Djerba Island
Djerba Island is the largest island off the Mediterranean coast of Africa, located in the Gulf of Gabes, 120 km from the Libyan border. The island claims to be the land of the Lotophagi, described by Homer in his Odyssey as an ideal place where a wanderer can stay forever. In the legendary tale, Odysseus and his companions enjoyed the pleasantly narcotic lotus fruit here, which they were fortified with after battles. Today, there is a modern version of the famed elixir – the local drink bukha, a fermented alcohol made from figs or dates.
General Information
The small, palm-framed mythical island of Djerba is beautiful, but there are many tourists rushing here not only to relax on the wonderful beaches, but also to see the unique houses and mosques. There are many date farms and olive groves on the island. The whitewashed mosques with strong walls (this is unusual for Tunisia) shine in the bright sunlight. Cycling around the island is an excellent way to experience its charms.
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Fishing is thriving on Djerba, with fish still being caught using traditional methods. In the harbor you can see long rows of terracotta pots strung on a rope, each one shaped like a turnip and about 45 centimeters high. At the top of each pot, a string is tied around the rim. Tied one to the other, the fishermen leave the pots in the sea a few miles from the shore. For some inexplicable reason, these pots literally attract octopuses – they have been caught this way since the Phoenicians discovered this method of fishing 3,000 years ago..The island of Djerba is connected to the mainland by a 6.5 km long road embankment, which is believed to date back to Roman times. It is said that this island is the mysterious place where Odysseus met the lotophagi, “lotus eaters”. Unlike Odysseus, many of the vacationers who have ever been to Djerba come here again. The climate here is very pleasant, people are friendly, the beaches are beautiful and extensive, and away from the coast, despite all the pressure of seaside mass tourism, still preserved traditional provincial Tunisia. The water supply is now provided by two trunk pipelines coming from the mainland.
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The architecture of the Ibadis of Djerba is also different from what we see in the cities. Menzels and mosques are built of clay and whitewashed on the outside. Each such structure is like a small fortress: it is surrounded by high walls and has a tank that collects water from the scanty rains. The soft building material does not allow for smooth lines or right angles, and so the architectural forms seem very soft, fluid, and alive.
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Two towns, Hara Segira and Hara Kebira, were founded by Jews, who are believed to have settled on Djerba as early as the 6th century B.C. Written references to the Jewish community on the island of Djerba are known from the 11th century.
Humt Souk
Houmt Souk is the capital of the island, and for a long time it was the only major settlement on Djerba. The bazaar gathered here, hence the name houmt souk, “bazaar quarter”. Despite its importance for trade, nowadays this bazaar occupies a rather modest area. When residents of Djerba go shopping, they prefer modern stores or the “Libyan Market” on the outskirts of the city, which sells a mixture of second hand and smuggled goods.
.The best way to enter the souk is from the east side, from Rue Abdel Hamid el-Khadi (Rue Abdel Hamid el-Khadi). Two mosques flank the narrow entrance to the Old City. The Mosquee des Etrangers (Mosquee des Etrangers), with its square minaret and white domes over the prayer hall, as its name suggests, was intended for “aliens” visiting the Humt Souq.
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Opposite it stands the Mosque of Ibrahim el-Jemni, founded in 1674, with its own hamam a few steps away. A narrow alleyway leads to the pretty Place Hedi Chaker and on to Place Farhat Hached, where cafes and restaurants await between flowering bougainvilleas and hibiscus bushes. Along the way you’ll come across the caravanserais (foundouk) for which Humt Suk is so famous. The caravanserais used to be the place where traders stayed: the first floor housed goods and pack animals, while the second floor had rooms for guests. Today, hotels such as the Er-Riadh or Touring Club offer a taste of this caravanserai atmosphere – provided you’re willing to forgo the in-room shower.
.North of both squares lies the bazaar (Souk), partly covered, where you can find many jewelry shops. Gold has been handled for centuries by the Jewish inhabitants of Djerba, because the Berbers consider the metal to be impure. In addition to jewelry, the bazaar sells woven carpets, pottery and clothes, but all at rather high prices. If you come here in the morning, you can get to the fish auction. Freshly caught fish are praised at the top of their voices, the seller holds a whole bunch of them high above his head, resellers jostle, bid, shout.
