The Life of Brian and All That

I can picture Monty Python’s gang prancing around the battlements and towers of Monastir’s Ribat just as well, if not more so, than the Aghlabids building it in AD796. It wasn’t purely the foresight of these Arabian builders to construct this edifice during the 8th to the 11th centuries as a set for Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian’ or even Zeffirelli’s ‘Life of Christ’ but also to counter the threats of Christian invasion from the north and east and skirmishes with the Berbers from the west and south. The Ribats, many of which were built as defensive fortresses and combined religious and military functions by assembling soldiers, mystics and even women under one roof. Monastir’s Ribat is one of the oldest and best preserved in Tunisia.

Apart from the 9th century Great Mosque, closed totally to us non Muslims as the area to which we are normally permitted, i.e. the courtyard, does not exist, Monastir is the 20th century creation of its most famous son, Habib Bourguiba. His family’s Mausoleum with its twin minarets and gilt cupolas and the marble sarcophagus of the ex president dominate the Sidi el-Mezeri cemetery. One wonders what happened to the former resting places of those buried under this Memorial’s massive footprint. The remaining tombs and marabouts, or small mausoleums, are those of various spiritual men and in particular the Sufi master after whom the cemetery is named.
Swathes of Monastir’s historic Medina were commandeered to build wide colonnaded streets, Bourguiba’s controversial Mosque and the law courts. The few narrow alleyways and sections of high wall that remain do give a taste of the former atmosphere of the place. Such was Bourguiba’s desire to modernise that he proposed to flatten Roman Carthage to make way for modern villas for the rich of Tunis. Strangely, one of his palaces is built adjoining the Roman Antonine Baths. Thankfully lack of money and, perhaps, the public will thwarted his endeavours.

Habib Bourguiba was the father of independent Tunisia and its first President having ousted the French in 1956. The constitution drafted under his auspices affirmed that Tunisia was a free, independent and sovereign state and that its political system was that of a free republic. He divorced state from religion, introduced mandatory schooling from age six to sixteen and granted equal rights to women. He also granted himself as President far reaching powers that caused much social unrest and in 1984 a general strike was called demanding an end to repression and revocation of unconstitutional laws. In 1987 Bourguiba was forced to give up his Presidency and Ben Ali gained power. Bourguiba died in 2000 and will, it seems, be remembered with fondness despite his shortcomings.

Our life here in Monastir is good. The Marina is inexpensive at £550 for five months, inclusive of electricity and water, safe and sheltered and the staff are friendly and accommodating. The one drawback is that the floor to the communal showers sometimes resembles a swimming pool where the levels were miscalculated or, more likely, disregarded during construction.
The supply of fruit and vegetables in the market is seasonal with very few imported products. The quality is questionable on occasion and a wary eye is needed when the vendor serves. Fish is excellent and varied albeit, as everywhere, expensive. The meat is ‘halal’, unhung and tough unless stored for a few days before cooking, marinated, bashed to within an inch of its life or cooked slowly in a casserole. There is, of course, no pork although the turkey or beef pâtés and salamis are sold as ‘jambon’! Nuts are plentiful, diverse and magnificent and the patisserie is artistic and very sweet. Surprisingly for people with such a sweet tooth granulated sugar is not readily available on the shelves except in cube form. Brown sugar is nonexistent. Two varieties of local strong cheese and a blue come close to matching their Italian counterparts for quality and taste.

The Tunisian produce some fine wine and so they should having been practising for 2000 years. Excellent red wines such as Chateau Saint Augustin and Vieux Magon are inexpensive at around £6 a bottle and thoroughly good quaffing wines come in at £1.50 or so. Wine, beer and spirits are readily available at supermarkets.

Eating out is inexpensive and one can expect to pay around £12 each for three courses either international or Tunisienne cuisine, inclusive of a bottle of wine, at a good restaurant and as little as £1.60 for a three course Tunisienne ‘Menu du Jour’ in a local’s restaurant.

