Kairouan - the fourth holiest city in the Muslim world

---

Kairouan is an hour's ride on a louage, or shared taxi, from Sousse. It's not a particularly interesting journey but you certainly get a glimpse of the desolate countryside once you get away from the towns and cities in Tunisia.

Anyway, the main thing to see in Kairouan is the Grand Mosque. It's quite impressive and for a small fee you can wander around the courtyard and glimpse into the prayer hall. It's just a shame that as infidels we cannot go inside. In Damascus (Syria) it was no problem but in Kairouan you are visiting what is apparently the fourth holiest site in the Islamic world.

The rest of a trip to Kairouan is taken up by wandering around the medina, seeing some small mosques and sampling the local sweets - little biscuits made from dates or figs. They are delicious but can't be good for your waistline!! In the centre you can even see a camel being used to draw water up from an old well.

To the North of the city centre you can also see the Kasbah but these days it's a 5 star hotel. A bit further out are the old water sisterns, giant open air water tanks which used to be the city's main water supply. Looking at the green colour of the pools we can be thnkful that's in the past.

So not too much to report from Kairouan. It was a nice day out though.

---

Photos

The Mosque With 3 Doors
Can you tell why it is so-called?!!

Starling anyone?
Just take home, skin and cook!!

Water pools
No longer the city's drinking supply - fortunately!

Danger!
Exploding cars????