Bizerta

“One of the prettiest trips around Bizerte is to Ben Negro. To get there, you first cross the canal on the steam ferry. On the other side you take the path which leads to Tunis, winding along the sandy shore between a small lagoon and the sea.

Near a picturesque palm tree and not far from a fountain called Aïn Bitar, you leave the path to Tunis in which you see large groups of palm trees, turning right. The path is now bordered by grapevines and figs and leads to the citadel of Roumadia, but vehicles are not permitted.

Ben Negro, the English consul’s house, is quite pretty.

From the terrace on which Arab artists once painted frescoes featuring fantastic animals, you can see Bizerte “the White” amongst sleepy canals, as if it were an Oriental dream.

From up high, behind the garden, there is a particularly beautiful view of the interior lagoon and the steamy mountain chain.”

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