The largest locality The island of Djerba in Tunisia is the city of Houmt Souk. He settled down on the shore Mediterranean Sea, attracting tourists sandy beaches, clear waters and mild climate.
Why is the city attractive?
First of all, the city is positioned as important tourist centre islands. It’s hard to argue with this, given the presence of a developed tourist infrastructure in this city of Djerba: beautiful and comfortable hotels, most of them located in the coastal area and with a wonderful view of the sea horizon, a variety of cafes, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and other entertainment venues. The city of Houmt Souk on Djerba is able to guarantee the most comfortable and enjoyable stay for its guests.
In the coastal strip of the island, they are very popular aquatic species sports So, while relaxing on the beaches of the city of Houmt Souk, you have the opportunity not only to ride a banana boat, jet ski or water ski, but also try yourself in more extreme activities. For example, exciting and unforgettable experience It will give you a parachute ride behind a boat (parasailing), windsurfing will excite you and give you a lot of pleasant emotions (the necessary equipment for this will not be difficult to get at any hotel located near the seashore). Diving enthusiasts off the coast of Houmt Souk will also find something to keep them busy. The coastal underwater world of Djerba is very rich: a wide variety of flora, fauna, sunken ships resting on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea since the Second World War.
The city's attractions
Quite a lot of attractions are concentrated within the boundaries of the city of Houmt Souk on Djerba. Among them, the Borj el-Kebir fort stands out - an old fortress with a rich and dark history. Nowadays it is a fortification with a rectangular shape. The fort is surrounded by a moat, at the bottom of which there are cannonballs and cannons left over from earlier times. The fortification walls are about 4 meters thick.
The small streets of the main city of Djerba intertwine into an intricate labyrinth, in the depths of which there are three more prominent attractions: the Jamaa el Ghorba Mosque, the Jamaa Ettruk Mosque and the Esh Sheikh Mosque. The first of the city’s shrines also bears the name “mosque of foreigners” and is an abode for followers of Malekism (one of the Islamic religious movements).
Jamaa Ettruk or Turkish Mosque in the main city of Djerba, is sacred place for representatives of Sufism (mystical-ascetic direction in Islam, formed in the 8th century AD). A visit to this religious monument is included in almost all route guides for tourists.
The Ash Sheikh Mosque is something of a small miracle, since it is intended for Ibadis (representatives of the Islamic movement), who are considered akin to heretics on the island. The shrine is distinguished by its simplicity of structure and decoration, since representatives of Ibadism believe that nothing should distract from communication with God. And these are only the most significant attractions.
How to get there
Nine kilometers from the city of Houmt Souk, located international Airport Djerba-Zazris, taking regular and charter flights. From the airport you can get to the city by using public transport, ordering a taxi or renting a car. When traveling to the city of Houmt Souk by land from Tunisia, you will first have to cross the famous Roman road connecting the island and the mainland, and then follow one of the main highways of Djerba.
The island is often called “Mediterranean Tahiti”: people come here to swim in the clear sea, relax in excellent hotels, and enjoy the oriental flavor at reasonable prices per tour.
Djerba has been known since ancient times. Homer in his "Odyssey" mentioned it as the Island of lotus eaters - eaters of lotus flowers - the island of earthly pleasures and bliss. Djerba served as a base for the formidable Berber pirates, terrifying the entire Mediterranean, and became home to representatives of many religions.
Very tasty dates and olives are grown here, fish and octopuses are caught - the patriarchal way of life of Djerba has not changed for centuries.
How to get there
Djerba has its own airport “Djerba (Zarzis)”. It is located next to the island's capital, Houmt Souk. During tourist season Charters from Russia land here. Flight time from Moscow to Djerba is approximately 4.5 hours. Transfer to hotels does not take much time - on average about an hour. Djerba is connected to the mainland by a bridge and ferry. The ferry crosses a small strait in 15 minutes.
Tours to Djerba
Prices for tours for 2 people for 7 nights with departure from Moscow are given.