At the northern end of the bazaar, near Place Arisha, you’ll find another caravanserai and a Catholic church, where services have now resumed.
.Rue Taieb M’hiri leads past the seven domes and round minaret of the Turkish Mosque (Jamaa Et Trouk) to the northern outskirts of Humt Suk and the harbor. Here, dominating everything, stands Fort Ghazi Moustapha, built in the 15th century on Roman foundations. It was the scene of one of the most gruesome atrocities of the infamous corsair Dragut, who began his career in the service of the Ottomans, but soon broke away and struck fear into the Mediterranean neighbors with his fleet. In 1560, when Dragut stormed the fort, some 6,000 Spaniards were sheltering in the fort. They were captured and beheaded. From their skulls, Dragut had an ominous tower built in front of the fort, which was described by travelers in the 19th century. It is commemorated today by an obelisk.
Opposite and aslant is the Haroun Restaurant, which used to be considered the best in Djerba. Here you can sit beautifully, but the price and quality are no longer clearly do not correspond to each other. The same “Nagoip” organizes excursion trips to Flamingo Island (lie des Flamants). On this peninsula set up camping tablecloths and treat Tunisian delicacies, while the water serenely wander flamingos, searching for food at the bottom.
.It will be very interesting to visit the Humt Suka Museum, equipped in the halls of the zawiyah on Abdel-Hamid el-Kadi Street. The zawiyah is the religious center of the Muslim community. Most often a zawiyah consists of the tomb of its founder, a mosque and rooms where pilgrims can stay. The museum displays traditional clothing and wonderful jewelry from Djerba. In the kubba, the mausoleum where two saints rest at once, the completely unique construction of the dome made of cylindrical shaped ceramic tubes inserted into each other is striking.
.Hotel areas
Hotels are concentrated on the northeastern ledge of Djerba around the Ras Taguerness promontory.
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At the foot of the lighthouse lies a shallow lagoon where many seabirds gather and where it is very good to walk and watch our feathered brethren.
.Equally close to the lighthouse is a beautiful golf course, a green, slightly uneven 27-hole course where beginners can take an introductory course for a small fee. There is also a large casino.
.The latest novelty among island attractions is the Djerba Explore theme park (next to the lighthouse), which presents the architecture, culture (at the Lalla Hadria Museum) and lifestyle of the Ibadis. A stroll through the recreated Djerba Heritage Village, with its traditional houses and workshops, is enhanced by cafes and souvenir stores. At the large crocodile farm (“Crocod’iles”) near the village you can admire these prehistoric reptiles. The feeding of the crocodiles is quite an impressive spectacle, it starts at around 5pm.
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In the hotel area of Sidi Mahres beach, on the edge that faces Humt Suk, you will find a few hotels and guesthouses of the simpler ones.
.Island tour
Djerba is not a very big island, with an area of only 514 km², and is also almost entirely flat. Its highest point is the clay hills near the village of Guellala (55 meters). The island is therefore ideal for cycling. Bicycles can be rented from hotels and Humt Suk.
.A sightseeing tour of the island in most cases starts in one of the two tourist areas, Sidi Mahres or Segia. The county center and at the same time a popular destination for tourists from hotels is the lively town of Midoun, which used to be a slave market. This explains the fact that many of the inhabitants here have darker skin color than the rest of the Jerbi.
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In the market square, guests will find a grand selection of ceramic dishes and vases. At the Cafe de la Jeunesse, men sit in the shade of an old sycamore tree, sipping coffee, playing dominoes or reading the newspaper. Several good restaurants invite for lunch, among them the pretty La Coucousserie, whose menu offers a surprising variety of couscous-based dishes. In the stadium, a resourceful tourism chief has organized a folkloric celebration, the Berber Wedding (Manage berbere), which attracts tourists from coastal hotels every Tuesday.
