| |
Leaving our Houmt Souq hotel
we wound our way through the souq. Merchants were filtering in to open their shops and the occasional child heading to
school passed by. Once on the open road, with a strong tail wind, we coasted
for twenty kilometers to the ferry (it is not always so good). The route is
predominantly rural, with the occasional trading center. Given the
time of day, we passed many children on the way to school. Even though
they generally shuffled along and a student pace, they tended to get more
energized when they saw our group. Generally this manifested itself in
a lots of greetings and giggles.
 The
direct route to Medenine and Gafsa, is via the ferry from Ajim to Djoff. Ajim dates back to Roman times,
but is better known in modern times as the location for several Star War scenes, including Anchorhead,
Mos Eisley, Ben Kenobi's house and the cantina. It appears that the sites have since been consumed by suburban sprawl.
One of the nice benefits of
arriving at the ferry by bicycle is you get to go to the head of the
line.
 Hundreds of
thousands of olive trees – almost continuous for thirty miles -- are the
theme of the day. There is no demarcation between farms, but we were
told that the farmers know which tree belongs to whom. A friend in
Medenine says some of the farmers have 15 trees and some have 5,000. A
tree can produce 8 to 16 liters of oil per year, depending upon its age,
the weather and its care. When you figure the number of olive trees in
Tunisia (and they are planting more), with the number of olive trees in
Spain, Italy, Greece and other countries around the Mediterranean, you
have to wonder who is using all of that olive oil.
Beyond the ferry the landscape is pretty similar to other coastal regions in the southeast --
pretty flat -- so once you have passed you ten thousandth olive trees, it is good territory to practice a paceline
(bicycling single-file in close formation to share the duties of breaking the wind).
The paceline broke up for a stop at Giktis, primarily a Roman era town/port -- now a ruin. There is a
Roman-Punic necropolis dating back to the
 third
and second century BC, and a Byzantine church,
 which
is post-Roman, indicating that the site must have been inhabited in post-Roman times. But the many
archeological features: The baths, market and temples to gods
 are of Roman
origins. Archeologists estimate
 that the town had a population of
15,000. The site is not excavated enough or too much of the
infrastructure, such as roads, is gone to vividly imagine Romans moving
about, going to market, carrying on business, encountering friends on
the street, children playing, or the other activities of an active town,
but the baths, capitol and market alone provide a peek into their lives.
 Medenine is at least a couple hundred years old because it has a
ksar (plural is ksour), which were popular from the 15th
to the 19th century. A ksar is a
fortified group of ghofars (long barrel vaulted rooms for storing grains, olives, beans
and other commodities, that are usually stacked 2 to 5 high and walled).
Usually a family would have one ghofar for its goods. In
times of trouble the village could take up residence in the ksar
to protect themselves and their belonging from roving bands of thives. This
ksar
is now renovated and entirely devoted to the storing
(and selling) of tourism curios.
 Medenine;
fortunes got its big boost when the French selected
it as their headquarters for administering the southern region. It
still has a very impressive group of white-washed administrative building, which are
now used by the current government. Otherwise, it is a pretty
undistinguished working town with relatively low-rise building, without architectural
distinction. It is the main regional market center, with
several weekly markets -- separate days for food and animals. The
markets serve to add a bit of color, character, texture, energy and hubbub
to their immediate vicinity. |
Addendum
An alternative way off of Djerba Island, is by a
five km (3 mile) long causeway said to have been originally built by the
Romans in about 200 CE. Fishermen anchor their boats off the causeway.
As you cycle along you can watch a few mending their nets and preparing to go out to
work.
Go south and you will get to Zarzis, and go west
and you will reach Medenine.
In terms of tourism, Zarzis is still a backwater,
but like everywhere in the country with a beach to offer, new hotels are sprouting
up along the coast each year. For Tunisians Zarzis is a
working town. There are fishing boats along the coast. The is a military base on the edge
of town. It is an administrative center so there is a full range of government offices and
a commercial sector and number of mosques to match.
Midway to Medenine, on the route from Zarzis, there is a depression. In the
depression is a salt lake, where there is an active operation to collect
the salt. And beyond the lake the rows of olive trees start again -- stretching to
the horizon. |
Bicycle
Africa Homepage
Please
write