Today I want to bring you my Sidi Bou Said travel guide. This town in northern Tunisia is a great day trip from Tunis, and is worth a visit in its own right.
Sidi Bou Said
The hilltop town of Sidi Bou Said came highly recommended. With its signature blue-and-white buildings and its beautiful views, Sid Bou Said was supposed to be one of the highlights of any trip to Tunis.
When my boyfriend and I arrived in Sidi Bou Said from Carthage, we realized that we weren’t the only ones that had been told to visit. Apparently all of the bus tours had this lovely little town on their list, too.
Having managed to avoid massive tour groups all day, we were a little disheartened when we climbed the hill in a long line of Spanish, Italian, French, and Japanese tour groups (at least we were the only Americans!).
We had speed on our side, though, and managed to get to the top of the hill in Sidi Bou Said before most of the groups caught up with us. For a fleeting moment, we got to see the town in a bit of peace, and it was indeed beautiful.
Everywhere we looked, blue wrought-iron window frames mingled with pink and yellow bougainvillea while massive azure doors stood out from their stark white backgrounds as if inviting us to guess what was behind them.
Looking out from the top of the hill, we could see all across the water to the mountains in the distance. Closer in there was a small port at the base of the hill. And us without our yacht.
As night fell in Sidi Bou Said we slipped into a cafe that—despite its outdoor sandwich board with “Welcome” in 47 languages—seemed to be full of locals.
We settled in for a Moroccan tea and rested our aching feet while re-hashing the day’s events.
Sidi Bou Said to Tunis
After tea it was time to get back on the TGM train and travel from Sidi Bou Said to Tunis. We arrived in town at night, hoping the medina would be bustling once again after the Eid holiday. No such luck.
Leaving the medina, we found a cafe next to the theater in the French colonial part of Tunis and enjoyed a dinner of crepes. And then we enjoyed a dessert of crepes. If there had been a coffee of crepes, we probably would have enjoyed that too.
Bardo Museum
The next morning we woke up early and headed to the Bardo Museum. Once again we battled with crowds of bus tour tourists, and once again we managed to outpace them to reach the interior of the museum ahead of the pack.
The Bardo was amazing. With more Roman mosaics than I had ever seen and over-the-top interior decor that rivaled the Brighton Pavilion in its opulence, the museum was a history nerd’s paradise.
We spent several hours inspecting the mosaics, admiring the exotic designs of the former Tunisian palace, and standing awestruck in front of the 3,000-year-old artifacts on the top floor.
Sidi Bou Said, Tunis, and Beyond
When it was finally time to tear ourselves away from the Bardo Museum, we headed back to the Sheraton Tunis Hotel and made our way to the airport for our trip back to London.
It was sad to leave, but I consoled myself with a trip to the British Museum the following day, and stumbled upon a “hoard” from Carthage that made me feel like I hadn’t left Tunisia behind entirely.
Later that week I headed to Paris, home of the French colonial influences in Tunis and some pretty good crepes, too. I think I’ll just keep on seeing how long I can make my Tunisian adventure and time in Sidi Bou Said last after it’s gone.
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