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Monastir

city in Tunisia

36km

35.766710.8167

El Jem

Tunisian town

42km

35.310.7167

Sousse

Tunisian town

56km

35.833310.6333

Kairouan

Tunisian town

108km

35.6763888910.10166667

Djerba

island in Tunisia

158km

33.7833333310.88333333
Sights (13)

Great Mosque of Mahdiya

Located on the southern side of the peninsula on which the old city was located; built in 916 CE, after the founding of the city within the walls built by the Caliphate on an artificial platform reclaimed from the sea.

695m

35.50389611.072054

Great Mosque of Monastir

Built in the 9th century and then enlarged over the centuries. It now includes a prayer room and a minaret, and doesn't have a courtyard inside. Off-limits to non-Muslims.

24km

35.6710.8925

Lamta Archaeological Museum

The ancient city of Leptiminus is located about 10 km south of Monastir. It was founded by Phoenician sailors around the 12th century BC. The modern city of Lamta was built on top of this ancient city, thus leaving almost nothing of it. Although some remnants from the times of Leptiminus can still be found in this museum.

26km

35.6769444410.87722222

Ribat of Monastir

This fortified monastery is located next to the sea and provides a great visit with most of the ruins open to clamber over. It may be familiar as it has been used in several films as a stand in for Jerusalem, most notably Monty Python's Life of Brian. You can climb the tower and have a nice view over the coastline and city.

36km

35.776110.8329

Amphitheatre of El Jem

The amphitheater dominates the modern town, and was also featured in several scenes of the film Gladiator. The amphitheater is best seen at dawn or sunset, and this is also the best time for taking photographs. While the grounds may be closed during sunrise or sunset, photographs of the site from the surrounding streets are certainly possible.

44km

35.2963888910.70694444

El Djem Archaeological Museum

It has a large selection of mosaics and one restored Roman Villa, which has all the mosaics in place and gives a real feel for their style of living. Adjoining this is the rest of this area of Roman Thysdrus, with the streets and floor plans laid out over a large area showing the variations to the house and villa plan.

44km

35.2897222210.70472222

Great Mosque of Sousse

A surprisingly tranquil place despite its location in the middle of the city. Built c. 850 AD, this mosque is simple and austere in the Aghlabite style, no decoration whatsoever aside from a string of angular Arabic and curved arches. Even the prayer room is covered in reed mats instead of the usual carpet. You must be properly dressed to enter, but green wraps can be rented for a token fee to cover up.

55km

35.8269444410.63972222

Ribat of Sousse

Whilst not as impressive or extensive as the Ribat in Monastir this fortified holy site is a worthwhile visit and served as home to a branch of Islamic warriors very similar in nature and creed as the Hospitaller Knights that lived in Rhodes. Climbing to the top of the watch tower affords you fantastic views over the Medina.

56km

35.827710.6388

Port El Kantaoui

seaside resort in Tunisia

63km

35.89410.598

Great Mosque of Kairouan

One of the finest Islamic buildings in North Africa and rewards closer inspection. Non Muslims are not permitted into the prayer hall, but the doors are open to allow you to view inside. Access to the main courtyard is available to all. The columns throughout the complex were taken from Carthage, the wooden ceiling from Lebanese cedar wood. In the courtyard, there are indents into the floor with varying sizes for camel or dromedary hoofs, or human feet, for washing before prayers. On the tiny platform in the middle of the courtyard, there is also four black pins on a board that tells the prayer times by the sun. Facing the prayer room, on one of the left columns is also a last black pin marking the night prayer by moonlight.

108km

35.6813888910.10388889

Mosque of Three Doors

mosque in Tunisia

112km

35.403710.061

Raqqada

Raqqāda is the site of the second capital of the 9th-century dynasty of Aghlabids, located about ten kilometers southwest of Kairouan. The site now houses the National Museum of Islamic Art. Which specializes in medieval Islamic art and includes works from Kairouan, Raqqada and Al-Mansuriya, a former princely city built in the Fatimid period.

112km

35.59624310.0569

Kerkouane

archaeological site in Tunisia

129km

36.9463888911.09916667
Nature

we will see

Mahdia

Tunisia
Someday we will visit Mahdia or begin to dream about going there! However, for now its not on our radar. Let us know in the comments if you think that should change!

Mahdia

Mahdia is a city in Northern Tunisia, set along a superb coastline with a blue sea, as well as historical town full of tradition.

The old part of Mahdia corresponds to the Roman city called Aphrodisium and, later, called Africa (a name perhaps derived from the older name), or Cape Africa. The Catholic Church's list of titular sees includes a no longer residential bishopric called Africa and, since there is no record of an episcopal see in Roman times called by either of these names (nor by that of Alipota, another Roman town that Charles Tissot suggested tentatively might be represented by present-day Mehdia), it is supposed that the episcopal see of Africa was established when the city was held by the Kingdom of Sicily, as a part of the Kingdom of Africa (1147–1160) and when Pope Eugene III consecrated a bishop for it in 1148. An inventory of movable property of the church of Africa (inventarium thesauri Africani) exists in an archive of the Cappella Palatina of Palermo in Sicily.

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Climate

Average temperatures

Jan

9.7°C2
Precipitation: 52 mm

Feb

11°C2.6
Precipitation: 41 mm

Mar

13.6°C4.8
Precipitation: 42 mm

Apr

16.4°C7.5
Precipitation: 33 mm

May

21.2°C11.1
Precipitation: 42 mm

Jun

26.5°C15.7
Precipitation: 19 mm

Jul

31.7°C19.7
Precipitation: 4 mm

Aug

31.5°C19.9
Precipitation: 5 mm

Sep

26.6°C16.2
Precipitation: 22 mm

Oct

20.4°C11
Precipitation: 35 mm

Nov

14.4°C6
Precipitation: 48 mm

Dec

9.9°C2.8
Precipitation: 49 mm
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