Djerba, Tunisia

The Tunisian Island of Conviviality


Fadhloun Mosque
Fatih, merchant of Houmt Souk
The Challenge of Not Breaking Dishes
Amazigh and his camels
The Spanish Castle
Various potteries
The El Ghriba synagogue
The Sidi Jmour Mosque
Dª Radlia's boutique
The Church of Saint Joseph
Melhfa traditional costumes
Houmt Souk shoppers
Ibadite Mosque of Sedouikech
Traditional Architecture
Shem, Amazigh, owner of camels
Conversation in Blue Bouganvillea
Wall vs Clothesline
Almost night at Houmt Souk
The largest island in North Africa has long welcomed people who could not resist it. Over time, Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs called it home. Today, Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities continue an unusual sharing of Djerba with its native Berbers.

Another day dawns, on the way to the end of summer in the Mediterranean south of Africa.

The strong evaporation of the waters that Rome treated as Mare Nostrum, reinforces a heavenly veil overloaded with moisture. It keeps the island in a cocoon of water, in a sultry blue caress more to be expected at tropical latitudes.

We advance along the retained sea and marsh between the north coast of the island and the peninsula of Ras R'mal, aimed at the capital Houmt Souk.

We found that the wind that blows from the east, over the coast and which drives a multitude of kitesurfers, avoids an otherwise excruciating summer pressure cooker.

After all, we are also on the doorstep of great Sahara desert.

Merchants in the “market district” know well what to expect. On normal days, they feel the temperature rise to the 30s or a little higher, then gradually retreat into the mild twenties.

The Mercantile Life of the Houmt Souk Capital

When the Sahara raises its roar to the north, then Djerba and the Houmt Souk are roasting under orange dust, on their way to 50

Catch us a regular day.

Merchants from the island's famous and colorful pottery serve Djerbian housewives, distinguished by their traditional Melhfa costumes, also known as Domiatis.

They are made of Mdahlla straw hats, which crown large white veils, streaked with orange and red, or garnet.

Over time, these garments, which are believed to originate from Domiat, an Egyptian village close to Port Saíd, have undergone adjustments and improvisations, but throughout Djerba we come across authentic versions of the costume.

In Houmt Souk, we also come across variations of fabrics and patterns where even the Mdahlla differs from the original.

A Panoply of Costumes. Some Traditional, Others Not So Much

In keeping with its status as a tourist hub, Houmt Souk, and by extension other modernized towns on Djerba, have become more multicultural and tolerant.

Around here, young Tunisians wear tight jeans and drive, slowly and even with one arm out the window.

They pass by women at opposite ends, from other generations and/or subject to the rigidity of other Muslim currents, clad in long hijabs and even niqabs.

As far as men are concerned, freedom is another. Almost everyone wears westernized clothing, without much criteria, t-shirts, shirts, pants and even shorts.

Around us, we find an exception, in Fatih, an elderly salesman slouched over an iron chair, his age marked by a gray beard between his hat taqiah white and the plunging neckline that almost covers her feet.

We wandered between labyrinths of porcelain.

The Peculiar Architecture and Main Church of Djerba

Soon, through white alleys with turquoise fences, porches and doors.

Others, degraded, with the facades little or not at all whitewashed, peeled by the time that wall paintings endow with the missing color.

In this cirandar, we face the Turks mosque.

Over there, a resident sogui candidate for guide asks us: “Where are you from, Italy, France? Didn't I guess?

Does not matter.

They are definitely European.

I just wanted to tell you that the most important church in Djerba is over there.”

This anxiety to underline and spread the minority's right to coexist in Djerba goes back a long time.

From Odysseus' Djerba to Today's

From the confines of mythology and the multicultural and multi-religious history of the island.

In their era, the Greeks knew the inhabitants of Djerba as lotus eaters, food that was always plentiful in the lagoons and wetlands of the island, such as the prodigious and protected area of ​​Bin El Ouedian.

Odysseus, king of Ithaca, hero of "Odyssey” of Homer, and his warriors found themselves driven to the island and shipwrecked there by furious winds that forced an interregnum in their adventures in the Mediterranean.

consummated to Christianization of the Romans, Girba, the city in the province of Tripolitania from which the name Djerba derives, has generated and hosted renowned bishops.

