Travel Guide Sidi Bou Saïd

Suspended above the Gulf of Tunis, the small town of Sidi Bou Saïd is today a popular stopover during a first visit to the country. Numerous poems and songs have celebrated the praises of this luminous city perched on the side of the sea. The visit is pleasant at the end of winter and in spring, when tourists of all nationalities have not yet invaded the site. In this season, the lights are particularly beautiful, or in the morning for breakfast, when the sun shaves the white walls of the city.This small town, which the Romans laconically called "the hill" or "promontory of Carthage", became, thanks to the precepts of the Sufi who gave it his name in 1207, one of the ramparts of Islam against the infidels coming from the sea. It is today a city that knows how to welcome new visitors, from Tunisia or elsewhere, to reveal its charms. In a few decades, Sidi Bou Said, with its blue and white houses organized around a handful of streets, has become almost as famous as the rich Carthage, its neighbor with a history dating back several thousand years. It owes its two favorite colors to Baron d'Erlanger who, in 1905, convinced the Bey of the time to impose by decree the white and blue that still make its international reputation today.You can start, without entering the village, by going down to the port. The sea front is superb, the beach pleasant; the views, on the sea as on the village, are worth a photo break. The red ochre rock of the Hamilcar cliff is topped by beautiful Moorish villas. The sea is almost turquoise blue. Going up to the small city center, Sidi Bou Said invites you to laziness: you sit at the bottom of the steps of a white staircase, on a balcony and of course on a terrace to sip a coffee or a mint tea, and you contemplate the sea while looking for the words of a poem or a song in honor of the city. Near the zaouïa of Sidi Bou Saïd, patron saint of the village and protector of sailors, is a mosque. From the zaouïa, you can go down to the port by a stairway, pedestrian and flowery. A little further, another stone staircase joins the sea, passing in front of dar Zarrouk, one of the most beautiful houses of Sidi Bou Said, transformed into a hotel-restaurant. At the end of the main street, a beautiful panorama embraces the gulf, the port and the village.