Medina

Once the medina was Tunis, founded by the Arabs in the 7th century. Nowadays, to go from the new town into its closely knit streets, packed with generations of palaces and monuments, is to enter a different world. It's a Unesco World Heritage site.

A maze of tunnels and alleys dotted with hidden mansions, the medina's architecture is ideal for the climate, as the narrow streets are cool in summer and warm in winter. As space ran out, residents built upwards, constructing vaults and rooms above the streets. This gives the central lanes a subterranean feel, with watery shafts of sunlight filtering through. Apparently the vaults had to be built high enough to accommodate a loaded camel.

In the 19th century, the French developed the Ville Nouvelle, depriving the medina of its role. The city's great families began to leave their ancestral homes for suburban seaside pads, and the medina declined, housing rural people settling in the capital. Zaouias (the complexes surrounding a tomb of a saint) and palaces were converted to cope with the new arrivals. Today, less than 15,000 people live here, and the main trade is in souvenirs.

Large parts of the northern section were demolished in the 1930s and 1940s to clear the slums and improve vehicle access. Fortunately, the demolition days are done, and several organisations are devoted to conservation. The medina's most spruced-up area lies near Place du Gouvernement.

The arteries around the Zaytouna Mosque are packed with souvenir shops (with lots of lovely things to buy as well as trash). Away from these you will find arched winding streets, backstreet workshops, local markets and children playing football.