Bizerta

“How much prettier the view is from the Spanish fort over the city! You can see the old Bordji Sidi Abou Hadid, the port with Cape Zebib in the background, and the interior lagoon with the heights of Djebel Lechkeul to the right.

One after the other, the waves form silvery embroidery on a sea of gold; and the city, an impressive white, reflecting the sky blue from the tranquil and clean inner port like a mirror. We shan’t dream any more of the old bridge under which the canal once flowed, nor the island, landscapes which have disappeared for good.

   

Under us is the casbah, and in front is Bab-al-Andless, Bab-al-Mehdi, which leads to the casbah and the four gateways we’ve already mentioned.

At the base of the fortress is an old abandoned Arab cemetery where cacti with large thorns now grow. Bab Sidi al Ach, near Burdj, has been modernised.

The entire talus of the Spanish fort, formerly a cemetery, is planted with eucalyptus trees. Under the fort there is a large number of Helix naticoidea snails.”

Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria, Bizerte, J. Rothschild, Paris, 1900 (Prague, 1897)