And so our whirlwind tour of Tunisia continues. Christi and I are up at 5am to catch the 6am bus from Houmt Souq to Sousse, some 7 hours to the north back on the mainland. Thus far we have been warned off the Tunisian bus service, the advice being to go by louage. This time, though, we trust ourselves to the national bus line of Tunisia. And it is a truly horrible experience. Some of the seats are broken, most have rips, tears, and armrests missing, and all are dirty and dusty. Fortunately the bus is not full (now I know why) so there is plenty of room for Christi and I to spread out. I’m surprised to see that rather than taking the causeway off the island, we return to Ajim and board a ferry to the mainland. To be fair the bus journey is fast and safe. The Mediterranean Sea pops in and out of view and we again pass huge olive orchard around the town of Sfax. We even arrive in Sousse ahead of schedule and quickly taxi to our hotel for the next 3 nights: the Hotel de Paris, which is located on the edge of the medina. Our room is tiny, but at 22 Dinar (US$15) the price is right.
Sousse has it all: from sandy beaches to a medina that features a 9th century mosque,asbah that houses an elite museum, a ribat (an early fortified mosque built by Muslims during their conquest of North Africa) – and a red light district. Despite all this Christi takes an immediate dislike to the place, describing it as cheap and tacky. I mean how could anyone not be impressed by a Muslim red light district? We begin our cheap and tacky tour at the…ribat (even though this is the cheap and tacky tour, a visit to the red light district is forbidden – by Christi). Built in the early 9th century, the ribat protected the natural harbor and the nearby town of Kairouan (the first Arab capital in North Africa). The ribat is the oldest building in Sousse. It is an imposing fortress, but there’s very little to see inside other than views over the medina (south-west to the hilltop kasbah and south-east over the nearby mosque). The ribat is deserted – so where are all the tourists? I wonder.
A short walk to the southeast brought us to the Grand Mosque and surprisingly us infidels are allowed in. Once again the place is deserted and there is little to disturb our solitude. The Grand Mosque of Sousse is a much more simple and somber affair than the grandiose Hassan II mosque in Casablanca. The Grand Mosque was built to accommodate the growing settlement of Sousse, not all of which could be housed in the ribat. This mosque lacks a minaret to summon the faithful to prayer, but it is believed the tower in the ribat was used for this purpose. We even get a good view of the dimly lit mihrab (prayer niche that faces east towards Mecca).
It just so happens that the route to the kasbah actually passes nearby the red light district, so while Christi is distracted by some persistent merchants in the medina I take a sneak peek. And limited though my experience of red light districts is, I would have to say that the street of a thousand whores is the sorriest, creepiest place I have ever seen. After a brief scolding (truthfully Christi didn’t care, but I just like the word scolded), we hurry on to the kasbah, which is undergoing massive renovations. The only section open (and I’m not entirely sure it is officially open – this could be a private business venture organized by the kasbah gatekeeper) is the main tower. We are ushered inside and the gate closes quickly behind us. The gatekeeper asks for a 3 Dinar donation and directs us to the tower. Christi and I scamper to the top for quite good reviews back over the medina, the ribat, and the mosque. It’s not far off sunset and lights are going on all over town, including a crimson one in the distance that glows a little brighter than the rest.
Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching tale of love and test tubes.
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