From museums to mosques and from sand to souks, the bustling capital of Tunis is the perfect introduction to Tunisia on Africa’s north coast. Housed in a 19th-century palace, the world-famous Bardo National Museum tells fascinating tales of the region’s rich history and is especially recognized for its outstanding collections of mosaics. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the Medina of Tunis hearkens back to the 12th through 16th centuries when the city was one of the greatest and wealthiest in the Islamic world. Here you’ll find more than 700 historic monuments, including mosques, palaces and mausoleums, as well as numerous souks selling textiles, fragrances, jewelry and more. On the coast near the port stands a completely different UNESCO World Heritage site, the extensive archaeological ruins of ancient Carthage, which tell the story of millennia of successive empires from the Phoenicians to the Romans to the Arabs.
