Today, among the olive groves and freshly plowed wheat fields far from the city, away from the railroads, we saw a different side of Tunisia. The trees were heavy with fruit and the fields were just waiting to produce golden wheat. Bread and oil, the reason the Romans included Tunisia in their empire.
Tunisian countryside
We were on our way to the Roman sites of Dougga and Bulla Regia. Public transportation can deliver you to the sites; it’s the getting home that can be a problem. We hired a car and driver for the day to cover the 300+ kilometers.
The theater at Dougga
Dougga is a UNESCO World Heritage site and deserves the honor. Our only complaint is the scarcity of signage, something we have come to depend on from WHS. Somehow we arrived during a gap in the tour buses and it felt as if we had the place to ourselves. The well-preserved theater was empty and the Temple of Mercury was visible from nearly everywhere as we explored the site.
Underground in Bulla Regia
Bulla Regia, on the other hand . . . . The museum was closed and there were no signs. Rubbish was everywhere. Why the guides and guards don’t pick it up is beyond me. Bulla Regia is known for its underground rooms making it the Coober Pedi of Tunisia, but very little of the site has been excavated. You can descend into only one subterranean room in the “Maison de la Chasse,” the Hunting Lodge, but it does give you an idea of the luxurious life that the Romans lived.