October
Beaches
The best parts of the Djerba coastline are located in the northeast. Most of the hotels are located here, almost each of which has its own long section. It is cleared of algae and marine debris, and the safety of tourists is monitored. The sand on Djerba is light and soft, the entrance to the water in tourist areas is gentle. The hotel beaches are well equipped, there are umbrellas, sun loungers, and a range of water activities (parasailing, jet skis, “bananas” and “cheesecakes”).
Hotels
Most hotels in Djerba are located on Cape Ras Tagernes, in the north and east of the island. Most often, Russian tourists choose to stay in 4-star hotels.
There are representatives of Vincci Hotels, Radisson, Seabel and others on the island. The all-inclusive food system is popular in hotels.
Attractions
Djerba is an island with a rich history, so there are plenty of attractions here. The most famous - . The powerful walls of the fortress have stood on the seashore for more than 600 years. Bloody sieges and battles took place here - for example, the pirate Turgut Reis attacked the Spaniards and ordered the construction of a monstrous pyramid tower from the skulls of defeated enemies, which stood for almost 300 years. Now there is an obelisk in its place, and 9,000 skulls have found eternal rest in the cemetery.
The old town of Houmt Souk is one large bazaar, the entrance to which is guarded by two impressive mosques: the Mosque of Foreigners (Jamaa al-Ghorba) and the Ibrahim el-Jemni Mosque, both of which are almost a thousand years old.
Where to go
Most often, guests of Djerba go on a pirate ship cruise to Flamingo Island. In winter, these beautiful birds nest here, and in summer, tourists sunbathe on the snow-white sand. The cruise lasts about 4 hours, time on the island is 2 hours. On the way, tourists are entertained by animators with a special pirate show.
The second most popular place for excursions is the crocodile farm in. Several dozen Nile crocodiles live here.
You can visit the potters' village of Gelallu on a guided tour. In Gelalla, clay is mined and beautiful jugs are sculpted, reminiscent of ancient amphorae. Be careful - ceramics in blue and white tones are made in, and modest and unpainted plates are made in Gelalle. Works interesting museum cultural heritage. In August, the village hosts a festival where you can try your hand at the pottery wheel.
From Djerba it is convenient to get to, go on excursions to the dwellings of troglodytes and
Souvenirs
For souvenirs in Djerba, go to the capital of the island, the city of Houmt Souk. The name of the city is telling; it translates as “shopping quarter”. Local markets have a wide variety of goods - ceramics, leather goods, small souvenirs, spices, cosmetics based on olive or argan oil, hookahs, glassware, carpets... Pay attention to the ceramics from Gelalla - simple but elegant jugs, similar on ancient amphoras.
Tourists note that prices for souvenirs in Djerba are on average higher than in other Tunisian resorts. Djerba is an island, so most goods are not made locally, but are brought from other cities. Hence the difference in cost. We recommend that you bargain when buying a souvenir you like; sellers often inflate the price several times.
Kitchen
Most of the dishes served in hotel restaurants and cafes are no different from those eaten at other resorts. On the table there will definitely be spicy shorba soup, sweet peppers stuffed with meat, the famous tagine (roast lamb), couscous with vegetables.
There is also a “marine accent” in the cuisine of Djerba. In coastal restaurants you should try freshly caught grilled fish or octopus.
Houmt Souk - The largest city on the island of Djerba.
Almost half of all the island’s inhabitants live here, and this is no less than 65 thousand people. By local Jerbin standards, it’s simply a metropolis!
We were brought here for literally an hour so that we could walk around on our own and probably assess the level of security. :)
One way or another, the main attraction here is the market or, in other words, the “suk”, from which the name of the entire city comes. Initially, people simply gathered here and bought and sold their goods to each other. Fishermen brought fish, potters brought their pots, olive oil producers brought oil, in general it was just a market. Professional traders began to settle right next to the market, and a city was formed. Since the main thing in the city is the bazaar, then we’ll start there, and then we’ll see what else we have time for.
The weather that day was not too bright, so all the pictures in the series are a little muted, without much contrast or bright details.
