Sangho Le Syphax

Visiting Mosques

by aliante1981

Many countries, including Tunisia, are predominantly Muslim, so the religious sites you are most likely to encounter, are, predictably, mosques. This is a brief tip of advice, written from the point of view of a non-Muslim, female traveler (yours truly!!!):

- Do dress modestly, covering arms, legs, shoulders and the like, no frivolous dressing will be allowed. Hire the modest dress if needed;

- Check whether you are allowed into the mosque at all, since most of them admit you only into the courtyard, and some do not admit non-Muslims at all. However, in several countries you may be able to visit the interiors of many mosques;

- Respect the boundaries laid and do not attempt to enter further (I saw such a thing once, and it did arouse ill-feeling);

- If possible try to avoid going even to the courtyard on Friday afternoon, since I remember this is the most important praying time of the week;

- If you are curious, feel free to ask questions (though not of people hurrying to pray) and most likely you will be answered: I’ve always found people proud of their culture and heritage and ready to explain it;

- Do not criticize things we in Europe and in the West might (such as separate praying space for men and women), for such are the customs of the land and mosques are the least appropriate places for such topics.

This advice is based only on common sense, but it allowed me to see something of the mosques and learn loads of interesting info on Muslim countries, their religion, and culture. Really helped me when we had a general education class on religions at University:))

What's not to like?

by TheLongTone

I wouldn't go as far as Ronald Firbank and call Sfax the mostt beautiful city in the world, but as far as the center goes I thought it most attractive. The suburbs may be ugly and it may be surrounded by industry but show me a major city anywhere in the world of which this is not true.
Essentially the centre consists of the medina, secure inside it's immaculately restored walls, and a fairly small French new town occupying the area between the medina and the sea.
The medina is fairly compact and easily navigable without too much fear of getting lost, and is both bustling with life and, in sharp contrast to Tunis, almost devoid of shops selling tourist knicknacks. What it does have in unnatural abundance is shoe shops: the main street leading up towards the Great Mosque from Bab al Diwan is almost entirely devoted to them. Not because the people of Sfax are avid shoe consumers but because Sfax is the centre of the Tunisian shoe industry: most of the shops are in fact more like wholesale showrooms.

Exterior wall of the great mosque.