Sidi Bou Said is a coffee house suburb of Tunis, Tunisia. It's very hilly with winding roads eventually leading to the ocean.

Sidi Bou Said

Sorry about the width and the download time. I was messing around with the graphics of my digital camera. It allows me to take a series of panoramic photos and stick them together. If you're using Internet Explorer, right click with your mouse and select "Properties" to get the actual size. I took four overlapping pictures to get this one photo.

La Goulette, another one of those Tunisian cities rich in historical sites. It's a suburb of Tunis and borders Sidi Bou Said.

Like I wrote, ruins are everywhere in La Goulette. This site is just steps away from The Cathedral Of Saint Augustine And Saint Fidele.

The coast of Tunisia is a European Playground. This is Hammamet. The Tunis beaches are very crowded so I prefer a bit of travel. It's about an hour's drive from Tunis. Like Tanzania, please tell the folks back home I'm roughing it.

Hammamet

Saints Augustin & Saint Fidele Catholic Church in La Goulette. A small church that would seat 150 Tunisians or 100 Americans. There's a Mass in English and French every day of the week.

From the church bulletin...
"The first church was a small wooden structure that Fr Angelo Pianelli apostolic visitor of the Capuchin fathers bought from a Sicilian in 1836. The first stone of the present building was laid in May the 9th 1848. Monsignor Fedele Sutter, exprovincial of the Bologna Capuchins, was then the first apostolic vicar of Tunis. The work, bell-tower and bells included was completed in 1879.
"The church is dedicated to Saint Augustine ancient bishop of Carthage, and to Saint Fidelis, patron of Mgr. Fedele Sutter. It is a warm and charming meeting pint for the multiple devotions of a very heterogeneous community. Along the walls and the side altars the visitor will find a statue of the Sacred Heart, and several representations of Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes; O.L. of Trapani; O.L. of Mount Carmel; O.L. of Pino (a painting); as well as a fresco, in the ceiling, showing the Coronation of Our Lady. Several saints are also represented: the status of Saint Anthony of Padova, Saint Joeseph, Saint Jeanne d'Arc, Saint Augustine, Saint Rita and Saint Theresa; and the paintings of Saint Joeseph and of Saint Vincent of Paul. The paintings around the altar shows Saint Jeanne d'Arc, Saints Augustine and Fidelis, Saint George, and two scenes of Jesus' life: with the scribes in the temple and on the shore of Lake Galilee. The Ascension above the main altar, was added in the fifties. Above the tribune at the back of the church, a fresco represents the Last Supper."

Saints Augustin & Saint Fidele Catholic Church

Saints Augustin & Saint Fidele Catholic Church

Saints Augustin & Saint Fidele Catholic Church

Saints Augustin & Saint Fidele Catholic Church

Saints Augustin & Saint Fidele Catholic Church

The Cathedral of St. Louis (love that name) nears Sidi Bou Said and La Goulette. Built by the Romans, it has origins and ruins around 400 years. This particular facade was built in the late 1800s.

The Cathedral of St. Louis

The Cathedral of St. Louis

The Cathedral of St. Louis

The Cathedral of St. Louis

The Cathedral of St. Louis

The Cathedral of St. Louis

The Cathedral of St. Louis

The rice bowls represent the Stations of the Cross. Beyond that, I'm lost in the symbolism.

Byrsa Hill borders the Cathedral of St. Louis. The next two photos are some of the ruins behind the Cathedral.

Byrsa Hill

Byrsa Hill

Byrsa Hill

Byrsa Hill

The Roman Villas

The Roman Villas

The Roman Villas

The Roman Villas

The Roman Villas...Another panorama shot...four shots this time.

Tunisian currency is the Dinar...1 US Dollar=1.5 Dinar. Sorry about the quality but the good quality fives aren't an easy find. There is older currency still in circulation. I'm told that some places won't take it. Smaller denominations are in coins... 0.005, 0.010, 0.020, 0.050, 0.100, 0.500, and 1.000 Dinar.

Tunisian currency

Tunisian currency

Tunisian currency

Les Maisons de Bluelou...The homes of Bluelou... My former home at the Golden Tulip Hotel. For more, Click Here.

Mon Maison Neuveau de Bluelou...The new home of Bluelou... My new home In Carthage..

Mon Maison Neuveau de Bluelou...The new home of Bluelou... My new home In Carthage..
The house is located smack dab in the middle of ruins row in the ancient city of Carthage...that is, many of the ruins sites that are posted in the Tunis section of my web site. I’m less than a ten minute walk from the Amphitheater or ten minutes from the Cisterns, or twenty minutes from Byrsa Hill and the Cathedral of St. Louis. We have a corner unit of a townhouse complex. The one thing I don’t have to worry about is business traffic...the nearest store is a mile away. The complex is surrounded by a field with lots of farm animals...cattle, sheep, roosters, and even a wild turkey or two. The previous tenants even fed the throngs of neighborhood cats so now we have to deal with them.
My bedroom is the largest of the four but no balconies which the other ones have. It must have been designed by a disciple of Cher or Imelda Marcos, the wife of the former Philippine president, who both have lots and lots of shoes. I’ve got enough closets for the whole house in my bedroom alone.

This photo and the next two are views from my balcony

The Bluelou Balcony View...

The Bluelou Balcony View...

The Ampitheater of Carthage!

An Underground Tunnel. My guess is either an orchestra pit back stage area.

A view from inside.

The Columns of Carthage. The grass is a bit misleading. There isn't much grass around Tunisia and the palms are generally transplants. You usually find them around hotels with beaches. I just like the geometery.

The La Malga Cisterns fed mountain spring water from Zaghouan, nearly fourty miles away. From some of the pictures, you will notice that this area is currently under restoration.

A view from the front.

The La Malga Cisterns

The La Malga Cisterns

A view inside

Downtown Tunis...Check out the title of the bank about half way through this photo...

The Grand Hotel du Lac

Cathedral Of St. Vincent

Place du 7 Novembre 1987

No idea what church this is but it's Christian.

Looks almost animated but it's real. I just like the facade.

This is the route I take to work...generally earlier in the morning so you wouldn't see this much activity.

My ride to work

My ride to work

My ride to work

This is Tunisian construction...the orange rectangles are masonry blocks...a thin maze of support inside each block.

Sheep crossing...they want to check out the construction.

Open air market

Everyone said the best ruin site of Tunisia is the Colosseum of El Jem. Trouble is, it's over a two hour drive from where I live. When you have one day for a 'weekend', two hours to a venue and two hours from a venue sure adds up. I went anyway. Built in the 200s, the colosseum is 450 ft by 373 ft by 98 ft high (138m by 114m x 30m high). At its' prime, it seated around 30,000 spectators.

The Colosseum of El Jem

The Colosseum of El Jem

Unlike my visit to Rome, you could go below level to see the tunnels under the main level.

The Colosseum of El Jem

The Colosseum of El Jem

Welcome to the Gammarth Beach! ...Sing Your Camel To Bed!

Fourwheeling, fishing, kite surfing...you can do it all on the beach in Gammarth...

Horseback riding

Windsurfing...