One of the entrances to the market. In the photo you can see a person whom I naively did not immediately send to hell! We should not have been modest and not wasted time on him, he dragged us to some kind of shop with all sorts of rubbish, when I said that it was all crap, he got a little upset and suggested we go to another one, which another person had shown us 5 minutes before him like a barker. In general, don’t be fooled by him, just tell him to screw him right away, they won’t be too offended, that’s their job. :)
2.
Something thermonuclear and supposedly sweet in appearance. They didn't try. In general, I’m quite wary of markets and don’t really like them, to be honest. If it weren’t for this excursion, I would never have gone, but they say it’s necessary and the blogger obediently goes. :)
3.
4
At the market, all the traders for the most part were in a positive and generally surprising mood, but almost no one was embarrassed by overseas citizens with cameras, everyone acted either as if we were not there, or showed cordiality, trying to treat or sell us something. There is no aggression, although stereotypically and subconsciously I don’t really trust Arabs, here you begin to relax.
4.
Wow, what a melon, small but tasty! :)
5.
These salespeople are clearly not interested in us, they are busy on their phones, probably testing new Sberbankonline services. P2P transfers are made without commission. :)
6.
We came to the national fish office.
They have a fish auction here. They told us what the joke was, but at that moment I was filming something and only the journalists were recording recordings on a dictaphone, which they would never decipher. :)
7.
While you get to the auctioneers, you can see quite a few serious fish. Everyone wants to try it! (Looking ahead, I’ll say that after this we went to a fish restaurant, where we tasted excellent local fish. I didn’t take pictures there because I was very hungry.)
8.
The actual auction. They chatter and show each other fish.
It looks just like decoration or a tribute to tradition, but everyone around them behaves seriously, no one smiles. Probably these are the rules.
9.
After such a large item as in the photo above, it is not clear why this little thing is so valuable that an auction should be held with it?
10.
The heel bun goes to the gentleman in the front row!
11.
Other sellers are doing well even without an auction.
12.
We run away from the fish market, sniffing and drooling at the probably very tasty fresh fish.
13.
The market is universal; you can buy almost everything here. In general, everything is the same as ours, only the people are different.
14.
Rows of live poultry and delicious rabbits. Pat it and you can eat. 100% freshness guaranteed! :)
15.
If you don't like rabbits, buy toys.
16.
Or turn into some kind of Berber under the skillful hands of a black cloth winder. I barely escaped from them, I thought he would strangle me and took a pre-death selfie with a trembling hand. :)
17.
It's time to leave one market to get into the next.
18.
Oh gods, no, we literally broke out of the world of ceramics half an hour ago and here he is again.
Everything is the same as in Gellale, but at least twice as cheap and people are ready to bargain...
19.
After leaving the second market, we simply walk along the streets and take pictures left and right without any system. You know what it's like to walk around the city without a map or plan.
Of course, there was some kind of map in the smartphone, but there was definitely no plan. The guide only told us about the market...
20.
The number of women driving vehicles in Houmt Souk and in Djerba in general caused some surprise. It seems to be such a man's country and women, although after a woman minister one could assume such a thing.
21.
The street is almost typical. The wealth of North Africa is completely invisible on it.
22.
Something made from dough is probably very sweet and tasty.
23.
24.
One of the Houmt Souk mosques. They didn’t bother going inside. The place is clearly not a tourist place, but they talk about all sorts of passions about Muslims, so you shouldn’t provoke them. Previously, Christians were so impudent and this will pass with time.
25.
Excellent car park a real nature reserve old French cars.
26.
27.
There are also German remnants, of course, but the French are beyond competition! :)
28.
Thirst for life.
29.
30.
Do you know that the flag of Tunisia is almost like the flag of Turkey, only the crescent with a star is not white, but in a white circle in the middle of a red cloth?
31.
It looks like we are back in the market quarters again, only here there are not stalls, but shops with all sorts of things that are very similar to souvenir shops.
32.
Although there are no direct rays of the sun, it shines quite decently from the sky; the shadow doesn’t really help.
33.
There is a shop in every gateway. You can wander around and get lost.
34.
If you get lost, eat!
35.
Or buy an Aladdin's lamp and summon the genie!
36.
100% travel store.
