Chapter 2 - Olives and the Coast

The drive south from Tunis was not at all what I expected.  I know that Tunisia has a lot of agriculture and used to be the breadbasket of ancient Rome, but I must say I was startled by the lushness.  We literally saw amber waves of grain (along with the requisite grapes and olives).  Tunisia actually produces 19% of the world’s olives!  They are very yummy, too. 

As we worked our way further south it started looking much more arid with only olive trees (see 19% above).  But again, we could easily have been driving through Italy or Spain or Greece. I guess that’s just the thing.  It’s a very Mediterranean culture much as southern Europe.  They all have the same basic roots and culture and certainly the same climate.  A bit naïve and elitist of me to assume that it should be so much different (but I’m falling back on my Egypt experience, which looks much different)

The music here on the radio and in cafes is quite a mix.  We were listening to classic Arabic music one moment and then Sting or U2 the next.  They seamlessly move back and forth, much as they do with their language (they almost all speak French and Arabic, I have heard them using both in conversations.)  I wish I could do that.  I theoretically studied French in high school and college, but I sound like an idiot now.  It doesn’t help that the little Spanish I have learned keeps slipping out (three keeps coming out tres!)

Mahdia is a very pleasant little seaside town sitting on a little peninsula.  Cobblestone streets. Old homes, large fort from a thousand years ago, some pretty old mosques.   We just strolled around today and the highlight was having mint tea in a tiny plaza with wonderful shade trees (the sun is brutal) with the old men who just hang out there.  Very calming.

Okay, so where are the dogs?  Lots of stray cats (apparently cats are prized in Islam).  We usually see lots of stray dogs, which upsets one of us very much.  But not here.  None.  Haven’t seen one canine at all.  We heard one in Carthage, but that was it.   Coming from a town that is so dog heavy, it’s a bit like some kind of Twilight Zone episode: The happy couple goes on vacation, but little do they know that this vacation is to a different place, a place without dogs.  This vacation is to the Twilight Zone.  Then our hapless heroes go through some misadventure, only to find out that they’re in some diorama that a puppy has built for show-and-tell at his dog school where they all talk and keep us as pets!

There’s a very large police force here.  They stand on the side of the road in pairs and trios and then randomly pull people over to check their papers.  In two days of driving we’ve been stopped twice: First time by a really scary looking dude.  Large, overweight, mean looking mustache.  He asked for papers.  Then he asked for the rental car contract. Then for my license.  He studiously reviewed them and then waved us along.  I don’t know if he was targeting us or not, but it was a bit freaky.  The second time we were stopped, we tried to hand them our papers but we were just waved along.  Don’t know what that was about. 

Moving away from the coast we next stopped at El Jem.  It’s an old Roman town with no natural water but was a major crossroads in North Africa so strategically placed.  It also happens to be a kickass place to grow olives.  There are olive trees everywhere. As far as the eye can see on the rollinghills you see olive trees. This was true even as we continued all the way west into the desert.  In fact, we must have passed an olive oil plant at one point because it smelled of olive oil in the air for several miles –yum!

 And the olive oil was the point for the Romans.   Tunisia quickly became the leading producer of olive oil for the empire (sorry Spain – you got bumped) and thus led to the riches of the old Roman town of Thysdrus (now El Jem).   With this wealth they built an enormous amphitheater (think Coliseum) for “circuses” (as in bread and circuses) that was the largest in Africa. 

It is pretty amazing to be driving through some dusty town and boom out of nowhere there’s a coliseum! 

It’s very well preserved and you can even go underground and see where they kept gladiators, animals and other victims for the games.  They would actually be hoisted up on elevators through open air shafts that are still present.   The Romans may be cruel, but they were awesome engineers.

As we stood there thinking about all of the blood spilled and how it was often done for political jockeying purposed (i.e., keep the people happy, sponsor a game to win an election, etc), Rachel commented how some things never change. Soap box moment – skip to the next paragraph to avoid.   We were born wild animals and we will perish as wild animals always looking for our advantage over our brethren no matter what the cost.  Preaching done.

El Jem also sports a nifty mosaic museum.  They were very big on mosaics in Roman Africa.  The best part was that they recreated a villa that they had unearthed so that you could actually see what it looked like. They even put the mosaics they found at the dig in the recreated villa.  Quite a lovely home.  I mean it’s no McMansion, but with the courtyard and pool and glorious mosaics, very nice place to live (if you were rich).  Apparently, making mosaics, while clearly an art form, was not well appreciated by the Romans.  A mosaic artisan made about the same as a baker.  I mean I like a good pastry and all, but a good mosaic isn’t something that you can just whip together like so much dough.