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One hour of Hammamet, Tunis takes you by surprise with
his/her/its modern passageways of conference, hotels and
banks, clear yellow taxicabs that rush some passengers to a
commercial lunch, the whole hustle and thrash about of a
modern Mediterranean city. Steel and mixture of the glass
with the baroque, the palms look below at the chic
boutiques, the gardens and coffees.
As you the narrow streets enter, the centuries pass and, as
Alice, walk in the stingy glass to a world other. Small
stores, their treasures of copper, wood green olive, leather
and brilliantly the colorful clothes spill outside in the
street. The memories, antiques, jewelry of the berber,
carpets and pottery vie for your attention. Continue, if you
can resist their lures, upwards toward the Olivier's Mosque,
Ez Zitouna, as old as the city him and the heart of the
Medina.
Rebuilds in the 9th century, the Zitouna Ez was for the
centuries the focal point of life in the Arabian city as
urbanism enacted the order in which the different trades
have been placed, and noblest, booksellers, perfume shops,
sellers of the fruits dried and traders of cloth valued the
privilege of proximity the Mosque. Today one can see more
traces of this tradition - the Souk of Perfumes, the
traditional stores of the clothing, almond and sellers of
the spice are localized again along his/her/its walls.
The medina, or cheap, is a wealth of old palaces, mosques
and centers of trade and to learn, a living museum. Dar Ben
Abdullah, Dar Hussein, El Dar Bey,Dar El Jeld, Dar El
Haddad, Dar Othman, once the residences of rich traders or
ministers now accommodate the cultural centers, the
restaurants or the government's agencies.
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