Visiting Bizerte

The Travel Pages visits the city of Bizerte in Tunisia, the most northerly city in North Africa and easily reached from the capital, Tunis.

Of the day trips possible north of Tunis, the coastal city of Bizerte has the most appeal and the easiest access: trains, buses and louages all regularly cover the 65 km (40 miles) distance between them. If planning on visiting Bizerte, Tuesday and Saturday are the town’s two market days.

Bizerte was founded by the Phoenicians inbetween Lac Bizerte and the Mediterranean. They immediately dug a canal to connect the two and be able to use the lake as a sheltered port.

Visiting Bizerte’s Old Port

The most attractive part of the town is the much smaller Old Port, with its fishing boats, whitewashed houses, cafés, and backdrop of the massive kasbah on one side and the smaller Sidi Henni fortress on the other.

Visiting Bizerte’s Kasbah

The mainly 17th-century kasbah is impossible to miss, though the entrance to it is much less obvious. From the waterfront, turn down rue de Kasbah which runs beside its western wall, and look for the small gateway which was built to make the fortress harder to attack. The main defence was the walls themselves, 10 meters (33 feet) high in places and up to 11 meters (36 feet) thick.

The gateway leads into a warren of streets, and a feeling of having stepped back in time to an almost medieval way of life, scarcely touched by modernity. The kasbah mosque is in a small square almost immediately inside the gate. This was also built in the 17th century, and its minaret, tiles and decorated arch are very photogenic. Off here the maze of streets can be explored, before returning to the sole entrance into the kasbah.

Visiting Bizerte’s Spanish Fort

Turn right out of the entrance and then keep walking ahead towards the Spanish Fort (Fort d’Espagne). This is beyond the old Andalusian quarter of Bizerte, and off to the right is the attractive Mosque des Andalous. Two cemeteries are located on the hillside below the fort itself, and despite its name this huge structure was built by the Turks in the 16th century. There isn’t much to see inside it these days, although a theatre there is used for concerts. The fort’s best aspects are the view of it as you approach, and the view from it when you reach it.

Bizerte’s Great Mosque

Returning towards the kasbah entrance, turn right just before it along rue des Armuriers. This leads into the medina, which is an interesting place to visit though not as large or having as many souks as the Tunis medina. Further along rue des Armuriers is Bizerte’s Great Mosque.

The Great Mosque was built in 1652 but is off-limits to non-Moslems behind its high wall. Its prominent octagonal minaret is highly visible, though, and highly attractive too with its hanging balcony and decorative tiles. A little further along rue des Armuriers and off to the right is the most interesting souk, the Ironworkers’ Souk (souk des forgerons) where the blacksmiths congregate amid great noise and colour.

Place Siahedine Bouchoucha

Continuing on rue des Armuriers and turning left leads to the large central Place Siahedine Bouchoucha, where the fish market and the Rbaa Mosque can be found, and where the Tuesday and Saturday markets are held.

Continuing on and walking round the southern side of the old port leads to the Sidi Henni fort, built at the same time as the kasbah in the 17th century to guard this side of the entrance to the port. It now contains the Musée de la Mer (Oceanographic Museum) The small museum has an aquarium of sorts but its best feature is the café with a relaxing sea-view terrace.