CARTHAGE, ONCE THE RIVAL OF ROME
By Bob Van Leer

  (LA GOULETTE, TUNISIA, Sunday, Jan.7, 2001) - This is the port city for Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, which we toured today. This is also the location of Carthage, once rival of Rome for control of the ancient world.

  Our ship, Pacific Princess, docked here this morning after a short run from Malta. Betty and I took a day-long tour around northern Tunisia.

  Tunisia is about the size of Georgia in the U. S. with a population of about 9.6 million (July 2000). The population is young with 30% under 14. Our tour guide said unemployment among young people is 27% which helps explain the number of young men sitting at sidewalk cafes killing time.

  Our guide said the workday is from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

  Saturday and Sunday are days off even though 98% of the population is Muslim.    This is a mostly Muslim nation, but western dress predominates.

  This is old country. Phoenicians settled here is the ninth century B.C. and ruled until the first century B.C. They mixed with the Berbers and built the great city of Carthage.
It was the Carthaginian general Hannibal who invaded Rome with 50,000 men, 12,000 horsemen and 37 elephants and inflicted a series of defeats against the Romans. Their rule lasted for 800 years until Carthage was defeated by the Romans in 146 A.D.

  The Romans not only captured Carthage, they razed the city and, for good reason, spread salt over the site to sterilize it.

  Rome ruled until the fourth century until overturned by north European tribes. Muslims conquered the area in the seventh century and Tunisia was later assimilated into the Turkish Ottoman Empire. France took over in 1881 and ruled until independence.

  When we began our tour, our first instructions were "don'ts". Don't take pictures of the presidential palace, military installations, police and others. Tourism is a leading part of Tunisia's economy, but in some ways there is not much accommodation to tourists.

  English is the international language now, but signs in museums and parks we visited are in Arabic and French only. This is particularly difficult in museums. We toured the Bardo Museum which has an outstanding display of Roman mosaics but the only signs in English were "Don't Touch". At a government-run shop at ruins of a Roman bath, only Tunisian money was accepted.

  After the museum we went to the Medina. Medina is an Arab word for "city" but today usually means the old Arab quarter. Streets are narrow, alleys really, and windy. Many shops were closed but there were enough open for tourist shopping. Pushy street peddlers hawk their wares and if you express an interest in anything you are hounded.

  We toured Carthage, or what little remains. Two ports built by the Carthaginians are still there, a military and a commercial port. The Romans built their buildings on top of the ruins of the buildings of Carthage. In turn, Roman buildings were razed and excavations show the ruins piled on ruins. Some needs don't change with time. At one excavated site, a large public bath, there were several arched rooms uncovered. One of these was being used as a garage for a front-end loader.

  The next two days will be at sea. We sail from Tunisia to Gibraltar and then exit the Mediterranean and turn southwest in the Atlantic Ocean to Casablanca, Morocco.