CPAmedia.com: Historic Hammamet, Tunisia's Mediterranean Jewel

On first consideration, North Africa might not seem an ideal destination in these politically troubled times. To the east lies Libya, isolated and isolationist. To the west lies Algeria, troubled by continuing civil war. Yet squarely in the middle is Tunisia, the exception which proves the rule. This lovely land, with a known history dating back four millennia, is stable, prosperous, and warmly welcoming to foreign visitors.

Shimmering in the noonday heat, the black-top motorway exits Tunis by way of the Carthage Flyover, cuts like a knife through the traffic-packed streets of the capital's ugly southern suburbs, crosses the narrow neck of the Cape Bon peninsula, and turns south - towards distant Cairo.

The route traces one of the world's oldest trade roads, hugging the southern rim of the Mediterranean, trapped between the sea and the seemingly endless sand of the nearby Sahara Desert. Phoenicians and Greeks passed this way, as did the ancient Romans. More than thirteen centuries ago the Arab conqueror Amr ibn al-As swept by, bringing the new religion of Islam from the holy cities of Arabia and permanently altering the ethnic and cultural mosaic of North Africa. He was followed in turn by Ottoman Turks, French imperialists and Italian colonists. Just over fifty years ago the area south of Tunis echoed to the crash of heavy artillery and shriek of dive bombers as the armies of Rommel and Patton clashed in the nearby Kasserine Pass.

Today all is quiet - save only the slap of shallow waves lapping at the golden shore. Sixty kilometres from Tunis, yet seemingly a lifetime away from that traffic-choked metropolis, the road reaches the sleepy, sophisticated beach resort of Hammamet, capital of the Tunisian Riviera. Hammamet - from the Arabic al-hammamat, "the baths" - has been known since Roman times for the healing property of its waters. Roman ruins still survive at the nearby sites of Siagum and Pupput, but Hammamet in its present form dates from the mid-15th century, when the old city, known as the medina, and the suq, or main bazaar, were built. Mediaeval Hammamet was prepared for defense - the Spaniards fortified the kasbah in the 16th century - but in fact the history of the town has been pleasantly peaceful. There are no records of invaders troubling the small fishing settlement, which acquired a reputation for religious learning through the number and proficiency of its murabitin, or saints and holy men.

The unique aspect of Hammamet is best appreciated from the balding hills which surround the town. Beyond the long curve of the perfect bay runs a broad green swathe of citrus trees and olive groves, interspersed by the occasional brilliant white wall of an anonymous villa. Clearly at ease in the equable climate, colourful song birds - goldfinches, bee-eaters and hoopoes - flash from branch to branch. In the gentle winter months, ripening oranges and lemons offset the deep green foliage; during the hotter summer the predominant colours become yellow as the prickly cacti burst into bloom. Within the walls of the old town, Tunisian women clad in red, purple, white or black sifsari - an outer garment chastely concealing the body and part of the face - add to the riot of colour Hammamet presents.

During the Gay Twenties, when it was still a sleepy fishing village, Hammamet was "discovered" by European and American artists. Well-to-do foreigners, aesthetes and socialites, acquired or built white-walled villas, walled gardens and swimming pools, settling into a life of comfort and culture far from the travails of the northern winter. The Romanian Georges Sebastian built what Frank Lloyd Wright would describe as 'the most beautiful house that I know'. In the same neighbourhood the Hensons, a well-known Anglo-American couple, erected a fine Moorish-style villa in which they entertained a host of notable figures for more than forty years. Invited guests included the French poet and novelist André Gide and the Swiss painter Paul Klee. Uninvited guests included General Erwin Rommel and his successor Von Arnim, when Hammamet served briefly as headquarters for the German Afrika Korps.

