TUNISIA, DAY 3, CONT.: TUNIS - ST. VINCENT DE PAUL CATHEDRAL, FOOD MARKET, AND MEDINA

 March 22, 2024

After breakfast, we took another walk down the Avenue Habib Bourguiba, the street with the promenade in the center that we had walked on the previous night on our way back to our hotel. This time we walked on one of the sidewalks next to the buildings. 

We stopped at a little mosque nestled between other buildings and known for its ceramic tile exterior.  I think it is called Kallal-el-Kedime Mosque, but I can't find any information on it.

Then our guide Feker took us into the courtyard of what looked like an apartment building. In the middle of the courtyard is a shallow pond, and in the pond are over a dozen turtles.

Our next stop was the Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul, a church built in the Moorish revival, Gothic revival, and Neo-Byzantine styles. Construction was completed in 1897, albeit without its belltowers due to lack of funds. They were completed in 1910.

My favorite part of the cathedral is this 3-D sculpture of God blessing those who walk by (or in) the main door:

This is the only Roman Catholic cathedral operating in Tunisia, which is 99% Sunni Muslim. Of the approximately 30,000 Christian residents of Tunisia, about 80% are Roman Catholic.

It is interesting that these stained glass windows are dominated by one color.

I really like these two more modern stained glass windows. In general, I love the reverence Catholics in this part of the world (meaning the places we visited on this trip--Italy, Sicily, Malta, and Tunisia) have for Joseph.

Vincent de Paul was born in France in 1576 and died in Paris in 1660. He was canonized in 1737. He is known for his charity and generosity, his support for the poor and for orphans, and his reform of the clergy. Legend has it that he was kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave to Muslim masters in Tunis, where he lived for two years. That's him on the left below, and St. Joseph with the boy Jesus on the right.

The crowning jewel of the cathedral is the cupola over the altar and the luminescent gold paint used for the halos.

A traditional Mary statue and crucifix:

The cathedral is the proud owner of a relic of St. Louis Roi, aka Louis IX, the King of France from 1226 to 1270. He died in Tunis during one of his crusades, so it is appropriate that some part of him remains in this reliquary (below left), although I haven't been able to figure out what part that might be. 

The cathedral's other claim to fame is that it was visited by Pope John Paul II in  1996 (below right):

There is even a mosaic of Pope John Paul, although not of the highest quality.

Our next stop was the Tunis Market, starting with the best fish market we've ever seen other than perhaps the Tsukiji Market in Tokyo. The quantity, display, and freshness was impressive. It was a loud, busy, very crowded market, and for Bob, it was Disneyland.

Feker told us that at 3:00 what has not been sold will have a 50% price reduction so that they can pretty much start over the next day with all fresh fish.

The fish seller put a squirming eel on the counter to prove its freshness.

I felt like I was in an art museum.

Shark!

I think customers could bring their fish selections to these guys for cleaning before taking it home.

Moving on to the rest of the market, of course there must be dates, but I didn't expect snails!

There was a good assortment of locally-made cheeses:

I would expect lots of olives and peppers, available separately . . . 

. . . or made into a salad:

The indoor market is large and airy (and crowded).

Look how the squash is displayed. It looks like chickens.

I know this is an overload of food photos, but it was just so beautiful. As I said before, it was like being in an art museum.

We detoured into the meat section, where there were heads of various animals hanging up to prove that the meat is what they say it is--horse, in this case.

Bob asked for a taste of horse sausage, and when he gave the seller a few coins for the slice, the man thought he was buying more and gave him 5-6 more slices!

Here is the top of the skull of some kind of cattle and a bunch of knuckles or tail pieces.

We have seen bigger and even busier markets, but taken as a whole, with the fish, produce, and meat, this was the best market we have seen anywhere in the world.

Okay, just a few more pictures from the REST of the medina/souk.

One of the first things I saw after coming out of the food market was this painting of Frida. I'm telling you, she is EVERYWHERE. 

I think Chris found this shop that was selling intricately engraved silver and brass plates and cups

Each piece was hand-engraved using a hammer and chisel--no electric tools--by this sweet 83-year-old man. I believe he was French, a holdover from the French occupation of Tunisia. He told Feker, who translated for us, that he preferred to work over sitting at home. And yet his work must be very tiring, stooped over his table all day and pounding with his mallet. He also wore no glasses, and I wondered how he could see the fine patterns he was pressing into the metal.

He took the time to show us how he did his work . . . 

. . . and let us try to do it ourselves.  (I would not make a good employee here.)  Gentle and friendly, he's the kind of man you would like to have living next door. 

We each selected a plate and a pestle/mortar combination. Chris chose silver and I chose brass. They are very heavy. Our new friend engraved "Tunisia 2024 🧡" on the bottom of each cup. Altogether, the three pieces cost 100 dinar, or about $35 USD.

We really had a good time with the metal artisan, and when we left, he gave both of us the traditional French farewell of a kiss on each cheek.

The medina/souk was built as a place of business, and even those doing business need to stop to say the Muslim prayers five times each day, so there are quite a few mosques there. Here are two, the Mosque Saheb Ettabaâ, built in the early 1800s and Al-Zaytuna Mosque, built in the 9th century. 

Feker told us that minarets in Tunisia and other North African countries are generally square or have six or eight sides, while in the Middle East minarets are round.

One more mosque in the Medina is the Kasbah Mosque, built in the 13th century and renovated in the 16th century.

On our way out of the old medina and off to another adventure!