Sidi Bou Said

 It is an admirable point of view, from where you can contemplate, never bored, one of the most beautiful bays in the world. Sidi Bou Saïd, it is mainly a special atmosphere, a certain nonchalance that charmed, enchanted, enthralled writers, painters and musicians from around the world ... A slow pace outside, indicating a more intense inner life. Before visiting Sidi Bou Said, a center of spirituality, it must be permeated by the climate of fervor that reigns here supreme. Sidi Bou Said is primarily a promontory at the end of which Carthage installed a port. At the time of the Arab conquest, the area is selected for the construction of a Ribat, a fortified monastery ... 

Its rvestiges the current lighthouse was built from where the name "Jebel Manar" (Mountain of the lighthouse). In the early thirteenth century, settled in Cape Carthage mystic named Sidi Bou Said, who became after his death, the patron saint of the village. His name will be adopted by the town in the nineteenth century. Jebel Manar becomes, from the eighteenth century., Location preferred summer residence of notables. In 1912, Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger there fixed his residence and began its work to protect the village. In 1915, a decree of site protection is enacted. Also the village has he been able to keep intact its traditional character. The winding streets are paved, the pristine white walls, windows lined moucharabies, doors decorated with designs made of nails. Secret gardens and shaded patios that entreperçoit in favor Due door that opens one guesses. Coffee mats, one can follow the comings and goings of walkers. It was, originally, the monumental entrance to the grand staircase of the mosque built by his side, in the early eighteenth century. Later, on a hillside, the Café Sidi chabaane, from where one has a great view of the beautiful bay of Tunis and the twin peaks of Jebel Boukornine, on the other side. The hotel is built around the zaouia mystic, musician and fine poet, whose name it bears, There are several art galleries and numerous shops selling antiques, handicrafts products such as weaving, leather and silver objects. Here you can listen to live traditional Tunisian music, the famous Malouf, Andalusian origin enriched with local influences. The famous and beautiful Palazzo d'Erlanger, En-Ez-zahra Nejma acquired by the Tunisian government, has become a museum and a space for refined artistic events, Tunisian and foreign. It is the Centre of Arab and Mediterranean Music. It retains its sumptuous furnishings and rich collections of manuscripts, paintings, carpets ... It's the instruments museum Tunisian music. At the foot of the high cliff red ocher, is the marina of Sidi Bou Said, with cafes, restaurants and hotels. In the surrounding Gammarth is a tourist area of ​​high standing, Marsa, a seaside town of a long white sand beach. It was in this city that is the famous Café Safsaf installed around a former public wells from where the water is still drawn by a waterwheel driven by a camel spins endlessly.