The site is well preserved enough to make out what could have been the prototypes of later Roman houses; center courtyard and finished floor. Furthermore each house has a bathtub and basin; an obviously prosperous sophisticated civilization, destroyed by Rome.
It was not a waste of time as I had half expected. I even had an epiphany - Roman won the Punic Wars over the Semitic speaking people, but in the end adopted Judeo Christianity, a Semitic religion. Maybe that's the reason Christianity never seemed congruent with Europe to me, because it is really Roman at its core: conquest, subjugation, and hierarchy, as the new Punic War wages on.
The first stage of our visit to Kerkouane is a 2-hour louage (long-distance shared taxi/van) ride from the Bab Aliwa Louage Station in Tunis to El Haouaria. Below is the busy Bab Aliwa Station.
We passed Rades Olympic Stadium.
In El Haouaria, we took a brief look around town, before taking a taxi to the Kerkouane site turnoff. I was surprised to see an old cinema with a mural of Charlie Chapline as "The Tramp". And we walked towards the famous caves for a look at the Mediterranean Sea.
A glimpse of the old ways from the taxi.
From the turnoff, it was a 3km walk to the site.
The compact site museum (below). Check out the downspout ornament (2nd below) and Aerial Photo (3rd)
As one enters the site, there is an excellent map with a marked route and a legend.
Our first stop is the "Sign of the Tanit House". Check out the terraza-like floors and the "Tanit Sign" (close up is 2nd below)
The house also has a distinctive, and very cool IMO, red "hip bath" that seems to be in every house throughout the site.
House Doorway.
The so-called "House with a Courtyard and Peristyle" located right at the water's edge, and its hip bath.
One of the two Public Squares in Kerkouane.
"House of the Priest" signage and another hip bath. ;-}
Remnants of the City Wall.
And we taxi to the Kelibia Louage Station, and take a louage back to Tunis; 2 hours on bumpy roads.
Video: Our Louage Hits Some Traffic Returning to Tunis.
360 video of the Kerkouane site.
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