We stayed two half-days in Sousse, and we were right to stay there for the night because having parked Wilson's mobile home on the seafront, we were able to witness how Tunisians spend their holidays on the seaside coast. As soon as night falls, it's nothing but a string of rattling cars, horse-drawn carriages, and little tourist trains decorated with fairy lights, in which Tunisians dance and ululates to the sound of tambourines.

The city's main colonial street connects the sea to the medina. We entered through the breach the French blasted in the rampart with cannon fire in 1943. All along the seawall and Avenue H. Bourguiba, many abandoned hotels are reminders of the city's rich tourist past. If one of the few touts who still exist accosts you, firmly say a polite phrase like, "We like freedom" or "We like to be alone," and they won't insist: the streets of the medina, more airy than in Tunis, will then open up to you.

Directly to the left is the Great Mosque and a little further on is the Ribat (whose function I didn't quite understand: a fort, a mosque, a madrasa?). The two monuments look quite similar, but the entrance fee for each of them is worth spending (5 and 10 dinars). They are very typical of coastal medieval medinas, with their austere and squat defensive appearance.

The next day we visited the Dar Essid house-museum (entrance fee what they think you'll pay) and the archaeological museum housed in the Kasbah (12 dinars). Neither should be missed under any circumstances. The pleasure of visiting the Dar Essid house was perhaps made more enjoyable by two teenage girls who accompanied us; their family was preparing a party in the museum.

The Archaeological Museum contains enormous, very well-preserved mosaic panels that are real gems; they are the most beautiful we saw in Tunisia. And to think that the Roman city sleeps buried beneath the dwellings of the medina!