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Here came another Sunday. What could be the best thing to spend time on Sunday than traveling to beautiful places you’ve never been with your friends? So again we hit the road toward inner southern part of Tunisia to Kairouan and El Jem. Well, initially we didn’t plan to go to El Jem but since we found out that El Jem was not too far from Kairouan we decided to continue the trip to El Jem instead of going back to Tunis.

We left Tunis at around 10 AM, 5 people in a rented Ford Focus that I use for daily work. Yes, it is a bit over capacity but to have 2 cars for 5 people is also a bit over stretching. We took highway toward Sousse and kept the speed steady at around 100 – 110 KM/hours. Just after few kilometers outside Tunis, I heard meows from somewhere inside the car. I thought it was from radio, but when switched off the radio, I still could hear it. Afraid that the cat might be in the engine room, I immediately pulled over, turned off the engine and opened the hood. Surprisingly it’s true, there was a small but wild (and looked weary) inside the engine room ! Since the cat refused to be lifted, we waited couple of minutes until it left the car.

I turned right on the exit to Kairouan (the Kairouan exit was just before Sousse’s one) and went through normal road to Kairouan. I brought a road map with me, but just by following the road signboards is enough to get to Kairouan. I consider the road signboards in Tunisia are pretty good; it’s not the first time I reach my destination by relying on the them.

After around 170 KM driving we arrived in Kairouan and went to main tourism attraction in this city, Grand Mosque of Kairouan. The Grand Mosque of Kairouan is also known as The Mosque of Uqba, named after Uqba ibn Nafi, an Arab general who built the mosque in 670 A.D. The mosque is built over 900 meters square and has vast courtyard with sundial and sink to collect rainwater (note that Kairouan is located in arid area). The minaret which is used to call for prayer, is said to be the first one built in a mosque as earlier mosques did not have minarets.

The prayer hall is closed for non-Moslems but at times when the doors are opened one can see through the doorways. The mosque opens from Monday to Sunday from 8:00 to 14:00 except on Monday where it opens for visitor from 8:00 to midday.

We took our chance to pray in this historical mosque then went on visiting Aghlabid pools, not far from the Mosque, it’s on the border of Kairouan when you enter from Sousse direction. The pools are used for water reservoir and were constructed in 9^th century. The water didn’t look so clean though.

Here we decided to change the plan, instead of going back to Tunis, we would find the way to El Jem. Later on we found out that it turned out to be the best decision of the day. But for now, let’s enjoy some pictures from Kairouan !

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