Sousse, Medina, El Jem - Tunisia - October 2023

 Sousse: or Soussa is a city in Tunisia, less than 100 miles south of Tunis. It's in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf of Hammament, which is part of the Mediterranean Sea. We took the train from Tunis to Sousse and stayed two nights in the Medina of Sousse. While in Sousse, we took day trip to visit El Jem and Kairouan.

Arriving at Sousse station.

Arriving at Sousse Medina. 

Medina of Sousse: an UNESCO World Heritage Site, is surrounded by its city walls and fortifications. It has open and covered bazaars/souks. Our hotel is the "Medina", a few short blocks to the ribat castle and the Grand Mosque.

The Grand Mosque wall.

Our hotel in Sousse - Hotel Medina.  

The hotel entrance.

The hotel courtyard.

After checking in the hotel, we headed out to visit El Jem. From the medina, we took taxi to Louage station (share rides in mini van) to go to El Jem.

El Jem :  is famous for its amphitheater, an UNESCO World Heritage Site . The Amphitheater of El Jem is one of the largest Roman amphitheaters ever built, found in a small town of El Jem. It is one of the rare monuments of its kind and unique in Africa. It was built around 238 AD of stone blocks, located on flat ground and supported by a system of arches. 

The Amphitheater of El Jem.

The wall of the podium, the arena and the underground passages are practically intact.

The monument has conserved most of its architectual components without alteration.

Ruins of the majestic stone blocks peeking through the blue sky. 

In the arena.

Paul made it to the top.

The complex and intricate system of arches.

The amphitheater just before sunset.

Markets and residences surround the amphitheater.

Delivering the bread.

The bread counter/cart.

El Jem - City Center Park 

We made it to the Louage station in El Jem city center a little before 5:00pm for the 5:00 van back to Sousse. However, we were too late to catch the share ride from Louage station. We tried to take the bus or the train from the city center, but to no avail. The train was not scheduled to go to Sousse that day...and the bus never came.  After one hour waiting for the bus, we took private taxi back to our hotel in Sousse. It confirms that Tunisian public transportation is unreliable!.