Al Qayrawan City

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Al Qayrawan City is the capital city of Al Qayrwan governorate , situated in the desert , 156km to south of Tunis . It has a continental weather , i . e . very hot in summer as well as very cold in winter . Such location and weather led to some kind of conservative relation between the city and the outside world . In spite of that , the city attracts a huge numbers of day-trippers because it is an interesting and beautiful place to wan¬der , especially in the late afternoon when the sun creates shadows while highlighting the charming and florid doors and the blue and-green window shutters and balconies . In addition to its natural beauty , the fourth holiest mosque in Islam and the oldest one in North Africa , the great mosque gives the city an important religious significance . There's some¬thing essentially Tunisian about the place which makes it Islamic to its core and with deep roots in tradition , but also adapted to the com¬mercial grounds of the modern world .

There are two main central places in Al Qayrawan city: the medina at the centre of town and the Ville Nouvelle to the south , where a wide square called the (place des Martyrs) is located between these two places out¬side the medina's main southern gate , the Bab ech Chouhada . The main street in the city , ave 7 Novembre , extends towards the north , reaching the main northern gate Bab Tunis . It is quiet easy to get into and out of al Qayrawan , and the taxi services are also available to tour inside the city .

The bus and louage stations are located beside each other , about 300m west of the Zawaia of Sidi Sahab . In the bus station , there are bus services available from and to many cities and governorates where the national line , SNTRI the company that manages most of these services , has its own book office within the station , together with an information board displaying destinations and departure times . Besides , there are some other regional companies with separate booking offices at the same station serving some other destinations . These including –for example- buses to Sfax , Sousse and Makthar , in scheduling in different times with different price-rates . It is worthy to note that for El-Jem one must go via Sousse . There are also frequent and occasional louage services to many other cities with different price-rates depending on how far the destination is . Moreover , other services are widely provided in Al Qayrawan city as the taxiphone offices are spread throughout the whole city . The main post-office is located southwest of Bab ech Chouhada .

Regarding the touristic services , The (ONTT tourist office) , located in Place des Martyrs to the South of the medina , provides all transport schedules . Syndicat d'initiative (cnr aves Ibn el-Jazzar & Ibn el Aghlab) is Also located on the northern edge of town in front of the Aghlabid Basins . Through this office , the tourist can get a tour guide for his/her desired language , and he/she can also purchase the all-in-one ticket for the sites around Qayrawan . This ticket allows the tourist to visit the Great Mosque , the Aghlabid Basins , the Zaouia of Sidi Sahab , the Zaouia of Sidi Amor Abbada , Bir Barouta , the Zaouia of Sidi Abid el-Ghariani and the Raqqada (The Islamic Art Musium) . This ticket has a validity of one day and one visit per site .

The visitors of al Qayrawan city will enjoy eating various local Tunisian specialties particularly the makhroud which is made of semolina cake soaked in honey . Some wonderful patisseries where you can try these Tunisian specialties include (Segni) which is located in ave 7 Novembre and the modern Patisserie Rabaoui Kairouan which is located in rue Soukina bint el-Hassan . Other places to try include the outdoor stalls just off the main thoroughfare near the arch . Moreover , There are many restaurants in the streets south of the medina and several places serving good rotisserie chicken , gelati or pizza which can be found around ave El Moez Ibn Badiss and ave Ibn el-Jazzar . One can also try the famous Tunisian couscous in some other restaurants like Roi Roi du Couscous situated in ave Ali Zouaoui and Restaurant de la Jeunesse in ave 7 Novembre . Several clean and friendly family-run places can also be found there like Restaurant Karawan in rue Soukina bint el-Hassan . Most of seasons' fresh fruits are sold at the stalls around place de Tunis , just north of the medina .

There are a lot of outdoor places to enjoy a coffee , soft drink , mint tea or a sheesha (water pipe) as there are many good coffeehouses like Cafe Belhadj and Cafe Amar (located near the intersection of ave Hamda Laaouani and ave de la Republique) and Cafe Les Soirees de L'Orient (located in front of bab Tunis) . This is in addition to the existence of some bars like the bar at the Hotella Kasbah (ave Ibn el-Jazzar) .

Al qayrawn city is very famous for manufacturing carpets . There are two basic types of carpets: the knotted mergoums and the woven kilims . The former is distinguished by its vivid and bright colours , while the industry of the latter is basically depended on traditional Berber motifs on a woven background . The classical knotted Qayrawan carpets are the most famous of them all . The carpet's price is determined by the number of knots per square metre (a certificate on the back of the carpet specify its dimensions and type . ) In addition to the carpets' reasonable prices , one can see the process of manufacturing it at the Centre des Traditions et des Metiers d'Art de Kairouan , just north of Bir Barouta on a side street leading to the souqs . Another option that one might consider is to attend the carpet auctions where Ber¬ber manufacturers sell their traditional carpets to shop-owners .