Elevation profile

159-182 M / TERRAIN TILES SAMPLED ALONG THE TRACK

Photographs

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)

Start point

Car

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.

Nearby

• Chemtou (Simitthus) Archaeological SiteHeritage site<1km

The trail

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

Weather and season

SEASON

Year-round; best in spring

Monthly normals 2011-2020 at the start point, from Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0). Shaded months are the season this trail is listed for.

Practical

Water

At the museum; nothing on the hill.

Guide

optional

Permits

Site and museum entrance ticket.

Hazards

Loose stone in the quarries; heat in summer.

Route

Approximate line along mapped paths between verified waypoints. Follow a guide or a GPS track on the ground.

Go with a guide

These operators and clubs organise guided hikes in Tunisia:

• 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