Party for the Saudi Arabian Embassy and the Oman Embassy

                                    Invites to Saudi and the Oman Embassy Parties
   My husband is an administrator so he gets some pretty cool invites to some pretty cool places!  We were invited to Embassy parties for the Oman and the Saudi Arabian Embassies.  I believe the holiday for both was their Independence Days.  (Oman photos to be added)
    We got all dressed up for this first event which was for the Saudi Arabian Embassy and was held at the Didon Hotel and Restaurant, which is a fancy restaurant here in Carthage.  It is located up on Byrsa Hill and has an incredible view.
   The invite was lovely, but difficult to read for us.  So Mark and I got all dressed up after working late and drove up to the Didon here only to find out that it was held at the Didon just a bit outside of town.
   All dressed up and no place to go?  No.  We decided instead of driving all the way out to our party, that we would just have dinner at here at Didon near home.   Especially when we had to get up soooo early in the morning.

My Handsome Husband!!!

Carthage Neighborhood & Antoine Baths (revisited) - Sept 2014

Carthage Neighborhood, Sept, 2014.

Walking around our neighborhood in Carthage is a great experience in itself.  It is beautiful, we walk along the Mediterranean Sea, there are many stately large homes, some government buildings, many blue doors, the streets are lined with trees and flowers, and often there is the scent of jasmine in the air.  It is not picture perfect, but for a different country recovering from the loss of a government for the last couple of years, it is lovely!  We are happy and excited to be here.  There are tons of cats, too much garbage that is randomly dumped and sometimes you can smell the scent of burning garbage instead of jasmine.  But usually it is lovely and peaceful.  We do not feel threatened in any way.  I do not feel harassed.  I guess it is good to be middle aged and married in a foreign country.  People are nice and friendly and most say "Hello" either in French of Arabic.  Both of which we are slowly picking up word by word.  Key word:  slowly.  Some of the homes around our neighborhood are not really homes, but more like mansions.  Some are lived in by diplomats and have security guards stationed outside.

One of the most famous streets in Tunis.
Many diplomats live on this avenue.
(The palm trees have some type of palm disease.)

I tried to stop for tea, but they did not answer.

We went for another visit to the Antoine baths with our guide Fawzi and what was left of our fellow staff that had not yet tired that day of touring and departed company.  It was quite hot out, probably at least 90.

It is so difficult to see in this photo, see the one below.
This is looking down on all the incredible mosaics
that were on the floors of this Catholic Church.
Yes, Catholic.

Mosaics that are more than 2000 years old.

When you get the mosaics wet, the colors
pop out.

Lots of little cupids in this mosaic.

What a beautiful avenue down to the bath.  Most of
the stone is original.

A coworker showing me these neat pod flowers.

They have some BIG thorns in Africa.

An underground Chapel.  It is nice and cool in here.

Mosaic on the wall walking down into the Chapel.

The first sign of the letter "K".

     

Fawzi telling us about the drainage and
how they flushed out the entire underground
heating area once a year.  There is still black silt
in the Sea from a couple of thousand of years ago!

This was a magnificent complex!

Tophet of Salammbo, Children's Cemetery, Carthage - Sept 2014

                                 Children's Cemetery, Carthage, Tunisia - Sept 2014

A few blocks away from our home is a cemetery where thousands of remains of children have been found.  The Children's Cemetery is also referred to as the Tophet of Salammbo.  Salammbo is the area here.  We stopped here after visiting the Punic Ports. 

"Tophet is the name given to places of child sacrifice in the Middle East. Here in Carthage it is the area in which many archaeologists believe child sacrifices took place. These sacrifices may not have been as common as the number of gravestones in the area lead you to believe, however. Many families sacrificed small animals like goats in place of the child and this has been supported by a number of bones from such animals being discovered in the ruins. It was less common for the child to be the source of the sacrifice. Urns containing the ashes of children have also been discovered here. Others disagree and say that this is just a spot where children were buried on their deaths. The principal gods to which they were offered were the sun god Baal-Ammon and the moon goddess Tanit.  Usually the sacrifice was of (or on behalf of) the first born child, especially if it was a son. The remains of the victims were placed in urns and buried in the ground with an unscripted stele. It has been estimated that as many as 7,000 victims were buried in this way."  (info from cheekymariehon VirtualTourist)

Our guide Fawzi mentioned that there is research stating that the child sacrifices were actually few and far between.  It seems as though people tried to discredit the Romans at this time with barbaric stories to shed them in an favorable light.  Regardless, the place is intriguing and a bit eery.  I would not want to walk through here on a dark night!

Hundreds of carved headstones.

The symbol of the Tanit.

This tree has grown right over the headstone.

Who is going first???

Do you see anything lurking in the back?

There are not earthquakes here very often.

Punic Ports in Carthage - Sept 2014

Punic Ports, Carthage, Tunisia - Sept 2014

We live in Carthage.  UNESCO writes about Carthage on their website.  "Carthage was founded in the 9th century B.C. on the Gulf of Tunis. From the 6th century onwards, it developed into a great trading empire covering much of the Mediterranean and was home to a brilliant civilization. In the course of the long Punic wars, Carthage occupied territories belonging to Rome, which finally destroyed its rival in 146 B.C. A second – Roman – Carthage was then established on the ruins of the first."

The Punic Ports are near our home, just a block and a half away.  It is an area where the world's oldest dry docks exists.   It was arranged so that it was located on the sea, the military could see out, but any boats going by could not see in.  They hid hundreds of war vessels in this port.  Here is a photo of what it may have looked like.

The inner circle was where the military had their fleet.
The outer entrance/exit area was where the regular
fishermen had their boats.  So basically, the military
hid behind the regular folks.
(Photo looklex.com)

This is what the Port was like years ago, early in this
century, before a housing boom.

We live just a block away, we can see the Punic Ports clearly from our rooftop deck.

We had already wandered over to the Punic Ports in August a couple of times in the evening while talking a stroll.  But this time we went with some school folks and a great guide, Fawzi.  It makes a world of difference going with him, then you realize what you are looking at!

Just a block away from our home, down on the Punic Ports.

Looking across the water at the Punic Ports.

A marine museum near the entrance to the Ports.
This is obviously a whale skeleton.

In the distance on the hill is an old Russian Orthodox church.

Kitties kitties and more kitties!

A model of what they believed the military had built in
the middle of the Port to hide their ships.

I see coffee tables everywhere!  :)
The house in the distance is one that I would love to get
my hands on!  What potential!  Our guide said it is one
of the oldest houses in the area.

Our group.  It was a hot and sunny day.

This is the best example of the ancient dry dock.
Obviously, the wood was added recently, but the stone work
is mainly original.  Oldest dry docks in the world!
We are looking back across this port, right near out house.