About eight centuries later (from 1135 to 1310), the crusade and Christian expansion of the Norman kings of Sicily opened the doors to the Christian community that subsists on the island, descendants of Maltese and Italian traders who ended up settling there.

The Aragonese Conquests and Losses of the Island

The siege of the Christian Kingdoms did not end there.

In 1510 Ferdinand II of Aragon the Catholic attempted to conquer Djerba from the Muslim sheikh who controlled it, with the broader aim of extending Spanish control over the Barbary coast.

The expedition he commanded proved so reckless that it resulted in the death of several thousand soldiers. It became known as the Djerba Disaster.

When we visit the fort also known as Borj Ghazi Mustapha, we become aware of this other chapter in the history of the island. How, the Aragonese built it at the end of the XNUMXth century.

How they lost it to the Arabs. And how, two hundred and twenty years after they built it, they dramatically failed to reconquer it.

Boutiques, souvenir shops and street art

We pass by a traditional clothing boutique, embellished by mannequins that display it. Dona Radlia, the owner, is encouraged by the attention we pay to her business.

He agrees to have himself photographed, like a gentle, flesh-and-blood mannequin.

Ahead, two other shopkeepers sit in conversation against the base of a picturesque new blue-white facade, this one tinged green and pink by a leafy bougainvillea.

Djerba Island of Tunisia, conversationThe front of the church of São José is, for a change, white and yellow. It stands out, half-walls and above a wall furrowed by structural lines.

Framed in an arch, between blankets and rugs for sale, the painting of a smiling girl radiates naive happiness.

At that time, only a priest came and went, but at hours of worship it inspired hundreds of practicing Christians in Djerba.

The following afternoon, already in the village of Erriadh, we combine an incursion into the art of the Djerbahood neighborhood with a second one, at the core of another minority community on the island, the Jewish one.

El Ghriba Synagogue, at the Heart of the Thousand Year Old Jewish Community of Djerba

More than a decade after our first visit to Djerba, we returned to the El Ghriba synagogue. We find it as central as before, its Moorish architecture, its rules and mystical atmosphere, untouched.

A first employee makes sure that we take off our shoes and put on a skullcap and a scarf covering our heads.

Another, already at the entrance to the nuclear room of the bimah, confirms this, keeps an eye on the actions of visitors and other needs of the temple, such as replacing the candles that he is responsible for keeping lit.

Despite the superficial interest of most outsiders, given over to selfies without a yes, despite the relative youth of the temple, erected at the end of the XNUMXth century, the synagogue of El Ghriba is the oldest in Africa.

It is based on a deep historical root and on an unquestionable religious value both for the approximately XNUMX Jews of Djerba, and for Judaism in general.

The Diaspora of the Cohen Jewish Caste

Its oral history confirms that Jews have inhabited the island for over 2500 continuous years. A legendary explanation associates it with the escape of the High Priests, when the Temple of Solomon of Solomon was destroyed. Jerusalem, ordered by Nebuchadnezzar II, king of the Babylonians.

He adds that these Cohen carried with them to Djerba some stones and a door from the Temple of Solomon. Their descendants preserved them over the centuries and incorporated them into the El Ghriba synagogue.

Despite the spread of this narrative, the first written evidence of the presence of Jews in Djerba – a community that is unique due to the abundance of elements of the Cohen priest caste – has only been found in records from the XNUMXth century, preserved in Cairo.

Let's travel to a beach in the north of Djerba and, at the same time, to its origins.

The Berbers who prefer to be Treated of Amazigh

We are getting ready for a dip in the warm waters of the Gulf of Gabés, when one of the several owners of dromedaries that offer walks along the seaside approaches us.

The sun is about to set. We prefer to appreciate the phenomenon in the water than on the back of camelids.

Sem, the animal owner, understands. He just asks us to photograph him. This pretext gives rise to a lively conversation that confirms that, as always, in these cases, not everything is perfect.

“We and our ancestors are the real natives here!” alleges, to the detriment of the Arab imposition.

“You Europeans always liked to call us Berbers but that term associates us with Barbarians and we never accepted or used it.

For us, we are the Imazighen, the free men of North Africa.

I'm an Amazigh!