The war interrupted Hammamet's long idyll, but left little damage. In subsequent years "the baths" developed as the heartland of the Tunisian Riviera, a town devoted to tourism pure and simple - but always sophisticated, never vulgar. In 1959 history of another kind was made in the region, when the film Joha , starring the then unknown actor Omar Sharif and a local girl of Italian origin, Claudia Cardinale, was shot at the nearby spa of Hammam-Lif.

Tunisia gained its independence from France in 1956, and immediately began to establish itself as a Mediterranean tourist paradise, billed in the publicity literature as "Cross-roads of East and West". In earnest of this, the carefully-nurtured vineries planted by the French - and torn up in neighbouring Algeria by Islamic activists - were preserved in post-independence Tunisia, where visitors can still enjoy a fine selection of locally-grown and bottled wines. Tunisian cuisine, the indigenous Maghrebi element strongly influenced by Turkish, French and Italian traditions, is generally agreed to be the best in North Africa. Another Turkish tradition - long since banished in neighbouring Libya and Algeria - is belly dancing, which can be enjoyed equally at tourist nightspots in Tunis and Hammamet.

On a more serious level, Tunisian women - despite generally still wearing the sifsari - are amongst the most liberated in the Arab World. Within five months of independence the patrician president Habib Bourguiba introduced legislation enforcing the equality of the sexes. In 1960 he outlawed polygamy, introduced mixed education, and encouraged women to join the civil service. Today the profile of Tunisian women in their country is high, from the police force, through the judiciary, to the diplomatic service. It seems anachronistic, then, that in Hammamet most women will still draw the sifsari across their face at the approach of a stranger on the street. The habit of centuries dies hard.

It is easy to see why Hammamet continues to draw visitors. Hard by a ten kilometre stretch of date-palm fringed shore, the town's antique medina faces a sweep of perfect beach, dotted with fishing boats, which sweeps south to the main hotels. Entrance into the medina is by way of a narrow, curving lane - designed to facilitate defence in earlier times - leading into the suq. Here donkeys are the only traffic, picking their way carefully between bales of goods and shoppers bargaining for locally-produced carpets, brassware, ceramics and leather goods. The quality is good, and prices still not too steep. A small lane leads left to the baths themselves. Here you can steam as long as you like for US$ 5-00; massage and scrub come extra - but be warned, Tunisians are exponents of the Turkish school of massage, which may seem rather vigorous compared to the more subtle techniques employed in Thailand.

Opposite the baths, cleanliness being next to godliness, stands - appropriately enough - the Great Mosque, built in a blend of Turkish and Moorish styles and dating from the 15th century. Close by is the Mosque of Sidi Abdul-Qader al-Gailani, constructed in 1798 and now housing a Qur'anic school for young children. Beside the main gate are two arched entrances set into the western wall of the medina. These are not original, but date from the mid-twentieth century, when Hammamet's most distinguished expatriate resident, Georges Sebastian, supervised the reconstruction of the ancient ramparts.

David Henley / CPA

Oriental carpets drying in the sun on the white walls of the Hammamet Medina

The special attraction of Hammamet and of its ancient medina lies less in any specific building than in the overall aspect of the architecture. Eyeless, inward-looking houses offer shade and privacy to their inhabitants. Winding alleys and steep stairways lead past dazzling white walls, often festooned with richly-patterned drying carpets. A sense of history is pervasive. the stumps of Roman pillars project from a section of wall; Turkish crenellated battlements tower overhead by the fortified kasbah. The smell of spices wafts on the air, mixed with aromas of Turkish coffee.

The French presence, too, is not forgotten. Many of the resort's facilities, including the railway and telephone service, date to the European colonial period. An air of "Beau Geste" is palpable - the Sahara is nearby, concealing legendary foreign legion outposts, or at least the legend thereof. Yet south of the old town, scarcely a stone's throw away, are fine hotels offering every kind of modern comfort and convenience. Given this powerful combination of attractions, it is not surprising that Hammamet continues to thrive as capital of the Tunisian Riviera - a position the Tunisian authorities clearly intend to preserve.

This article was originally published in the Bangkok Post.

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