Our favourite Tunisian foods include Harissa, a hot spicy sauce made of chilli and garlic often served with bread and olives as a starter and used extensively in Tunisian cooking. Brik, thin pastry deep fried with an egg and savoury filling, Ojja Merquez, vegetables and spicy sausage in a rich tomato and harissa sauce with a fried egg and Baklava, a sweet filo pastry made with nuts and almonds and filled with date. We also like a spicy couscous, being steamed grains of semolina served with meat, fish or chicken and lots vegetables.

All in all we reckon the cost of living here is dinar per pounds or, in other words less than half the price of living in Lymington. Lymington has its merits, however, not least to say its cleanliness which would be considered spotless by Tunisian standards.

There are four other British couples, a Swede and a Swiss with boats wintering in the Marina but the majority here are French. We are getting on really well with our French neighbours, Catharine and Roger and with all the others on our pontoon each one of which is a character. Each Sunday at midday we meet with about forty others, mostly French, for a BBQ. Tablecloths adorn the trestle tables, the charcoal in the industrial size BBQ roars and each couple passes around starters, salads, savouries and other dishes that they have prepared to accompany one’s individual barbecued fish or meat. Aperitifs and wine flow freely and great fun is had by all.

Meanwhile winter is approaching- it is nearly December after all- and the nighttime temperature has been as low as 6°C. The days, apart from when it is blowing old boots from the northwest which it does once a week, get up to the mid twenties and on the best of them Miggy still swims in the sea.

We very much enjoyed a visit from Jane and John, Miggy’s sister and brother in law, who stayed with us for two days. We visited Sousse together. A Louage, or shared taxi took us the 25 kilometres to Sousse for 6200TD (£2.50) for the four of us but taking six places. Each Louage seats eight but rather uncomfortably and waits until it is full before setting off. Those who prefer to be more comfortable may pay for vacant spaces. At these ridiculously low rates we do prefer comfort.

Sousse was founded by the Phoenicians in the 9th century BC and was, for a time, Hannibal’s naval base. The town was allied with Phoenician Carthage and Utica throughout the Punic wars. Despite it being the capital of the Sahel region with all the administrative, commercial and industrial functions that accompany that, a tourist centre and the third largest town in Tunisia it a remarkably fresh cosmopolitan Mediterranean air. Its vibrant historic Medina rises gently from the port and the narrow stepped alleyways host numerous craftsmen’s workshops, homes and souks. The walls of this sizeable Medina are virtually intact and house the striking 9th century Great Mosque which, together with the Ribat and the walls themselves, formed the town’s defences.
The Great Mosque was built in AD851 and modelled on that at Kairouan. Its unusual circular and domed minaret was built some two centuries later. The vast courtyard is surrounded by columns with words of the Koran inscribed in the stone friezes above. Two things strike one, the first being evidence that the floor level of the courtyard and the surrounding streets has risen by some two metres in the 1156 years since its construction. Secondly, and more poignantly, the austere prayer hall with its relatively plain mihrab or niche that points to Mecca, and its highly decorated stepped wooden minbar from which the Imam delivers his homily during Friday prayers, conveyed an air of holiness beyond that felt in any mosque we have previously visited. Perhaps this is because, unlike other mosques, we were permitted to walk right to the threshold of the doors of the prayer hall and could therefore inspect the inside with three of our five senses rather than just the one.

Lunch of couscous or kebabs and freshly squeezed orange juice at what appeared to be a local’s cafe in the Medina was excellent sitting at a table by the ancient tall Medina walls. The café was run by an Algerian and was actually a tourist place as the bill confirmed. Still it was a fun lunchtime. A walk back down the hill took us through the souks selling souvenirs or more valuable merchandise such as in the excellent precious metal and jewellery souk. It was here that we said our farewells to Jane and John who were travelling back to Tunis by train that afternoon and hence back to the UK. It has been a great pleasure to be with them and we look forward to seeing them when we return home in December.

We return to the UK on the 11th of December and stay until the 4th of January during which time we hope to see as many of you now reading this Blog as time permits. Those of you who are prepared to wake at 0630 may wish to hear Miggy’s dulcet tones on The Julian Clegg Show on BBC Radio Solent 96.1 FM.