Tunisia - 27 September 2010 (1)

Bulla Regia

Cisterns and rear of Memmian Baths

Snails on a column

Breakfast was very good and I enjoyed what was probably the largest pain au chocolat I have ever eaten.  Ruth had bought some pomegranates and she opened one for us to try.  I am not a great fruit eater, but thought this was quite nice.  I was not sure whether to eat the seeds or not, having read the story of Persephone and the pomegranate, but the others ate them, so I did the same.

Memmion Baths

Memmion Baths

Our first stop today was Bulla Regia.  I read for some of the journey and then fell asleep.  I woke up as we went round a roundabout and the policeman on duty waved to Hammadi.  We either went round the same roundabout again or the policeman had a brother because, a few minutes later, we got another wave from someone very similar.

The car park for Bulla Regia was on the other side of the road from the site.  As we crossed over, three small boys walked past, wearing their school uniforms, and wished us “Bon Jour”.

Underground House

Peacock Mosaic

The first stop on the site was the cisterns – water was obviously a very important consideration and a feature of almost all the sites we visited.  An unknown building stood to the side.  I was more fascinated by the small white snails which covered some pillars in front of the building.  They were to be found throughout the site.  The large building behind the cisterns was the remains of the baths.  These covered 3,300m² and, in some ways, were more impressive than the Antonine Baths in Carthage – though without the fantastic setting.

Mosaic of the Hunt

House of Amphitrite

Bulla Regia is important because it contains some underground houses.  As the day warmed up, I could definitely see the advantage of living below ground.  Several have been excavated and we saw people working on one called the “House of the Hunt”.  Some well preserved mosaics have been discovered underground and Caroline insisted that I went down into the second house to see the mosaic of Venus.

Lotfi Inside an Underground House

Theatre

There was not much left of the forum and market, but the theatre, though small, was still standing.  We entered through the back, like the audience would have done, exploring the corridors behind the seating.  We finally made it through to the seats and could see a mosaic of a bear on the stage area.

Bear Mosaic in Theatre

Donkey

As we left the site, we saw a lady with her donkey.  She was collecting water from a pipe and assured us that it was clean and OK to drink.  Werner shocked us all by using it to fill up his water bottle.

We were given half an hour to eat and look at souvenirs.  In the end, I was the only person to eat, but I enjoyed a very nice mushroom omelette.  The others just bought drinks and ate ice creams.

At last - a bird which is not a pigeon!