The small island of Djerba lies at the southern end of the Gulf of Gabes approximately five kilometres from the mainland. It has an area of about 500 square kilometres and would be a semi-desert island apart from the determination of Djerba people over the years who have developed 4000 wells. This low-lying island (maximum altitude 38 m) is now a big olive grove, a fruit orchard and a popular holiday location with the main tourist zone on the northern coast supplied with water by an aqueduct.
After breakfast our guide Samir led us on a walking tour in the medina district immediately around our hotel.
The architecture comprises mostly two storey homes with whitewashed surrounding walls. As an initiative to bring tourists to this part of Djerba, the local community elected in the early 2020s to make the village into a ‘street-art’ centre and invited prominent Tunisian artists to display their work.
The wall art we observed was amazing with many hundreds of large images, mostly in colour and having a very broad range of themes.
Street art, Djerba Island
There were strong visual messages of people calling for peace and beautiful paintings of local animals such as the fennec (desert fox) and flamingos.
Octopus street art
Flamingos street art
Fennec (Desert fox) street art
Peugeot 404 utility street art
Still-life scenes and portraits of prominent people were common as well.
Street art
Street art of cyber dissident Lina Ben Mhenni
Some of the art work was showing the effects of time but most was in an extraordinarily good condition. It was pleasing to note that there was no sign of graffiti or attempts to interfere with the artists’ work. The stroll we had around these streets and alleyways was most enjoyable.
We then drove to the El-Ghriba which is Tunisia’s most famous synagogue. The El-Ghriba is about 400 years old and was built on the site of the original synagogue dating back to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. It is an important place of pilgrimage for North African Jews especially during the Passover Festival.
Inside Synagogue El-Ghriba
Although relationships between Muslims and Jews are generally good on Djerba, there was a terrorist attack in 2002 which killed 21 people and damaged part of the synagogue’s interior. Before entering the synagogue we had to pass through a security screening check where there were ‘rapid-response’ police officers with very serious looking guns!
The synagogue’s prayer hall’s twelve windows allude to the Zohar and symbolise the twelve tribes of Israel. The interior is decorated with rich fabrics, wood carvings, chandeliers and ceramic tiles. The Torah is stored in an elaborate wooden cabinet together with numerous religious scrolls.
Sabbath services take place each Saturday but the services are short since the majority of Djerba’s one thousand Jews traditionally have their main sabbath celebrations at home.
Next to the synagogue is a large building which serves as a meeting place and accommodation for visiting Jews. The expansive courtyard is surrounded by two storeys of arched colonnades.
Caravanserai on right hand side of Synagogue El-Ghriba
Our next stop was at the Guellala Museum with exhibits of traditional Tunisian life. The displays are colourful and use waxwork tableaux to conjure up the activities and facets of Tunisian life over the last thousand years or more.
View from Musee de Guellala
Musee de Guellala
There was a major emphasis on the rituals associated with Tunisian marriages, with a number of scenes showing the bride’s seven says of beauty preparation and decoration of her clothing with jewellery.
The fifth and last day of the wedding when the festivities are coming to an end, the bride shows her face uncovered for the first time, the Rite of Jiloua
Rite of traditional circumcision, Musee de Guellala
Other scenes showed traditional bread making, pharmacist/herbalists, fishermen, fortune-tellers, olive oil extraction and a number of others. The most intriguing tableau involved dancing men from the Issaouis sect undergoing trances due to the sustained and loud, rhythmic tribal music. A state of semi-anaesthesia is induced in the dancers who were shown to be undertaking extraordinary acts of self-punishment. One dancer was pressing cactus thorns against his naked chest, another was swallowing live scorpions and a third dancer was pushing an iron nail into his throat! Strange indeed.
The Issaouis, Musee de Guellala
Eating a live scorpion, The Issaouis, Musee de Guellala
The distance we had walked around the extensive museum site was great so cold drinks were necessary before we moved on.
Courtyard, Musee de Guellala
Olive press, Musee de Guellala
A pleasant hour or so was next spent at a large pottery factory in Guellala. Guellala has been the main centre for the production of pottery and ceramics for centuries. This prominence of pottery in this region is due to the availability around Guellala of the very best type of clay needed by potters.
The factory we visited had an outside yard that was jam-packed with thousands of large jars and pots and inside the display and shop area the range of items was phenomenal.
Pottery at Guellala - outside
Pottery at Guellala - intside
We watched a potter with great artistic skill produce a vase, a saucer and teacup using a foot turned potter’s wheel. We were then shown the ancient underground kiln that was used before the days of gas firing. We bought a small and colourful ceramic jar.
Potter at Guellala
Potter making cup at Guellala
We then spent some time in Houmt Souk which is the main city on Djerba. It’s a tourist centre full of shops selling jewellery, clothes and souvenirs.
Of particular interest are the city’s fondouks which are a type of caravanserai built as inns for travelling merchants during the Ottoman period. Unlike caravanserais, the provisions and spaces for stabling donkeys, camels and other animals in fondouks are missing.
We returned to our hotel in mid afternoon and were appreciative of some free time to catch up on tasks and relax as most days this last week have been so busy and full-on with activities and sight seeing.
G&Ts by pool at our accommodation at Hotel El-Riadh
Dinner at Hotel El-Riadh
Our evening dinner at the Dar Dhiafa hotel was a vegetable soup, a delectably grilled local fish and finally profiteroles washed down with a local, good quality dry white wine; a magic end to the day!