Ancient ruins and religious quarters, along with its beaches make quite a name for Tunisia.
Interesting Facts:
1. A part of the Sahara Desert is in Tunisia. It is also home to an erg, i.e., a flat land in the desert covered by wind swept sand, known as the Grand Erg Oriental which is like a field of sand dunes.
2. Cape Angela isn’t just the northernmost part of Tunisia but of all of Africa.
3. The country has 17 national parks. The Ichkeul National Park is in fact aid to witness a large-scale migration of birds. Thousands of flamingos, ducks, geese and storks stop over this park amidst their migration.
4. Additionally, there was once a lake here that stretched from Ichkeul to North Africa and now the last of it remains in Ichkeul alone!
5. In the city of El Djem resides one of the biggest amphitheatres in the world, with a capacity of seating approximately 35,000 guests and with axes that are 486 ft and 400 ft high. And that is not even the most impressive part. The amphitheatre has been around since 238 AD, it is a mark of the Roman empire, making it a rare sight here! No wonder it gained UNESCO recognition as early as 1979.
6. Speaking of Romans, did you know who their rivals were? The mighty Carthaginian (Punic) and Tunisia’s city of Carthage was once their capital after having been founded in the 1st millennium BC. However, it fell to Romans in the 2nd century and today is a city of ruins, theatres, baths and scattered collections.
7. The Romans then ruled over Tunisia for approximately the next 800 years. This was followed by the Arabs, the Ottomans and then the French from whom the Tunisians gained independence in 1956.
8. The Medina quarter of Tunis is replete with monuments, mausoleums, fountains and madrassas. And when I say replete, I mean over 700 of them!
9. Stone age tools from around 200,000 years ago during the Middle Stone Age were also discovered near Kelibia, indicating signs of early human activity.
10. Tunisia has actually been the pick for many movie locations, even Hollywood flicks and most significantly, Star Wars!