In the secluded streets to the N.W. of the chief mosque, which are best reached from the Hôtel de Ville (Pl. 3, B, C, 2; new building in course of construction in the Ave. Mougeot, in front of the harbour) by the Rue Général-Riu and Rue du Kasr, rises the so-called Kasr er-Ribât (Pl. 5, C, 2; ‘castle-convent’), originally a Byzantine fortress, but used since the Aglabide period as a fortified monastery (Kasr al-Morabitîn, castle of the marabouts) for defenders of the faith against the infidels. It is now a humble medersa (p. [228]). The building, modernized in the Turkish period, was originally square, with four round corner-towers and four at the sides. The domed vestibule contains fragments of the Byzantine edifice. In the interior (no admittance) there is a small mosque.
The Rue Général-Sabatier on the W. side of the chief mosque, and the Rue de Paris, its continuation to the S., lead to the Rue el-Mar (Pl. B, 3, 4). Here, at the corner of the Rue de la Kasba (p. [369]), rises a fine Minaret. At the end of the street is an interesting old Dwelling House, thoroughly restored in 1906, with horseshoe and multifoil arches.
In the Rue de la Soffra (Pl. B, 3), above the Rue el-Mar, are the Roman Cisterns, which have been repeatedly restored since the middle ages (keys at the town architect’s; see p. [367]).
To the W. of the Rue de Paris are the picturesque Souks (p. [335]). Immediately to the right, adjoining the Souk el-Rbâ (Pl. B, 3), the vaulted lane in the middle, and at the entrance to the Rue Bin el-Kaoui, is the Kahwât el-Kubba (Pl. 4, B, 3; ‘domed café’), a small early-Moorish building with an interesting dome, four wall-niches, and windows partly built up.
The Souk el-Caïd, continuing the Souk el-Rbâ, ascends to the Bâb el-Gharbi (Pl. A, 3), the old Moorish W. gate.—In the Rue Dâr el-Bey, between the Souk el-Caïd and Rue de la Kasba, is the Dâr el-Bey (Pl. 1; B, 3), an old palace of the beys of Tunis, now the Contrôle Civil and office of the caïd (driba).
The Rue de la Kasba, or from Bâb el-Gharbi the boulevard outside the town, leads to the Kasba (Pl. A, B, 4; 131 ft. above the sea), the Moorish-Turkish citadel, built partly on the foundations of a Roman temple, now the barracks of the tirailleurs (adm. on presenting visiting-card; a sergeant acts as guide). The ‘Salle d’Honneur’ contains neo-Punic and Roman antiquities from the Camp Militaire (see below), including valuable mosaics (victorious racehorses, etc.) and early-Christian objects from the catacombs (see below). From the N. terrace of the Kasba, or from the tower (now lighthouse; not always open), there is a splendid *View of the town and harbour, of the Sahel, the whole bay of Hammamet, and of the inland Tunisian hill-country as far as Jebel Zaghouan.
From the Bâb el-Gharbi a road leads to the W. to Kalaâ-Srira (p. [366]) through the Camp Militaire (Pl. A, 3, 4), whose huts stand partly on the ancient Punic burial-grounds. About ¾ M. from the gate are remains of a Roman Burial Ground; also, on a road diverging to the left a little before, extensive early-Christian Catacombs (adm. 1 fr.), 3 min. to the S. of the highroad.
From Susa to Mehdia, 39½ M., railway in 3¼ hrs. (7 fr. 5, 5 fr. 35, 3 fr. 80 c.). The line runs, a little apart from the Sfax road (R. 59), at first to the S.W., through the beautiful hill-country of the Sahel, to (6 M.) M’Saken (p. [378]). 11 M. Ouardenine, where the new line to Sfax (see p. [378]) diverges to the S. Our line sweeps round to the E. to (16 M.) Djemmal.—22 M. Moknine (181 ft.; Café-Restaurant de la Gare; pop. 9000, incl. 700 Jews and 70 Europeans) is noted for its Jewish goldsmiths’ work in an antique style like that of Djerba (p. [394]). On the road to Monastir (p. [405]), 3¾ M. to the N.W. of Moknine, are the ruins of the very ancient Phœnician-Roman seaport Leptis Minor, now Lamta or Lempta (remains of the old quays, cisterns, etc.), near which is the Punic necropolis Henchir Meskhal.
The train skirts the Sebkha de Moknine. 27½ M. Teboulba (146 ft.; pop. 2900), a small town amidst pretty orange and mandarin gardens, on the S. shore of the Bay of Monastir (p. [405]). Farther to the S.E. we come to (30 M.) Bekalta (pop. 3400), a little town with the ruins of the seaport of Thapsus, famed for Cæsar’s victory (p. [322]; large Roman cisterns, amphitheatre, quay of the Punic-Roman Kothon, Punic rock-tombs).
39½ M. Mehdia or Mahdia (66 ft.; Hôt. de France, Grand-Hôtel, both very humble; Brit. cons. agent, G. Violante; pop. 10,000, incl. 600 Europeans), the ancient capital of Ifrikia (p. [322]), founded in 916 as Mahedia by the Fatimite Obeïd Allah el-Mahdi, on the site of the Phœnician-Roman Zella (Africa?), is now a poor little seaport-town with hardly a trace of its former renown. Being centrally situated on the E. coast of Tunisia, on the narrow and once strongly fortified headland Râs Mehdia, the Cape Africa of earlier writers, Mehdia, after the destruction of Kairwan (p. [372]), developed into the most prosperous town and important harbour of Tunisia, but suffered severely from the transference of the seat of government to Tunis (p. [332]). In war also it was often sorely tried. It was conquered by a Pisan fleet in 1087, occupied by the Normans in 1148–60, and captured by the knights of Malta in 1530, by Kheireddin’s (p. [221]) former general Dragut in 1540, and in 1550 by the Spaniards, who on their retreat after the naval battle of Djerba (p. [394]) blew up its fortifications.