One of our very favourite tours and a perfect introduction to the Classical world, with superb monuments in lovely surroundings - and a mosaic inheritance second to none.
£1495 (sgl supp £130) | Price without flights: £1330
Friday 2nd - Friday 9th April 2010 (Easter) with Tony O’Connor
Tour Manager: Mary Reynolds Availability: Singles Last one| Doubles Last one
Introduction
When the Western Empire fell, these once-wealthy cities were left to the pastoralists and the glorious wild flowers. Some still have farm buildings amongst the magnificent, but defunct, temples to gods, deceased Emperors and municipal pride. There was a resurgance during the Byzantine period, when Christian chruches and rugh-and-ready defences were built from the existing structures, but they are still some of the best-preserved Roman towns in the Mediterranean. A glorious tradition of mosaic-making, one of the best in the world, in which vignettes of everyday life are included in both mythological and domestic scenes, proide glimpses of the people who once lived here.
This is where international events changed ancient history - the superpowers of Carthage and Rome clashed in three Punic Wars which saw the ultimate destruction of the Phoenicians who had made their home in the west.
Tunisia has long been popular as a holiday destination but few go inland to the ancient sites. We travel from cosmopolitan Tunis into the largely unchanged interior.
Itinerary
Day OneArrive Tunis and drive to hotel.
The Bardo Museum, in a former Royal Palace, houses one of the best collections of Roman mosaics in the world. Afternoon in Carthage; although the ancient city has now been absorbed into the suburbs of Tunis, the international ‘Save Carthage’ campaign has revealed many pieces of the jigsaw, and a good glimpse can be gained of how it looked in Punic and Roman times. At the Byrsa Hill site, where Princess Dido is said to have first founded her city, a good section of late Punic housing can be seen. The foundation levels of the enormous Roman Antonine Baths still dominate the sea-front by the current Presidential Palace; the Punic and Roman harbour is visible between the modern houses and the sacrificial tophet site, where the cremated remains of thousands of children have been found, still retains a sombre atmosphere.
Day Three
The Cap Bon peninsula, including the ruinous town of Kerkouane, the only Phoenician town so far found in Tunisia which was not built over in Roman times. Fascinating details of everyday life have been revealed, including houses with slipper baths, a temple and walls. This is one of the most fertile regions of Tunisia, and the drive is particularly beautiful. Nabeul has a small museum with some very fine mosaics, as well as the remains of garum tanks where fermented fish sauce was made.
Day Four
Dougga, possibly the most famous site of Roman Tunisia, stands majestically against a steep hillside, with sweeping views out over the surrounding countryside. The capitol is one of the most aesthetically pleasing ruins in the world, and many of the houses still have mosaics in situ.
Day Five
Bulla Regia, a unique Roman town with houses with major rooms underground, some of them still with their beautiful figurative mosaic floors. With walls and ceilings still complete you can get a very good idea of the space used by the Roman occupants to get away from the heat of the African sun. Chemtou, Roman settlement, with famous red marble quarries, exploited by Numidians and Romans. The slave camp used by the workers is visible from the hill-top sanctuary, and there is also an extensive but very ruinous nearby town, with a bridge across the Medjerda River. An excellent site museum tells the story of the settlement.
Day Six
Across the plains to Thuburbo Maius, a Roman city lying untouched amidst the fields, in a plain surrounded by distant hills and mountains - a particularly beautiful setting. Zaghouan’s Nymphaeum was built by order of Hadrian at the source of the spring which feeds the great aqueduct of Carthage. Part of the aqueduct channel is still visible as it heads off down the hill on a remarkably steep gradient, to be carried on arches over the valley of the Oued Meliane, and then on to Carthage - a total distance of 56 miles.
Day Seven
The spectacular amphitheatre at El Djem, one of the largest in the Roman world, a physical expression of the wealth of the region from its olive groves. The huge drum of the seating area still completely dominates the modern town, and can be seen from a great distance across the surrounding plain. The site museum of Roman Thysdrus has an exceptional collection of mosaics which reflect the wealth, and the concerns, of the townspeople who commissioned them. One of the excavated townhouses in the museum gardens has been rebuilt to show what it would have once looked like. It is called the Africa House after a mosaic showing the head of the personification of the province.