It continues to disappoint us the way in which the Arabs strive to dilute our dialect and culture. I will always fight against it!”

Islamism and the Djerbian Islamic Derivation of Ibadism

The Arabs conquered Djerba from the Byzantines in 667 AD, less than 50 years before they took over the Iberian Peninsula.

In the process of religious conversion, much of the island adhered to a puritanical spiritual doctrine of Islam. Ibadism, as it is called, diverged from the main branches of Islam: Sunnism and Shiism.

It is based on a sober follow-up to the ancestral sources of Islam, which can be seen in the underground simplicity of several mosques, such as that of Sedouikech, concealed today among one of the island's vast olive groves.

The Ibadites and their mosques always tried to remain unnoticed by their enemies, Christians, Ottomans and others during the different war eras.

Nowadays, Djerba renews a multiethnicity and religious coexistence of which it can continue to be proud.

HOW TO GO:

For more information and reservations, consult your travel agency and request the Egotravel product.

Tataouine, Tunisia

Festival of the Ksour: Sand Castles That Don't Collapse

The ksour were built as fortifications by the Berbers of North Africa. They resisted Arab invasions and centuries of erosion. Every year, the Festival of the Ksour pays them the due homage.
Matmata Tataouine:  Tunisia

Star Wars Earth Base

For security reasons, the planet Tatooine from "The Force Awakens" was filmed in Abu Dhabi. We step back into the cosmic calendar and revisit some of the Tunisian places with the most impact in the saga.  
Mount Sinai, Egypt

Strength in the Legs, Faith in God

Moses received the Ten Commandments on the summit of Mount Sinai and revealed them to the people of Israel. Today, hundreds of pilgrims climb, every night, the 4000 steps of that painful but mystical ascent.
Aswan, Egypt

Where the Nile Welcomes the Black Africa

1200km upstream of its delta, the Nile is no longer navigable. The last of the great Egyptian cities marks the fusion between Arab and Nubian territory. Since its origins in Lake Victoria, the river has given life to countless African peoples with dark complexions.
luxor, Egypt

From Luxor to Thebes: Journey to Ancient Egypt

Thebes was raised as the new supreme capital of the Egyptian Empire, the seat of Amon, the God of Gods. Modern Luxor inherited the Temple of Karnak and its sumptuousness. Between one and the other flow the sacred Nile and millennia of dazzling history.
White Desert, Egypt

The Egyptian Shortcut to Mars

At a time when conquering the solar system's neighbor has become an obsession, an eastern section of the Sahara Desert is home to a vast related landscape. Instead of the estimated 150 to 300 days to reach Mars, we took off from Cairo and, in just over three hours, we took our first steps into the Oasis of Bahariya. All around, almost everything makes us feel about the longed-for Red Planet.
Edfu to Kom Ombo, Egypt

Up the River Nile, through the Upper Ptolemaic Egypt

Having accomplished the unmissable embassy to Luxor, to old Thebes and to the Valley of the Kings, we proceed against the current of the Nile. In Edfu and Kom Ombo, we surrender to the historic magnificence bequeathed by successive Ptolemy monarchs.
Tsfat (Safed), Israel

When the Kabbalah is a Victim of Itself

In the 50s, Tsfat brought together the artistic life of the young Israeli nation and regained its secular mystique. But famous converts like Madonna have come to disturb the most elemental Kabbalist discretion.
Jerusalem, Israel

Closer to God

Three thousand years of history as mystical as it is troubled come to life in Jerusalem. Worshiped by Christians, Jews and Muslims, this city radiates controversy but attracts believers from all over the world.
Amboseli National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro, Normatior Hill
Safari
Amboseli National Park, Kenya

A Gift from the Kilimanjaro

The first European to venture into these Masai haunts was stunned by what he found. And even today, large herds of elephants and other herbivores roam the pastures irrigated by the snow of Africa's biggest mountain.
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 5th - Ngawal a BragaNepal

Towards the Nepalese Braga

We spent another morning of glorious weather discovering Ngawal. There is a short journey towards Manang, the main town on the way to the zenith of the Annapurna circuit. We stayed for Braga (Braka). The hamlet would soon prove to be one of its most unforgettable places.
Sheets of Bahia, Eternal Diamonds, Brazil
Architecture & Design
Sheets of Bahia, Brazil

