Hammamet - History
This
fertile peninsula stretches out into the Mediterranean to the north-east
of Tunis. Geologists speculate that it once stretched all the way to
Sicily, providing a land link to Europe that sank beneath the sea some
30,000 years ago. Today, Cap Bon - particularly the south-eastern beaches
around Hammamet and Nabeul - is Tunisia's primary destination for package
tourists.
A summer's stroll down the streets of Hammamet is likely to turn up 10 tourists to every local, and the pace never slackens except briefly during the middle of 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. It's also a lively town, brimming with small hotels, restaurants, and colourful shops.
The
biggest difference between Hammamet and its neighbour, Nabeul, is that the
latter also has a range of budget accommodation, including the best
organised camping area in the country. Nabeul's Friday market is one of
the liveliest in Tunisia, though not for any surplus of bargains or
quality merchandise.
By the time you get to Kelibia, you've left the worst of commercial tourism blissfully behind. What you'll find instead is a small town that survives mainly on its fishing fleet, with a few small, sheltered resorts and beaches and a fabulous 6th century fort that overlooks the harbour.
Halfway
in between Kelibia and El-Haouaria 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 excavated in 1962, and a museum houses some
interesting finds, such as the 'Princess of Kerkouane', a wooden
sarcophagus cover carved in the shape of the goddess Astarte.
The small town of El-Haouaria is tucked beneath the mountainous tip of Cap Bon. It's a quiet spot with a couple of good beaches - especially at Ras el-Drek - but the main attractions are the Roman Caves on the coast, 3km (2mi) west of town. Much of the stone used for building Carthage was cut from this remarkable complex of yellow sandstone caves - the quarries 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.
