Sunday, 02 January, 2011 --- Day 02

ET PRAETERAE CENCEO CARTAGO DELENDA EST

I woke up rather early but, as usual I got up late. I did not really get up but by 8:40 I was sitting in bed and was writing on the computer. I really got up at 11:00, took Spithas and my stuff and biked to hotel Salammbo where I waited for another hour till my room was ready. It was a real upgrade, I even got wifi priviledges. By 13:30 I was on the road to get the train to Carthage.

L’ horloge


I got on the train (really cheap fare - $1.2 to go and return.) And after a number of stops arrived at “Carthage Hanibal” stop where I got off. It was a really nice and upscale neighborhood.


I asked the most trustworthy people around, the cops, for directions and walked in the direction recommended.
Beautiful house


The location I visited first was the “thèrmes d’ Antonin,” which, as the name suggests, was a Roman ruin. Truly there is very little left from the Punic times.


The Romans were the cleanest people of antiquity and really knew how to take baths and where to build them.




At the end of the tour I sat at the coffee shop and had a “chocolat chaude” that gave me strength to walk to the next destination, the “villas Romaines.”

In the US the most quoted saying regarding real estate is “there are only three things when it comes to real estate: location, location, location (of course that begs the question which are the other two.”) I’m afraid that Romans practiced it long before it became common practice in USA.




As I was walking in that rather deserted site (very few people were there) I caught up w/ the lady ahead of me and asked her a question regarding an underground opening that she was looking at just as I arrived. Her answer was comprehensive and extended to a short diatribe regarding Carthage and Rome. I was convinced that she must be a historian and asked her. Her answer was that she read history as a hobby and she was really a physicist but never the subject matter of her studies, instead she went for further studies in economics and was working in a commercial firm. Stunning. She was from Algeria and was just visiting as a tourist. Since we were headed in the same direction we walked together and then walked to the next site together. The breadth, depth, height, length, and volume of her knowledge, as well as her intelligence were impressive. After the sites we went for a cup of coffee and continued our conversation. In the space of one hour and a half I carried the knowledge of two moths of work on topics such as history, religion (Islam, Christianity, Judaism, etc.) physics, geography, etc. In addition, with such a charming teacher it is difficult to forget even the tiniest details of the lecture. Unfortunately she would be leaving tomorrow and all we could do is say what a pity it was that we would not be able to continue our conversation.

It was already late so after stopping at a supermarket that was still open to victualize for tomorrow, I took the train back and returned to the hotel, after stopping at the souvlaki place to have my first meal of the day.

CARTAGO DELENDA EST