Museum Dar Essid

This small, private museum is also not to be missed. In a quiet part of the medina, it occupies a beautiful old home, furnished in the style of a well-to-do 19th-century Sousse official and his family. The dimensions of the elaborately decorated, arched door are the first indication of the owner's status. It opens into a small anteroom for meeting strangers, and then into a tiled courtyard surrounded by the family rooms.

A plaque in the courtyard reveals that the house was built in AD 928, making it one of the oldest in the medina. There's an extravagance reflected in the Andalusian tiled façades and items ranging from European antique furniture to traditional perfume bottles, from decorative plaster work to a 700-year-old wedding contract, and marble from Carrara in Italy. Check out the Roman lamp with the graphic depiction of a copulating couple; it's by the master bed to remind the husband to demonstrate his control and stamina until the lamp went out.

The upstairs area, reached by a heavily restored staircase, is the old servant's quarters and there's a pleasant café with splendid panoramic views. It's a good place to catch the breeze.