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".