Carthage!

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The former capital of the the Punic empire, Carthage was a powerful city in the region now known as Tunisia. It was one of the largest commercial centres, and for being so influential, Rome declared war to it.

For almost 120 years the empire dueled for control of the Mediterranean Sea. After being invaded by Hannibal (the emperor, not the Lecter), Rome finally won the war and destroyed Carthage.

Hannibal crossing the Alps with his army

Roma rebuilt Carthage decades later, and most of the remaining ruins are from the Roman time. The most famous of those are the Baths of Antoninus.

Artistic reconstruction of the Baths

Now Carthage is a town half an hour by train from Tunis. The ruins are open to visitors for a bargain (for free if you have the ISIC card).

Corinthian capital at the entrance of the archaeological site

Ruins of an ancient Roman church

Ruins of the Baths of Antoninus

A detail: half of the larger column was reconstructed,and both (higher and lower) were recently resettled to show
to the tourists how great the building was.

 The whole archaeological site is very poorly maintained, but it's still impressive, with beautiful mosaics, roman columns and some statues.
On the return home, I found further evidence of the Tunisian neglect at the ruins.

You are walking back home when suddenly...

...you are faced with a piece of a column of more than 1500 years.

I'm planning to visit the Bardo Museum  (official website - in french), that was the biggest and best collection of Roman mosaics in the whole world, and it's pretty nice that the Museum is 5 minutes walking from my hostel, in the old city (or Medina) of Tunis.

So, more pictures are coming soon!