Rhapsody Shore & Land Excursions > Tunisia - Tunis > Ancient Carthage & its Museum

Ancient Carthage & its Museum

Situated in the outskirts of the city of Tunis on the gulf bearing the city’s name, Carthage is reached within minutes on a well-maintained paved road.

Founded by Elissa Dido a Phoenician princess in the 8th century B.C on the hill of Byrsa, Carthage grew to become Rome’s archrival.

For a thousand years Phoenicians were the masters of the Mediterranean, their large number of warships and merchant vessels sheltering in the town’s port. Who hasn’t heard of Hannibal and his elephants and the city that dared challenge the might of Rome? Alas, such an act unleashed an unprecedented violence from the Romans who razed and burned Carthage to the ground covering the land with salt to ensure its barrenness.

They returned building a new Carthage on its ruins making the city the administrative capital for Africa, resplended with temples, great buildings, theatres, villas and baths. Today, declared a national monument, Carthage abounds in Punic and Roman vestiges.

The national museum of Carthage holds an impressive collection of Punic statues, steles and urns. Crowning the hill of Byrsa is the newly restored cathedral of Saint Louis, now a cultural centre.

Visit the site and see the Punic ports and Roman ruins. The Antoinine thermal baths are one of the largest built under the Roman empire with an amazing cooling room featuring 47 meters long and 15 meters high. The Roman theatre is still used today during the summer festival of Carthage. See the remains of the Roman Amphitheatre, the Punic ruins of temples, monuments and columns among them the sanctuary of the goddess Tophet with hundreds of funeral steles believed to be a children’s cemetery.

 

Special Notes:
Comfortable clothing and walking shoes recommended. A considerable amount of walking is involved on mostly flat and partially uneven ground within the ruins of Carthage.

Not wheelchair accessible.

Participants must be able to walk and stand relatively long periods of time.

No photography allowed in the museum.

Comfort stops available at site and museum.

Tour sequence may vary however all features and inclusions will remain unchanged

 

Tour Timings:

Tours begin at times suitable for the ship's arrival in port. The breakdown of the excursions is as follows:
00hr00 -> Depart from Tunis Port

00hr00 -> 00hr20 Driving to Carthage
00hr20 -> 02hr00 Visiting Carthage
02hr10 -> 02hr45 Visiting Carthage museum

02hr45 -> 03hr00 Driving to the port

 

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