We see more fine mosaics in the museum in Sousse (if reopened), and there will be time to visit the souk in the medina.
Day Eight
Return to Tunis for flight home to London.
Included
WHAT’S INCLUDED
- Flights Scheduled flights from London to Tunis.
- Transfers private coach provided to coincide with group flights
- Local Travel Private a/c coach.
- Meals All meals included (dinners with wine & water).
- Guide Lecturer Not to be confused with "guest lecturers"! The guide lecturer will be with you from breakfast to supper, and probably even a drink in the bar afterwards. There is the occasional site where they may not be allowed to guide because of local regulations (we normally manage to circumnavigate these) but otherwise the guides are just that. They will have been chosen because of specialist knowledge and their ability to communicate and interest you. After 22 years of making tours worldwide, we are highly appreciative of the attributes of a good guide, and intensely critical of people who do not possess them. If you would like to know more about Tony O’Connor, please click his name.
- Local Guide
- Tour Manager We never know how best to call the very special people whom we choose to accompany you on your tour. They are usually employed in this capacity only by us, and have been trained to do things in the Andante way - unobtrusive, friendly and quietly efficient.
- Fieldnotes written for the tour
- Entry & tips Entry to all sites in programme (camel ride is optional extra); tips included.
Flights & Visa
Airline: Scheduled flights with British Airways or Tunisair (to be confirmed)
Visa and Passport Requirements (for British passport holders only)*
Passport must be valid for 6 months after your return home. On arrival, security checks are sometimes run on British passport holders who are not UK-born. There is no cause for concern if you have an Israeli stamp in your passport
* For other nationalities, please contact the relevant embassy. Click here for more information.
Hotels
Hotels
3 nights in an excellent 4* hotel close to the medina in Tunis;
2 nights in a simple, north African style hotel near Dougga;
2 nights in a delightful 4* hotel in Kairouan, sympathetically converted from the old Kasbah.
Comments
What Did You Enjoy Most About This Tour?
The wonderful mosaics; the spring flowers; being able to speak French and talk to people. I also learnt a huge amount from Andy about how the system worked. I like my fellow travellers. I've come back with a feeling of mental expansion; I knew very little about Tunisia before I went - I returned feeling that I've added a whole new country to my inner map of the world!The mosaics, both in situ and in museums.
Tunisia! The splendid sites, well coordinated and explained by Andy Fear; his enthusiasm and sense of humour - and the erudite company of our fellow Tour-ists, their sense of humour. And the couscous picnic (Thuhurbo Maius). The very knowledgeable guide. His anecdotal information at all the sites was illuminating and inspiring. My only regret was that it was too short! I could have spent longer at most of the sites.
The wide variety of sites, structures, etc.
Learning more about the Roman Empire in a different place.
The seemingly effortless organisation of every day's activities.
Interesting places to visit, a good group or people, a very capable lecturer, and (mainly) excellent accommodation.
It is really difficult to choose but I very much liked having a picnic at Thuburbo Maius - it was a combination of still being at the site, the weather, the amazing local flora, the company and the couscous.
Mosaics and amphitheatre at El Djem.
Sites swathed in wild flowers.
The archaeological sites; also, the food was good in the Hotel Africa.
Reading List
This list is no more than a guide to some books that you may find useful to read in advance of the tour. Talks given on the tour will attempt to fill in the background to what we are seeing, so no prior knowledge or pre-tour cramming is expected or needed. In many cases, we expect that you will find some of these books even more interesting and useful to read once the tour is over.
ARCHAEOLOGY & HISTORY
Susan Raven, Rome in Africa, Longman, 1984, Routledge. 1993. This is an excellent, highly readable narrative of the Roman presence in North Africa.
G Markoe, The Phoenicians, British Museum Press, 2002. A survey of the race that founded Carthage.
CARTHAGE
Virgil The Aeneid, Books 1 & 4. Though why not read it all?