Lençóis da Bahia: not Even Diamonds Are Forever

In the XNUMXth century, Lençóis became the world's largest supplier of diamonds. But the gem trade did not last as expected. Today, the colonial architecture that he inherited is his most precious possession.
Era Susi towed by dog, Oulanka, Finland
Adventure
PN Oulanka, Finland

A Slightly Lonesome Wolf

Jukka “Era-Susi” Nordman has created one of the largest packs of sled dogs in the world. He became one of Finland's most iconic characters but remains faithful to his nickname: Wilderness Wolf.
Ceremonies and Festivities
Apia, Western Samoa

Fia Fia – High Rotation Polynesian Folklore

From New Zealand to Easter Island and from here to Hawaii, there are many variations of Polynesian dances. Fia Fia's Samoan nights, in particular, are enlivened by one of the more fast-paced styles.
Orangestad, Aruba, building Dutch architecture
Cities
Oranjestad, Aruba

The Dutch Soul of Aruba

On the other side of the Atlantic, in the depths of the Caribbean, Oranjestad, the capital of Aruba, displays much of the legacy left in the ABC islands by settlers from the Netherlands. The natives call it “Playa”. The city comes alive with exuberant bathing parties.
Beverage Machines, Japan
Meal
Japan

The Beverage Machines Empire

There are more than 5 million ultra-tech light boxes spread across the country and many more exuberant cans and bottles of appealing drinks. The Japanese have long since stopped resisting them.
Visitors to Ernest Hemingway's Home, Key West, Florida, United States
Culture
Key West, United States

Hemingway's Caribbean Playground

Effusive as ever, Ernest Hemingway called Key West "the best place I've ever been...". In the tropical depths of the contiguous US, he found evasion and crazy, drunken fun. And the inspiration to write with intensity to match.
4th of July Fireworks-Seward, Alaska, United States
Sport
Seward, Alaska

The Longest 4th of July

The independence of the United States is celebrated, in Seward, Alaska, in a modest way. Even so, the 4th of July and its celebration seem to have no end.
Jeep crosses Damaraland, Namibia
Traveling
Damaraland, Namíbia

Namibia On the Rocks

Hundreds of kilometers north of Swakopmund, many more of Swakopmund's iconic dunes Sossuvlei, Damaraland is home to deserts interspersed with hills of reddish rock, the highest mountain and ancient rock art of the young nation. the settlers South Africans they named this region after the Damara, one of the Namibian ethnic groups. Only these and other inhabitants prove that it remains on Earth.
Jingkieng Wahsurah, Nongblai Village Roots Bridge, Meghalaya, India
Ethnic
Meghalaya, India

The Bridges of the Peoples that Create Roots

The unpredictability of rivers in the wettest region on Earth never deterred the Khasi and the Jaintia. Faced with the abundance of trees elastic fig tree in their valleys, these ethnic groups got used to molding their branches and strains. From their time-lost tradition, they have bequeathed hundreds of dazzling root bridges to future generations.
ice tunnel, black gold route, Valdez, Alaska, USA
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

Sensations vs Impressions

Luderitz, Namibia
History
Lüderitz, Namibia

Wilkommen in Africa

Chancellor Bismarck has always disdained overseas possessions. Against his will and all odds, in the middle of the Race for Africa, merchant Adolf Lüderitz forced Germany to take over an inhospitable corner of the continent. The homonymous city prospered and preserves one of the most eccentric heritages of the Germanic empire.
São Jorge, Azores, Fajã dos Vimes
Islands
São Jorge, Azores

From Fajã to Fajã

In the Azores, strips of habitable land at the foot of large cliffs abound. No other island has as many fajãs as the more than 70 in the slender and elevated São Jorge. It was in them that the jorgenses settled. Their busy Atlantic lives rest on them.
Reindeer Racing, Kings Cup, Inari, Finland
Winter White
Inari, Finland

The Wackiest Race on the Top of the World

Finland's Lapps have been competing in the tow of their reindeer for centuries. In the final of the Kings Cup - Porokuninkuusajot - , they face each other at great speed, well above the Arctic Circle and well below zero.
José Saramago in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain, Glorieta de Saramago
Literature
Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain (España)