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There are two options to continue from Midoun: either turn back to the coast and follow it through Aguirre and El Kantara, or drive inland. The second route is more beautiful, as it passes through the rural part of Djerba with its farms and olive groves. However, before heading west, it is worth taking a slight detour and driving 4km along the road towards Humt Suk to the Fadhloun Mosque. This mosque was abandoned many years ago, but is now open to the public. You can study the distinctive features of the architecture of Djerba through it. In the front courtyard is an impluvium (water catchment): a shallow whitewashed pool with a drain where rainwater was collected and transferred to a cistern underneath. Nearby is a place for ritual ablutions before prayer. Through a narrow passage in the second bypass wall you enter the modest inner courtyard of the mosque and from there into the unadorned prayer hall, which is supported by four massive columns. A narrow staircase takes you up to the minaret and allows you to admire the mosque from above.
.Returning back to Midoun, one can now move inland through the villages of Mahboubine and Bedouine to Cedouikech. a patriarchal place that lives on pottery.
.But more famous in this respect is Guellala, a real potters’ village. However, do not bother to look for simple, unadorned clay jugs in the stalls and markets of Guellala, with shapes reminiscent of the ancient amphorae that have been made here for centuries. Tourist taste breeds supply, and so now everything is lined with ceramics with white-blue-green ornaments, which are actually made in Nabeul. What is made right here is molded from clay mined in the thickness of the hill below Gellala. Over time, mines and tunnels have had to be dug to get to the raw material. The clay products are fired in ancient kilns located half underground. Some of the kilns in Gellala can be viewed – but you’ll be expected to buy a souvenir as a token of your appreciation.
.A noteworthy museum a little away from Gellala tells not only about pottery craft, but also about Tunisian folk customs. Next door, a café-restaurant invites you to grab a bite to eat and a glass of mint tea.
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To the south and to El Kantara you can drive on a well-traveled road along the sea. Along the way you will come across tops placed in shallow places, and in some places clay jars tied with rope are lying on the shore. The fishermen of Djerba catch their prey in the same way as their colleagues in the Kerkenna Islands: they drive a school of fish between two rows of nets, so that the fish swim in a constantly narrowing passage and eventually end up in the trap. Octopuses, on the other hand, are baited with clay jugs, taking advantage of their habit of climbing into dark hiding places – and then the only thing left to do is to lift the jugs with the mollusks in them to the top.
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At El-Kantara begins a causeway that stretches across the sea strait to the mainland. This cofferdam dates back to ancient times, and of course the Roman road (Chaussee romaine) on it has not survived. Near the causeway you can see the water pipes supplying water to Djerba from the mainland. There are no water sources on the island itself, and the scanty rainfall is barely enough for agriculture.
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Moving further inland, the road takes you to El May. Here there is another representative example of the peculiar architecture of the Ibadi Muslims: the white mosque of El May, fortified by high walls and powerful buttresses. Rounded corners and smooth lines soften the appearance of this building, generally quite unfriendly, and deprive it of any formidability. A similar architectural style can be found in the M’zab group of oases in the Algerian Sahara, where Berbers, adherents of one of the strict religious sects, also live.
.Hara Seghira, aka Er-Riadh, is the gateway from the world of Islamic faith to the world of Jewish faith. It is home to the La Ghriba synagogue, the oldest in Africa, which becomes one of the largest pilgrimage sites for North African Jews every year, 30 days after the Jewish Old Testament Passover.
.Jews have lived on Djerba since at least 586. Although historical records are silent on the matter, there is a theory that Jewish refugees ended up in North Africa no later than 70 CE, after the Roman conquest of Jerusalem. The rulers of Islamic dynasties, as a rule, did not touch the Jews. Islam recognized the Jews as “People of the Book” (the Book being the Old Testament) and ranked them higher than “pagans”. True, they, like Christians, had to pay special taxes and live in certain areas of the city called hara or mellah. After the founding of the state of Israel, most Jews left North Africa; there are now about 1,000 of them living in Djerba.
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The current synagogue building dates back to 1920. It is only allowed to enter with a covered head (scarves and hats are available for rent) and without shoes. White and blue colors predominate in the interior decoration, and one can always see elderly men sitting in the twilight studying the Holy Scriptures. The precious Torah scrolls are carefully guarded from the eyes of visitors. They are probably among the oldest Torah lists still in existence in the Jewish world today.
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A charming hotel, conceived as an alternative to hotel rooms for pilgrims, was recently opened in Riad. It is open and not just for Jews. Its restaurant serves Mediterranean cuisine.