37.
As much as I don’t like it when everything is tattered, here it is quite harmonious, oriental, and doesn’t smell like Africa at all. Or is this not Africa at all?
38.
39.
The inscriptions in Arabic tell us: you guys are in the Middle East! :)
40.
And we want to rush out to the bus and time is running out, but we can’t find a way out, everything seems the same.
41.
An attractive shop, it’s very good that I decided to fly without luggage and I only had 10 dinars with me. I won’t buy any junk, I’ll look at the photo and that’s enough.
42.
At one point I couldn’t resist and decided to look at the bag, I shouldn’t have. I spent 10 minutes talking with the seller, who didn’t know how to sell it to me. It cost 150 dinars, and I had 10 times less, he didn’t know how bad my Russian was and almost bargained with himself, lowering and lowering the price, inviting me to name mine. :)
43.
Tell me, is it possible to buy everything you like? In my opinion, it’s easier to give yourself the mindset not to buy anything. No one cares about any souvenirs, if you bring them, people will put them on the shelf at best, and at worst they will throw them away immediately after you leave and do the right thing. Who needs other people's impressions?
44.
How do you like the cell? In my opinion she is gorgeous!
45.
The feeling of beauty did not leave the people of Dzherbin after the departure of the French.
46.
It is not necessary to stay in all-inclusive hotels; you can probably stay in those near the market. It will be much cheaper and more unusual, but who among our tourists will agree to this?
47.
We made another circle and went out to the bus. So it's time to leave. No one was left on this bitch, everyone returned safe and sound, the capital of Djerba passed the security check by a group of Russian journalists and bloggers.
48.
A couple of photos of spontaneous markets from the bus window. The widest range!
49.
The prices are certainly very attractive. :)
50.
Citizens, can you give me a lift to the city? It’s so hot, and why are you bundled up? Is it really okay that in the winter it will be +20, you’ll wrap yourself in pukhari? :)
51.
This concludes the story about Houmt-Suk. Write letters and ask questions in the comments, and in the meantime I’ll go look for some threads from photographs of Dagestan or I’ll tinker around in Djerba, we were there for 4 whole days, and this is at least a month of stories later, and it’s already the third, but still more photos there are unpublished and interesting ones, believe me! :)
52.
Thank you for your attention!
— Just married?
- Yes Yes...Yes Yes (we have been married for 1.5 years, but we are still on our honeymoon)
Well, since you asked, it will probably be a luxurious room with a good view. Never been so wrong. They gave me the keys to a disgusting room, for example: the water in the shower did not drain, the furniture was old, someone mistakenly called the phone twice at night, etc. Then, after inspecting the room, we went to dinner: there were a lot of people, the waiters were not approaching, we had to run to the room on our own everyone and beg for something, either cutlery, bottled water, or something else. After dinner, upset, we decided to go to bed, since “the morning is wiser than the evening.” Getting up in the morning in a good mood, the first thing we did was run to the reception to change our room, fortunately, the reception service fulfilled our request right away. This time the room was much better than the previous one: spacious room, newer furniture, much better bathroom and good view from the balcony. The only thing we are willing to give a bad rating for is the cleaning. They cleaned disgustingly, we constantly had to show where they hadn’t cleaned/swept, what was missing, at first we tried to give tips in hand - it was useless, we complained to the administrators - it was useless, soon we gave up and stopped leaving tips. After moving in, we went to breakfast and the impressions were completely different: friendly waiters, many free seats (on the terrace or inside the restaurant) and a varied breakfast menu. After breakfast we decided to take a closer look at the hotel; it is worth noting that the territory is almost an entire microdistrict: a huge main building with a beautiful hall, many bungalows, several swimming pools, many restaurants, bars and even a hookah bar. The hotel has the first coastline and its own beach with fine and white sand. The sea, by the way, is very clean and transparent, but there was a small problem - a lot of algae accumulated during the night, and every morning the hotel staff promptly cleaned the beach with the help of equipment. The animation in the hotel is simply superb, 100 points out of 100. I was lucky enough to take part in the “Mr. Hotel” competition (this competition was held once every two weeks), in addition, we took part in a variety of entertainment, archery, played golf, did gymnastics, sometimes we won prizes (every evening before the next show we were awarded certificates, a small thing, but nice). And also, before dinner, we always participated in competitions from the hotel, the winners received valuable prizes (souvenir plates, a ride on ATVs/jet skis, a session in the SPA, etc.), I was also lucky enough to win a valuable prize - a ride on ATVs.
