Tunisia - Part 4

Another place we wanted to see was the colloseum at El Jehm. We did a landrover trip. We met our driver at 7.30am and took our places in the landrover. We had another couple with us from Belgium. We roared off to another hotel about 8 kms aways and met up with a couple more landrovers. We waited there for the last 2 to arrive. There were 6 of us in total when we headed off to Mahdia.
We drove through many little towns and past many olive groves - this being one of Tunisia’s main crops.
We came to a stop at Cape Africa. Here we were given time to wander around and explore the Big Fortress.
Borj el-Kebir" means Big Fortress, and it truly applies. As seen from further out on the peninsula, the city fortress is quite impressive.It dates back to 1595, while the bastions in the corners are 18th century additions.The extensive cemetary cover large parts of the eastern end of the peninsula, is laid out so that almost every grave can have a seaview, relating to Mahdia's long history of piracy, fishing and sailors.It starts in front of the Borj el-Kebir and continues all the way past the Fatimid port, ending next to the lighthouse.
After purchasing and drinking some cooldrinks in a café overlooking the sea, we were ready for the next leg of our journey.
We were driven up to the colosseum in El Jem and told to meet back with the landrovers in an hours time. Our guide took us into the colosseum and gave us some interesting facts about it.
The colosseum is great, almost as big as the one of Rome, and in better condition. It is 148 metres long by 122 metres wide, with tiers up to 35 metres.There is nothing missing which takes away its grandeur. One area of the walls is gone, and this was done in 1695 when a big hole was shot in the wall of the colosseum, in order to uncover the hiding places of dissidents against the Ottomans.The colosseum was constructed between 230 and 238 CE by the command of the Imperial official Gordian. It's believed to have given room for as much as 30,000 spectators. The games here became famous and drew crowds from much of Roman Africa.The building process is even more impressive considering that the stones were quarried 30 km away at Salakta.
The arena is 65 metres long and 39 metres wide, large enough to host more than one show at a time. The upper part of the tiers were used as a sort of VIP tribune, where roofed rooms allowed hiding from the hot sun. Underneath the arena run two passage ways. This was the place where animals, prisoners and gladiators were kept, just until the moment when they were brought up into the bright daylight to perform what was in most cases the last show of their lives.
It was incredible to walk around this amphitheatre and imagine what went on within this building.
The amphitheatre is now another UNESCO World Heritage Site.