Olives in Tunisia

Tunisia is the fourth producer of olive oil in the world after Spain, Italy and Greece.
The olive tree occupies two thirds of the tree surface with 1.7 million hectares of which 1.5 million hectares in full allocated 1.4 million hectares of olive oil and 19 thousand ha of table olives.

The total number of trees is estimated at about 60 million tree with 309 thoudsand operators representing 60% of farmers.
By region, the olive oil in the open are located in the north 14%, 67% in the center and 19% in the south.

The table olives are 74% north, 20.3% in the center and 5.7% south.
The governorates of Sfax, Médenine Sidi Bouzid include 22%, 12% and 12% of olive-growing areas of the country.

The average production of olive oil is about 1 million tons equivalent of 200 thousand tons of oil of which 25% are classified as extra virgin. 

Oil production represents 13% of total agricultural production, 16% of the value added in agriculture and 44% of the production tree.

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Tunisian traditional carpets

Traditional Tunisian carpet called locally "Zarbya" is manely made with pure sheep wool and naturel pigments. The traditional zarbya is generally hand made and we can find a lots of types : Normal zarbya, Margoum, klim...
Tunisian carpet motifs are inspired mainly from Amazigh heritage.
The capital of Zarbya in Tunisia is the city of Kairouan

Margoum

Zarbya

Zarbya

Klim

Zarbya

Amazigh motifs

Margoum

Margoum

Margoum

Margoum

Saddaya, used to fix the carpet wire while making it

Amazigh motifs

Zarbyas

Klim

Hand made Zarbya

What is the difference between Tunisian and Turkish Baklava?

Baklava is a delicious sweet knwon in the middle east, Turkey and North Africa. Tunisian Baklava is known by its relative hardness compared to Turkish one wich is smoother and sweeter. Contrarely to the Turkish Baklava wich is manely made with pistachio, Tunisian Baklava is manely made with almond and hazelnut, we can also find some pichtachio and peenut. There is also some difference in the shape between Tunisian and Turkish Baklava, Turkish one is generally square while Tunisian traditional Baklava is lozenge.

Tunisian Baklava

Turkish Baklava

Chichkhan jewelry

Chichkhan is a popular style of jewelry in Tunisia that goes back to the Ottoman period.  The good antique "chichkhan" (gold and or silver set with lots of 'diamonds') were also made in red gold, sometimes with real gems.

El Djem amphitheater

El Djem is famous for its amphitheater, often incorrectly called a Colosseum (roughly translated from Latin as 'that thing by the Colossus'), which is capable of seating 35,000 spectators. Only the Flavian Amphitheater in Rome (about 50,000 spectators) and the ruined theatre of Capua are larger. The amphitheatre at El Djem was built by the Romans under proconsul Gordian, who was acclaimed Emperor at Thysdrus, around 238 and was probably mainly used for gladiator shows and chariot races (like in Ben-Hur). Many tourists come here to see what it was like to be inside what was once a place where lions and people met their fate. Much of it is crumbled but the essence of it still remains. It is also possible that construction of the amphitheatre was never finished.

Until the 17th century it remained more or less whole. From then on its stones were used for building the nearby village of El Djem and transported to the Great Mosque in Kairouan, and at a tense moment during struggles with the Ottomans, the Turks used cannons to flush rebels out of the amphitheatre.

The ruins of the amphitheatre were declared a World Heritage Site in 1979.

Tunisian traditional breads

Here some of many traditional Tunisian breads:

1. Tabouna:

The tabouna bread is a traditional Tunisian bread baked along the walls of a traditional clay oven, called himself tabouna.
Made from flour, the bread tabouna has a round shape rather flattened. It is most often decorated on its upper side with sesame seeds.
The name tabouna can have different regional names. Thus, in the northwest of Tunisia (as in Beja), this bread is called jerdga (singular) or jredeg (plural) while the furnace is called tabouna Gouja.

     2. Mlawi:

the mlawi is a laminated bread that is eaten as it is or stuffed with different ingredients such as eggs, tuna, cheese, harissa ...

3. Mtabga:

"The typical Tunisian Mtabga is an essential specialty of southern Tunisia. It is a kind of Berber pizza, tangy and spicy sometimes, also called "kesra bech'ham" because it is flavored with lamb fat, trimmed especially in the tail "liya".

Neroli water extraction

Tunisian families are known by home neroli water extraction every year. Between the end of April and the begining of May, you can smill the neroli amazing smilling every where especially in northern Tunisia.

Neroli flower

The flowers or "zhar" as it's called in tunisian arabic are cultivated when it still closed and tunisian women extract neroli water by water steam with handmade extractors called kattar.

Neroli water is very used in tunisian cuisine, mainly in deserts and sweets, it's also known by its medicinal benefits in aromatherapy, massage and it is considered to have a soothing effect on the nervous system. More than 12% of all modern quality perfumes use neroli as their principal ingredient.Tunisian women put neroli water in glass vials called "fechka". Fechkas are tradionally dressed with fabric or painting coverage to evoid neroli oil oxydation by light effect.

Big Fechka statue, Bni khyar, Tunisia

Bizerta in photos

Discover the city of Bizerta, Tunisia in photos

Bizerta mobile bridge

Canal of Bizerta

Bridge of Bizerta 

Bizerta old hurber

Old Bizerta

Pictutre taken from Bizerta bridge

Rimel beach

 

Rimel forest

Rimel forest

Chaara bay

Chaara bay

Bulla Regia archaeological site

This site is located in the northwest of Tunisia. It is a Roman original site characterized by villas that have an underground level, which previously used as sheltered from the sweltering summer heat of the region.

Underground Villas

In Bulla Regia you can see Mosïques, Theatre, Baths ans even more so why not to include it in your possible future targets?

Mosaïque

By visiting this site, you will discover how people of that time adapt with climat difficulties.

Statue

The Roman theatre entries

Mosaïque

Romain theatre

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