Kairouan

Kairouan (Arabic: القيروان), sometimes spelled Kairwan, Kayrawan or Al Qayrawan, is a city in Tunisia. It's a holy city in Islam, ranking fourth after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem as a place of pilgrimage. Reputedly seven visits here are the equivalent of one to Mecca. With its large mosques and rich cultural history it has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Get in

 * Buses run to Kairouan from the major cities, Tunis, Sousse (2 hrs), and Sfax. Touts from the carpets shops have been known to board the bus a few kilometres outside the city and befriend tourists to lure them into their shops.
 * Louages run from many destinations into Kairouan; these are probably the best and most frequent way to get into the city. It takes 2 hours and 10.25 DT from Tunis (as of June 2016). There is no direct public transport between Kairouan and El Jem, you'd need to change in Sousse.
 * Kairouan is not located on a train line.

The stations for both buses and louages are to the northwest of the Medina. Though they may well drop you off at a Medina Gate if requested.

Get around
The Medina is best explored on foot, partially to absorb the atmosphere and partially because some areas are inaccessible to anything bigger. The main street that links the Gate of Martyrs (south) to the Gate of Tunis (northwest) is rather touristic.

Many of the shops near the main mosque will tempt you in with views over the complex, expect to have a look around the shop on the way out, if you don't buy anything a small donation would be polite.

See


The old Medina with its narrow passageways and streets is in general a nice place to just wander around aimlessly. If it looks familiar it may well be as it was used in Raiders of the Lost Ark to double as Cairo. For those interested in Islamic teachings there are several madrasas, or Islamic schools, in the centre of town that are open for visitors. Three communities coexist here - the Bedouins, the Berbers, the Arabs - you can tell the houses apart by the doors - ring doorknockers, the hands of fatimas, or just Arabic script. The number of rings or hands denote also the number of families in the same house. Green doors are mosques.



Do

 * Sit and enjoy a tea in a traditional tea house if the heat gets a little too much.
 * Walk the town and appreciate the beautiful and intricate designs.

Buy
Kairouan is particularly famous for its carpets and visiting a shop is an integral and sometimes unexpected part of experiencing the city. Carpets are graded by their fineness, the number of knots in a square metre, with a normal weave from 10,000 to 40,000, fine weave from 65,000-90,000 and extra fine from 160,000 - 500,000. Silk carpets may be over 500,000 knots per square metre.

Eat

 * A speciality of Kairouan is the sticky pastry makrouhd, it can be found all through Tunisia - dates, sesame, and honey. You can tell most shops how much you're willing to spend, and they'll give you a box of pastries - you can mix and match with others!

Drink
There are a few nice tea houses on the road from the Main Gate into the centre of the city

Sleep
Many tiny hotels dotted all around town, without much online presence.

Go next

 * Sousse
 * Sfax

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