tunisia
Medinas, Mosques & Mosaics: A New Year Adventure in Tunisia's Northeast
Where: Hammamet, Tunis, Sidu Bou Said & Carthage. Tunisia, Africa.
When: December 2025 -January 2026
What: Hammamet Fort, Hammamet Medina and Grand Mosque, Tunis Medina and Souk, Cafe Panorama Tunis, Zitouna Mosque, Central Market, Hotel du Lac, Royal Mausoleum of Torbet el Bey, Madrasa Slimania, City of Culture tower, Kasbah Square, Hammouda Pacha Mosque, The de Menthe, street cats of Tunisia, Dar El Annabi, Palais Ennejma Ezzahra, Carthage sites at: Antoninus Baths, Punic Port, Salammbo Sacrificial Site, Byrsa Hill.
How: International flight, walking, taxis.
Country counter: No.100
Illnesses or mishaps: Our outgoing flight being delayed twice, first because of a medical emergency and then by a drunk passenger who has to be removed from the plane by police.
I found myself in the United Kingdom for Christmas. A chance scroll through the destination list of flights departing the airport local to where I was staying yielded the usual suspects, the like of which quickly had my eyes rolling: Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Malta, various cities in Spain, France of course... And then something called "Enfidha-Hammamet" caught my eye. I opened up another browser tab and promptly searched it up. Hammamet was a city in northeastern Tunisia. Tunisia! Not only was Tunisia a country I hadn't been to before but it was also in Africa. Africa! Having been firmly ensconced on 99 countries for many months, not having stepped foot onto African soil since my epic journey around Southern Africa in 2018, and having been travelling around Oceania for my last few countries, this opportunity felt like it was made just for me. Admittedly I'd not considered Tunisia at all up until this point and so one could accuse me of being frivolous. However, travel is a costly endeavour and I have always grabbed at travel opportunities when they have arisen. Indeed, to some extent, where I travel is often shaped by economic considerations; in 2008 I flew to Ireland for £1, in 2018 I flew to Vietnam for £100 and in 2025 I flew to Tonga for £400. My return flight to Tunisia cost £200 - pretty much the price of an Australian domestic return fare from Sydney to Adelaide.
The trans-continental flight, lasting no longer than two hours and forty minutes and taking me from Europe to Africa, was a momentous one indeed. As we departed London Southend Airport, crossed the Mediterranean Sea and began our descent into the Tunisian city of Hammamet, I achieved a very significant and personal travel milestone, the likes of which will remain nothing more than a distant dream for so many. Tunisia: a land of towering minarets and beguiling mosques, of colourful mosaics and meandering medinas, of friendly moggies but also military tanks and machine gun-wielding soldiers stationed on street corners, became my centenary country - an achievement that has been 25 years in the making.
Like so many places, current day Tunisia is a largely uninspiring visual affair. Boxy, functional architecture jostles with rusted street furniture, litter, graffiti and all the usual signs of a country with manifold problems.
List of places
Mix of Arabic and French colonial
Arab spring
Terrorism
Closed currency
Pragmatic and reserved Tunisian
hammamet
It is something of a paradox that my 100th country should occur courtesy of a city that most, including me, have never heard of. Indeed, it was in Hammamet where the momentous intersected with the innocuous. Hammamet sounds spurious enough. It doesn't quite roll off the tongue nor is it likely to elicit a knowing response from those you might tell of your travel plans. Despite this, Hammamet is a delightful and easy place in which to spend a couple of days sauntering, sight-seeing, sipping a Turkish coffee or sucking on an aromatic shisha.
We based ourselves in what turned out to be a near-empty hotel a short walk from the historic centre of Hammamet. December is shoulder season in Tunisia but the country's somewhat milder temperatures compared to those of an unforgiving English winter mean it holds some appeal to frozen Brits even though temperatures in Tunisia's north are decidedly chilly.
tunis
sidu bou said & carthage
travel tips, links & resources
- Service at eateries and cafes is slow in Tunisia, even in the capital Tunis. Order a coffee and it's not unusual to wait twenty minutes - whether the cafe be busy or deserted. Pack some patience along with your clothes or spend your trip feeling eternally frustrated.
- A recurring issue I experienced whilst in Tunisia was the serving of food and drink, which should've been hot, as only slightly heated. On numerous occasions I sent drinks and food back with a complaint. The recurrence of this issue could just be down to bad luck but could also point to a wider cultural concern with regards to cooking practices. Either way, eating undercooked or poorly-heated food and drink could absolutely ruin your trip. I'd recommend you check your food before eating as staff don't seem to.
- Tunisia is a "dry country". There are significant and wide-ranging restrictions on the purchase and consumption of alcohol which will affect how, where and when you are able to buy it. In short, they'll be no cocktails at sunset during your romantic Tunisian getaway.
- Tap water is not safe to drink in Tunisia. Even the country's poorest drink bottled water. However, on several occasions, we boiled water and then used water purification tablets with no subsequent issues.
- The Tunisian Dinar is a closed currency which means that it is illegal to take the currency in or out of Tunisia. You will be asked as part of the airport's departure process if you have any dinars on you. If you do, as I did, it will be confiscated and you'll be the recipient of a hand-written receipt redeemable during your next visit. At time of travel, even changing your dinars back into your chosen currency at the airport necessitates you providing the receipts from the time that you initially converted them into dinars. In summary, head to the airport with only a few dinars left in your wallet and spend what you have in the airport departures lounge before proceeding through security. You will not be able to change them back at home either: the Tunisian Dinar becomes worthless when you leave the country.
- Smoking is ubiquitous in Tunisia. The concept of non-smoking areas is a relative novelty and so be prepared to tolerate cigarette smoke in most places you will go including taxis and restaurants. Higher class establishments are less likely to accommodate smoking. Our taxi driver had the courtesy to ask if he could smoke during our journey. I told him he couldn't. He therefore spent the trip sucking on an unlit cigarette.
- Terrorism is a general threat in Tunisia. You will see men dressed in black with dark sunglasses standing on street corners with walkie talkies and machine guns on their hip. Don't be surprised about the presence of army tanks on the streets too, particularly outside Christian buildings like cathedrals and churches. At my time of travel, Australian government advice was to avoid all but absolutely essential travel to Tunisia's border areas with Libya to the east and Algeria to the west.
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