In the wide landscapes of northern Tunisia lie the ruins of Roman towns, more or less unaltered since the 5th century AD. Temples, bath-houses, theatres and amphitheatres still stand in the sort of ruined grandeur tourists found in Europe during the 19th century.

The foothills of the Atlas mountains attract enough rainfall to make this land agriculturally rich, and the long summer sunshine ripens the grain and olives which have always been an important part of the economy.

The once-great city of Carthage, now absorbed into the suburbs of Tunis, has scattered but substantial remains if you know where to look. The Punic city was thoroughly destroyed by the Romans in 146BC, at the end of a long period of war, but it rose again as an important Mediterranean trading centre. An international UNESCO “Save Carthage” campaign during the 1970s and 80s saw teams from all over the world excavating at sites throughout the ancient city, and the results can be seen on the Byrsa Hill, where the core of the city once stood, and many other sites.

One of the joys of Roman Tunisia is the astoundingly rich and varied use of mosaics as an art-form. The Bardo Museum holds one of the finest collections in the world, but there are more in smaller site museums, and in situ on many of the sites. They provide a detailed view of everyday life - hunting, agricultural and domestic scenes, amphitheatre spectacles, and still-life views capture in tiny tesserae what people would have been seeing and experiencing in the 2nd - 4th centuries AD.

This Bare Bones tour also gives you the opportunity to experience the delights of modern Tunisia: the souks, medinas and mosques of this accessible and friendly Muslim country - not forgetting the Mediterranean coast at Hammamet.