José Saramago's Basalt Raft

In 1993, frustrated by the Portuguese government's disregard for his work “The Gospel According to Jesus Christ”, Saramago moved with his wife Pilar del Río to Lanzarote. Back on this somewhat extraterrestrial Canary Island, we visited his home. And the refuge from the portuguese censorship that haunted the writer.
capillary helmet
Nature
Viti levu, Fiji

Cannibalism and Hair, Fiji Islands' Old Pastimes

For 2500 years, anthropophagy has been part of everyday life in Fiji. In more recent centuries, the practice has been adorned by a fascinating hair cult. Luckily, only vestiges of the latest fashion remain.
Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Ribeiro Frio, Madeira, Vereda dos Balcões,
Natural Parks
Ribeiro Frio Forest Park, Madeira

Ribeiro Frio Acima, on the Path of Balcões

This region of the high interior of Madeira has been in charge of repopulating the island's rainbow trout for a long time. Among the various trails and levadas that converge in its nurseries, the Parque Florestal Ribeiro Frio hides grandiose panoramas over Pico Arieiro, Pico Ruivo and the Ribeira da Metade valley that extends to the north coast.
Cobá, trip to the Mayan Ruins, Pac Chen, Mayans of now
UNESCO World Heritage
Cobá to Pac Chen, Mexico

From the Ruins to the Mayan Homes

On the Yucatan Peninsula, the history of the second largest indigenous Mexican people is intertwined with their daily lives and merges with modernity. In Cobá, we went from the top of one of its ancient pyramids to the heart of a village of our times.
Correspondence verification
Characters
Rovaniemi, Finland

From the Finnish Lapland to the Arctic. A Visit to the Land of Santa

Fed up with waiting for the bearded old man to descend down the chimney, we reverse the story. We took advantage of a trip to Finnish Lapland and passed through its furtive home.
Montezuma and Malpais, Costa Rica's best beaches, Catarata
Beaches
Montezuma, Costa Rica

Back to the Tropical Arms of Montezuma

It's been 18 years since we were dazzled by this one of Costa Rica's blessed coastlines. Just two months ago, we found him again. As cozy as we had known it.
Armenia Cradle Christianity, Mount Aratat
Religion
Armenia

The Cradle of the Official Christianity

Just 268 years after Jesus' death, a nation will have become the first to accept the Christian faith by royal decree. This nation still preserves its own Apostolic Church and some of the oldest Christian temples in the world. Traveling through the Caucasus, we visit them in the footsteps of Gregory the Illuminator, the patriarch who inspires Armenia's spiritual life.
Executives sleep subway seat, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan
On Rails
Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo's Hypno-Passengers

Japan is served by millions of executives slaughtered with infernal work rates and sparse vacations. Every minute of respite on the way to work or home serves them for their inemuri, napping in public.
Tombola, street bingo-Campeche, Mexico
Society
Campeche, Mexico

200 Years of Playing with Luck

At the end of the XNUMXth century, the peasants surrendered to a game introduced to cool the fever of cash cards. Today, played almost only for Abuelites, lottery little more than a fun place.
Women with long hair from Huang Luo, Guangxi, China
Daily life
Longsheng, China

Huang Luo: the Chinese Village of the Longest Hairs

In a multi-ethnic region covered with terraced rice paddies, the women of Huang Luo have surrendered to the same hairy obsession. They let the longest hair in the world grow, years on end, to an average length of 170 to 200 cm. Oddly enough, to keep them beautiful and shiny, they only use water and rice.
Rottnest Island, Wadjemup, Australia, Quokkas
Wildlife
Wadjemup, Rottnest Island, Australia

Among Quokkas and other Aboriginal Spirits

In the XNUMXth century, a Dutch captain nicknamed this island surrounded by a turquoise Indian Ocean, “Rottnest, a rat's nest”. The quokkas that eluded him were, however, marsupials, considered sacred by the Whadjuk Noongar aborigines of Western Australia. Like the Edenic island on which the British colonists martyred them.
The Sounds, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Fiordland, New Zealand

The Fjords of the Antipodes

A geological quirk made the Fiordland region the rawest and most imposing in New Zealand. Year after year, many thousands of visitors worship the sub-domain slashed between Te Anau and Milford Sound.