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:: Destinations
Cap Bon Peninsula
The aura of history doesn’t
leave Tunisia at any point. Here is something that stretches
to prehistoric times: Geologists speculate that the Cap Bon
Peninsula once stretched all the way to Sicily, providing a
land link to Europe that sank beneath the sea some 30,000
years ago. Now it juts out into the Mediterranean to the
northeast of Tunis. Today, Cap Bon - particularly the
southeastern beaches around Hammamet and Nabeul - is Tunisia's
primary destination for package tourists.
There are so many tourists at
any time in Hammamet that you are likely to bump into 10
tourists to one native every time you take a stroll down the
lane or beach, especially in the summer. The tourist boom
slackens if at all, only in the winter. Its location is a big
draw, at the northern end of the Gulf of Hammamet, while its
old medina overlooking a great expanse of sandy beach is
certainly another. Discos resound, restaurants overflow with
guests, shops display their wares in the most colorful manner
and all in all it is a lively town. The beach town is
everything a holidaymaker wants except perhaps he may feel bit
secluded and cut from the busy everyday world. But that is
perhaps what many look for when on a vacation.
Nabeul is more or less similar
to its neighbor Hammamet and an added attraction is the
availability of a range of budget accommodation. The town also
has the best-organised camping area in the country. Nabeul is
well known for its Friday market, one of the liveliest in
Tunisia. But do not expect very favorable bargains or high
quality in the Friday market.
It is idyllic once you reach
Kelibia, a small town. The worst of commercial tourism has
been blissfully left behind. Kelibia survives mainly on its
fishing fleet, with a few small, sheltered resorts and
beaches. There is an exotic visit point in this beach town and
that is a fabulous 6th century fort that overlooks
the harbor.
An archeological marvel awaits
you halfway between Kelibia and El-Haouaria. It is the
relatively unheralded Carthaginian site of Kerkouane, a
town founded in the 6th century BC that existed for less than
300 years before Roman forces destroyed it. It was discovered
or rather excavated in 1962. a museum houses some interesting
finds, such as the 'Princess of Kerkouane,' a wooden
sarcophagus cover carved in the shape of the goddess Astarte.
Roman Caves are the main
attractions of the small town of El- Haouaria. The town itself
is tucked beneath the mountainous tip of Cap Bon. The Roman
Caves run on the coast for a length of 3 km (2 miles). Much of
the stone used for building Carthage was cut from this
remarkable complex of yellow sandstone caves - the quarriers
discovered that the quality of stone was much better at the
base of the cliffs than on the surface, so they chose to
tunnel into the cliffs rather than cut them down. After almost
1000 years of quarrying, the result is the caves we see today.
El-Haouarai is essentially a cave town as also a quiet spot
with a couple of good beaches- especially at Ras el-Drek.
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