Sea side city of Mahdia
Mahdia is an ever growing tourist destination in Tunisia. It takes its name from its first Fatamid ruler, El Mahdi (humbly known as ‘The Savior of the World’). Mahdia is a welcoming tourist destination on the North East coast of Tunisia. It isn’t a Tunisian tourist hot spot yet and tour buses do not over crowd this sea side town. With so many sights to see, whatever could be keeping the droves of tourist busses out ? Could it possibly be the 10 meter-thick wall, built by the Fatamids? These walls cut across the peninsula, creating an enormous fortress known as the Kasbah. The area within these walls was a royal compound, reserved for El Mahdi and his entourage. Today tourist can discover the unique sites of the Mahdia Kasbah that once contained some palaces, a mosque and a port. The Mahdi's subjects weren’t so fortunate as to be sheltered from the dreaded invaders and were relegated outside the walls in the suburb of Zawila. A few merchants were allowed to come into the Mahdia Kasbah to trade during the day but were required to leave at nightfall. The Mahdia ruler claimed that his goal was to separate the merchants from their wives during the day and from their goods at night. This technique seems to have worked as Mahdia prospered and grew for many centuries to become the historical ancient town tourist love to visit.

The Great Mosque of Mahdia
Visitors stopping in Mahdia should visit the Great Mosque, which is actually a 1960s reconstruction of the original Fatamid mosque built by the Mahdi in the 10th century. The monumental entrance was intended for the exclusive use of the Mahdi and his entourage. Tourists and visitors will wonder through the courtyard that was used as a cemetery by the Spaniards. When they left in 1554, they exhumed the bodies and took them to Palermo.

Skifa El-Khala (the dark entrance) Fort of Mahdia
The massive fortified gates are all that remain of the original Fatimid city. In 1554, the retreating Spanish were bent on decimating Mahdia, rather than leave it to the Turks. Although they managed to wipe out the majority of the city, they weren’t able to fell the 10 meter-wide walls. Lucky for us that the walls remain, as each Friday they shelter the women handicraft vendors at the weekly market. Mahdia is known throughout Tunisia as the place to buy embroidery and the women’s market is where these works of art are brought out and displayed proudly (if not with some friendly competition).

Fortress (Borj el-Kebir)
The story goes that this 16th century fortress built on top of the ruins of an earlier Fatamid structure holds an incredible secret. Some say that a subterranean tunnel leads from the fortress to El Jem, at least 50 km to the middle of the inland plains. Allegedly, elephants carried building stones for the construction of the amphitheatre through an underground tunnel from the port at Mahdia. Evidence to substantiate this claim has not been discovered and it is highly unlikely that a Roman settlement existed here.

Leptiminus :
Founded under Roman rule, where the modern city of Lamta now stands, originally an ancient Roman harbor city, there are many Tunisian American and Canadian Excavation sites and archeological digs under way in this city, though many are closed to visitors.