As for food for lunch and dinner. The menu is varied, there are few times when something is repeated. There was everything: crabs, cream soups, pasta and sauces, baked goods, delicacies, salads, roasts, pilaf, fish, fruits, ice cream, donuts, pizza, pancakes, various alcoholic/non-alcoholic drinks, etc. Nevertheless, we We made sure that on the first day we arrived at the very end of closing, which is why we had a bad impression.
All routes for tourists visiting Tunisia lead to sunny island Djerba, where you sunbathe and swim all year round. Ancient history Djerbs sing the same ancient myths, and famous island became thanks to the sea tramps of the Phoenicians, who stocked up here with purple dye.
The island belonged to the Carthaginians and Romans, the founders of a stone road that stretched from the city of Zarzis on the continent to the island along a narrow isthmus. Djerba was inhabited by Berbers, Jews, Turks, Silicians, Spaniards and Normans. Their stay has been preserved historical monuments antiquities, including Djerba mosques and ancient residential buildings-menzeli.
Sights of the island of Djerba
In 1560, the pirate Drogut Reis erected the terrible Borj al-Rus tower. Five thousand skulls of Christian adherents who fought the pirates went into its construction.
The main town of the island is Houmt Souk, which translates as “shopping quarter”. The streets of the Medina are full of life thanks to the inns. While visiting the old quarters, you can go to the three mosques of Djerba, which were erected in different eras by different peoples inhabiting the island. The Turks built the Eh Sheikh Mosque, Jamaa Ettruk. The fortress of Borj Gazi Mustafa is also located here. The construction of the Museum, located in the building of the mausoleum of an Islamic saint, dates back to the 17th century. The exhibitions tell about folk art, traditions, and knowledge of the people. In the vicinity of Khumit Suqi there is the famous Abu Messwer Mosque.
The ensemble of Djerba mosques is complemented by the famous landmark of the city of Houmt Souk - the Jamaa al-Gorba mosque. It is called a mosque for foreigners. All three ancient buildings were built with decoration and architecture influenced by different religious movements.
Tourists always strive to visit each of the mosques because of its historical value. In 717 according to the Christian calendar (according to the Hijri - in 93), Malik ibn Anas ibn Amir, the founder of Malekism, an Islamic movement, was born in Medina. The ancient Jamaa al-Ghorba mosque in Djerba was named in his honor by his followers.
A feature of the ancient architectural landscape of Houmt Souk is square menzels with domes instead of roofs. This view is complemented by the Jamaa al-Ghorba Mosque with its ancient buildings.
Capital of the island of Djerba
The capital of the island of Djerba, Houmt Souk, with 64,000 inhabitants, is called the “big bazaar” with the small mosque of Jamaa al-Ghorba in Djerba. Followers of Sheikh Malik ibn Anas come here to pay tribute to his memory. The narrow streets become even more crowded due to the abundance of tourists.
The oldest European settlement opens to visitors the ancient synagogue of Djerba, like the Jamaa al-Ghorba mosque, one of the main monasteries for Jewish believers, which has become a landmark of the island, as well as fonduks - formerly inns where wanderers and traders of the Ottoman era settled . Now tourists are interested in the stunning view from the Borj al-Kebir fortress, built in the 13th century.
Along Mohammed Ferjani Street you can get to Hedi Shaker Square. Nearby there is a market with a Turkish mosque. Tourists do not forget to visit the tomb (zaouya) of Sidi Brahim, located on the street of Moncef Bey.
Locals are proud of the sights of the island and the capital, but not only the Jamaa al-Ghorba mosque, where followers of Malekism pray, but also the ancient square, named after Sidi Brahim, the Mosque of Wanderers.
