Exploring a Roman villa and theater, February 25, 2k8.

One sunny day I decided to take a short train ride outside of Tunis to visit the ruins of a Roman villa and theater that were located about 30km east of the city. By now I was familiar enough with the local trains to be able to buy my ticket and board my train without having to ask for help. A scenic 45 minute ride through a flat dry countryside brought me to my destination near the coast.


Following the crudely drawn map in my guide book, I walked over dusty hills until I came upon the guard booth in front of the Roman villa. I paid a few dollars to get in the gates, and proceeded to walk to the highest vantage point in the area. The extent of the ruins was impressive. Stretching for almost 500m in every direction rock walls and stone columns holding up nonexistent roofs were all I could see. Interspersed between the ruins of this once great household were palm trees and broken statues, and a few Tunisian men sitting under the shade of a tree talking quietly.

I came to the main house and found it to be in quite good repair compared to the rest of the villa. I noticed they had mosaics on the floors similar to those at Carthage. From the top of the hill I saw a Tunisian man wearing a suit and a Tunisian lady wearing a head scarf and covering her face with a black cloth standing near the entrance gate looking around them. They seemed to be here for the same reason I was, but the man quickly started talking on his cell phone and the woman sat down and stared at the ground lost in her own thoughts.

Between the Roman villa and the Roman theater I walked through a wealthy suburb that housed many magnificent modern villas, and a number of embassies.







The theater was deserted when I arrived, and I took my time strolling along its ancient benches, sitting and imagining a Greek tragedy being performed as they were 2,000 years ago. After a while a family speaking French arrived and their chattering quickly dispelled the magic of the place and I left.

Walking back to the train station I decided to pass along the water front. I sat on the rocks and dangled my feet in the slightly chilly Mediterranean waters as a local fisherman cast his line in the sea nearby. Beached in the sand were a collection of small fishing boats and a mysterious barricade of barbed wire separating one side of the beach from the other. The sun was getting low in the sky as I boarded the train back to the center of Tunis, satisfied with the days exploration.


- XNM