Chemtou Marble Quarries

Profil altimétrique

159-182 M / TUILES DE TERRAIN ÉCHANTILLONNÉES LE LONG DU TRACÉ

Photographies

Photos : Hn Khaoula (CC BY-SA 4.0), IssamBarhoumi (CC BY-SA 4.0), Fatma Hamdi (CC BY-SA 4.0), DrFO.Jr.Tn (CC BY 3.0)

Point de départ

Voiture

About 20 km west of Jendouba; about 2 h 45 from Tunis.

Louage

Louage from Tunis to Jendouba, then a taxi to Chemtou (verify locally).

Bus / train

Train Tunis-Jendouba, then taxi.

À proximité

• Chemtou (Simitthus) Archaeological SiteSite historique<1km

La randonnée

A walk around ancient Simitthus: the museum, the Roman bridge on the Medjerda and the hill of yellow Numidian marble quarried for Rome.

Chemtou is where the yellow Numidian marble came from, the stone the Romans called giallo antico and shipped across the empire. A Numidian sanctuary stood on the hill from the 4th century BC, and under Rome the town of Simitthus grew into one of the great quarrying centres of the empire. The loop starts at the museum, goes down to the remains of the Roman bridge over the Medjerda, and climbs the quarry hill past the sanctuary, the temple of Saturn and the cut faces of the marble. The site is on the UNESCO tentative list.

• Yellow Numidian marble quarries
• Numidian hilltop sanctuary
• Roman bridge on the Medjerda
• Chemtou museum

Météo et saison

SAISON

Year-round; best in spring

Normales mensuelles 2011-2020 au point de départ, par Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0). Les mois teintés sont la saison annoncée pour cette randonnée.

Pratique

Eau

At the museum; nothing on the hill.

Guide

optional

Permis

Site and museum entrance ticket.

Dangers

Loose stone in the quarries; heat in summer.

Tracé

Ligne approximative le long des chemins cartographiés, entre des points vérifiés. Suivez un guide ou une trace GPS sur le terrain.

Partir avec un guide

Ces opérateurs et clubs organisent des randonnées guidées en Tunisie :

• WildyNessTunisian booking platform for guided hikes with local guides (Cap Blanc, Mides, Selja, Dahar, El Haouaria), several with GPS downloads.
• Association Tunisienne des RandonneursHiking association in Tunis that runs and writes up group hikes across the country.
• Mosaic North AfricaTour operator offering custom hiking trips, including the Chebika, Tamerza and Mides oases.
• Destination DaharPublishes the official topoguide (12 stages, 194 km) of the Grande Traversee du Dahar.
• Grand Sahara AventuresDjerba-based operator running Berber village and desert treks in the south.
• Destination TunisTunis-based guide publishing and leading day hikes around Tunis and Cap Bon.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Chemtou
• UNESCO tentative list: marble quarries of Chimtou