can be seen in the archaeological sites of ancient Carthage, but most — including nearly all the written archives of this civilization — were lost in the final battle with Rome. The millions of Berbers/Kabyle who still live in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia (among other places) continue to trace their links to these ancient civilizations. 

Pre-Roman deities - circa 200 BC - Bardo Museum

Carthage arose again as a Roman city, the gateway to the rich and fertile breadbasket of North Africa that provided great wealth to republican and imperial Rome. Christianity came early to the region. St. Cyprian presided as bishop of Carthage in the third century and was martyred there. Augustine wrote and stayed there (although one dare not raise the question today of whether Augustine was Tunisian or Algerian!). The council that affirmed the canon of the Bible was likely held there. 

Classical mosaics - 3rd century - Bardo Museum

Today, Carthage is a ruin. Unlike Athens or Rome or Jerusalem, which have had layers of civilization sprawling across them since ancient times, Carthage was largely abandoned until recent decades. Today, the Tunisian presidential palace stands on the hill overlooking the Mediterranean. The homes of the rich have clustered around it. At virtually every corner, however, is an archaeological site of Punic, Classical, or Christian Carthage. The view over the brilliant blue sea and the mountains of Cap Bon peninsula is stunning. 

Ruins of the Basilica Damous el Karita - probable site of early Christian councils

I’m reminded again how deep the well of history goes in this region. This trip certainly reminded me that there’s a ‘western’ end of this story of which I’ve known very little.  

The ruins of the Cathedral of St. Cyprian - Carthage with the Mediterranean and Cap Bon in the background

Tourism and Terrorism

This is my first visit to the North-African nation of Tunisia, a former French colony that gained its independence in 1956. The capital, Tunis, remains deeply influenced by France. While Tunisian Arabic is the language of the street, nearly everyone I’ve encountered speaks very good French as well. The presence of numerous street cafés, pâtisseries, and even the architecture of Tunis evoke an admixture of France, the Arab world, and Africa. 

A street in the Medina of Tunis - these types of doors are typical

Tunisia has, for the most part, been a very stable nation in a very unstable region. Despite this stability, tourism, which constitutes a significant part of the economy, has fallen significantly since the terrorist attacks on the Bardo Museum and the beachfront at Sousse in 2015, attacks in which more than 50 people died. Egypt, where I spent time earlier in this trip, is even more tourism dependent, and has seen an even greater fall in tourism since the Arab Spring. 

Travel always makes the theoretical very real. Distant headlines take on human form. This happened for me yesterday when I hailed a cab in central Tunis to travel to the Bardo Museum. It was cold and rainy, and I was not prepared for that kind of weather, so I made what I knew would not be the best financial choice and chose a cab parked along the main boulevard of the city. The driver, Mohammad, was a man around 60, who told me he had been driving a cab in Tunis for 38 years. As we drove for 20 minutes to the Bardo Museum on the outskirts of town, he told me of his love for his city, of many beautiful spots to see in and near Tunis. He also told me of his work on “18 mars,” using this date in March of last year in the way that Americans would use 9/11. He had met an Italian family at the cruise ship port near Tunis and was taking them on a day-long tour of the ancient city of Carthage, the Tunis Medina, and the Bardo (he could do the same for me for €60, he worked in!). As he drew near the the Bardo that day, there was an explosion and something was clearly very wrong. Several hours later, he returned his passengers safely to their cruise ship. They were to learn that several of their fellow passengers were among the 18 killed that day. He retained and showed me the work-order dated 18 March 2015. What struck me about the conversation was the way in which he articulated the sort of unbelief and disruption that this day raised, again not unlike Americans’ feelings about 9/11. These sorts of things were not and are not common in generally peaceful Tunis. It put an entire nation into a state of disequilibrium. 

A few of the amazing Bardo mosaics

The Bardo is magnificent, and is arguably now one of the most protected places on earth. Yet the truly sublime museum of Carthaginian, Phoenician, and Greco-Roman art was nearly empty for most of my visit. Galleries stood dark, the café was closed, and the bookstore seemed to have a few too many books in German. Many of the stewards showed great pride in the truly amazing collection, as well as in the expanded museum structure that involved majestic modern architecture. By the time I left nearly three hours later, several buses of Russian tourists had arrived, yet I walked away a bit sad. 

In the wandering streets of the Medina, a mishmash of tourist kitsch, genuine hand-made arts, and day-to-day Tunisian goods like towels and auto parts, several sellers reached out to me not in French or English, but in really bad Russian, assuming that I was a Russian tourist. This was a good guess, as most of the few foreigners around were indeed Russian-speakers. 

Street Cafés -- Avenue Bourguiba

We live in an age of fear. The events of last year in Tunisia, as well as some of the events that have struck Egypt over the past few years, are indeed terrible. Yet it seems to me that a foreigner is much more likely to be harmed or killed in Cairo or Tunis or Alexandria by failing to properly navigate the dizzying act of crossing a street of traffic. Arabs are amazing hosts, quick to engage their guests in witty conversation and to offer advice. It is sad that a climate of fear keeps so many away from these beautiful places and abundant hospitality. Of course there are risks of all sorts and types, as there are anywhere (New York, Paris, Brussels, Kunming, Bamako, Mumbai, etc., etc.). Foreigners’ hesitation to behold the treasures of these Mediterranean lands, however, is contributing to the economic malaise that only feeds extremism. It’s easy for me to say that. I’ve traveled a lot. I’ve internalized a lot of the unwritten rules of travel. I thrive on intercultural and even linguistic challenge. I probably wouldn’t recommend solo travel to Egypt or Tunisia to the inexperienced, just as I wouldn’t recommend such travel to China or Brazil. I’d encourage potential travelers to seek out help, guides, aids, which are abundantly available. Most of all, I’d encourage travelers to ask good questions and listen. Such experiences are life-transforming. 

And perhaps most of all in these uncertain times, such exchanges fight and overcome fear. 

My taxi ride with Mohammad was a brief twenty-minute encounter. It involved some significant haggling over the fact that I really didn’t want him to take me to see various beautiful villages near Tunis for a “special price.” As I expected, he did overcharge me, asking for about US$5, rather than what should have been US$2. I paid for the convenience of not waiting in the rain to hail a “moving cab,” and for his ‘expertise.’ It was a $5 well spent. 

A narrow street in the Tunis Medina with Zeytouna Mosque minaret