Sallust, Jugurthine War - an account of Rome's war against a North African potentate in the Late Republic
A Goldsworthy, The Fall of Carthage: the Punic Wars 265-146BC , Cassell 2003. A history of all three Punic Wars written for the general reader.
John Peddie, Hannibal's War, Sutton Publishing 1997 A military perspective of the Second Punic War and Hannibal's abilities as a general.
Serge Lancel, Carthage: A History, Blackwell, 1997. ‘A detailed, wide ranging and authoritative account of Punic culture'
David Soren, Ben Abed, Aicha and Heidi Sim, Carthage: Uncovering the Mysteries and Splendors of Ancient Tunisia,, Simon and Schuster. 1990.
B. Dexter Hoyos, Hannibal: Rome's Greatest Enemy, Bristol Phoenix Press 2005. Good and thought-provoking short biography of Carthage's most famous son.
Maria Aubert, 'The Phoenicians and the West' Cambridge University press, 1997 a good general account of Phoenician expansion throughout the Mediterranean.
Sabatino Moscati ' The Phoenicians' Rizzolo, 1999. Excellent survey of Phoenician/ Punic culture
'Ifriqiya, Thirteen centuries of Art and Architecture in Tunisia', Museum with no frontiers, 2002 well illustrated study of Tunisia's Islamic heritage.
THE ROMAN OCCUPATION
J Rives, Religion and Authority in Roman Carthage from Augustine to Constantine, Oxford 1995. - heavyweight academic book but good at capturing the "feel" of Roman Carthage.
E Lennox Manton, Roman North Africa, Seaby, 1988. Good general account centred on particular dynasties and locations, e.g. Carthage and its hinterland. Good photos. Only available 2nd hand
Joyce Salisbury, Perpetua's Passion, 1997, Routledge. Account of a young Roman woman and her companions, martyred in the Carthage amphitheatre in March 203. You can read a translation of the acta online at: www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/perpetua.html
T Barnes, Tertullian - Carthage's most (in?)famous early Christian writer.
David Mattingly, Tripolitania, 1995, Batsford. Excellent account of the ancient region which encompassed southern Tunisia and north-west Libya.
M.Blanchard-Lemee: Mosaics of Roman Africa: Floor Mosaics from Tunisia. (1996) BM press.
FICTION
G Flaubert, Salamabo - gruesome account of the "Mercenary War" which happened in Nth Africa between the two Punic wars
R Leckie, Hannibal - equally gruesome but good historical novel. The follow up novels Scipio and Carthage are also a good read.
GUIDE BOOKS
CADOGAN
Barnaby Rogerson and Rose Baring, Cadogan Guides - Tunisia 1992
This is the most enjoyable of the general guides, good on the ancient history and very entertaining. It should be readily obtainable.
MAPS
GeoCenter World Map - 1:800 000
Michelin No 972: 1:1 000 000
N.B. Many of the sites we visit now have their own colour guide books (available only in the country) and there are also general works on Roman mosaics, etc.
A good introduction to the latter is Roger Ling (1997) Ancient Mosaics, British Museum. Excellent introduction to and summary of the subject, with a large chapter on the mosaics of North Africa.
Travel books
We recommend to you a publishing company with a mission to keep the classic works of travel literature in print. Eland and Sickle Moon Books produce an excellent catalogue of travellers' literature, old and new.
+44 (0) 20 7833 0762 - www.travelbooks.co.uk This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Archaeology books
Oxbow Books, based in Oxford, are suppliers of probably the biggest range of archaeology and history books. They produce a quarterly catalogue, and can be contacted on
+44 (0)1865 241249 - www.oxbowbooks.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
General
Darf Publishers Ltd - specialises in good quality facsimile reprints of out-of-print and rare books written in the 18th and 19th centuries, predominantly books on the geography, culture, history, literature and theology of the Middle East and North Africa.
+44 (0) 20 7431 7009 - www.darfpublishers.co.uk
It also always worth exploring www.abebooks.co.uk and www.museumbooks.demon.co.uk for new, secondhand and out-of-print books.
