Kenneth Zammit Tabona
So near and yet so far
When, some time ago, on a very clear night, on my way back from Rome, I was invited to the cockpit, I had the unique experience of seeing the lights of Sicily beneath me, the lights, inclusive of the Żurrieq kaxxa infernali (aerial fireworks display), of Malta and Gozo, those of Pantalleria and Linosa and, to my right, the twinkling lights of Cap Bon in Tunisia, which is where my family derives its name. Despite this family connection, I had never been to Tunisia before. It had been on my To Do list for ages, so when my friend, art critic Charlene Vella, suggested going for a few days, ostensibly to see stones taken from Mdina's early medieval cathedral in the ribat of Sousse, I jumped at the idea.
I had, like many of you, heard the little ditty about bread and sardines that the Tunisians recite with great glee as soon as they guess that one is Maltese. I never fathomed its meaning and even now after I have completed the stanza: Malta ħanina, ħobża u sardina. Whisky fil-vetrina, u l-ġemel ħarab bina."
I am as mystified as before. People whom we met up with, who live in Tunis, had variable ideas as to its meaning, but we all agreed that it must date back to the early 19th century when many Maltese not only traded in Tunisia but, like my own ancestors, lived there too. It was when my great-grandfather Antonio Zammit came to Malta as an adolescent from Cap Bon that the nickname Ta' Bona eventually transformed itself into the surname, which is used by all his descendants.
In barely three days it is impossible to see much, but we did not do too badly. We were met at the airport by Joe Grech Attard who very kindly took us straight to Carthage and Sidi Bou Said.
My vision of Carthage is coloured by the third and final Punic War when Cato the Elder declared "Delenda est Carthago", Carthage must be destroyed, in the senate. After Publius Cornelius Scipio, surnamed Africanus, defeated the Carthaginians, the city was razed to the ground and its fields sown with salt.
What is left of Dido's city today is the circular dock, that ingenious waterway wherein hundreds of ships disappeared around a circular tower that dominated the ancient city. Today, Carthage is a rather upmarket residential area wherein it is rather difficult to imagine either the dalliances of Dido and Aeneas or the tragedy of Sophonisba.
Sidi Bou Said is a manicured showpiece of a place of which it is obvious the Tunisians are very proud. Like our own Mdina, it is forever crawling with tourists and every nook and cranny is a picture. Beautiful as it is, I prefer the more realistic authenticity of the Medina in Tunis while the reality of Kairouan fascinated me utterly. I was glad that I saw it before as it gives one a very good impression of Tunisia and offers the visitor a glimpse into a way of life that has been thriving, mostly unchanged, for centuries.
The blue and white that dominate the whole of Tunisia are never more intense than in Sidi Bou Said and yet, it was a French aristocrat, Rodolphe d' Erlanger, who made Sidi Bou, as it is fondly called, what it is; which is probably why I find it ever so slightly artificial.
I found our little boutique hotel in the Tunis Medina on the net and my expectations of it were more than fulfilled. Situated in a narrow street behind Place du Gouvernement, Dar el Medina is utterly delightful. Its tiles, its stuccoed ceilings, its carpets and cushions, its antique furniture are beautifully displayed in an understated and stylish manner that shows what a contemporary Tunisian upper-crust house must look like. The only disadvantage was that one had to walk around a couple of corners to get to it; a small price to pay to live in an area that is totally pedestrianised.
Zine el Abidine Ben Ali is ubiquitous: whether you are in the narrowest alley of the Medina, a carpet shop, a restaurant or Place du Gouvernement, photographs of President Ali wearing various outfits in Western or traditional style look out at you, hand on heart. Mr Ben Ali has been in power since the retirement of President Habib Bourgiba in 1987.
However democracy is said to work or not work in this country, the end result is that Tunisia is reputedly the freest and most enlightened of Islamic countries where the hijab is practically non-existent and where fundamentalism is not tolerated, with the result that visiting Tunisia is practically risk-free and, although one cannot and must not abuse of this tolerance, one does not feel the underlying tensions that plague so many other countries where the struggles between Sunni and Shiite and Muslim and Christian have led to everyday tragedy.
It was in the wonderful ninth-century Great Mosque in Kairouan that one can appreciate the fusion and assimilation of two great cultures, the Greco Roman and the Arab. The capitals of the hundreds of columns that adorn the fourth most important mosque in the world are for the most part classical or early Christian. They look wonderful and truly epitomise this lovely county and its warm people.
I will return.
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Joe Xuereb
Feb 17th 2010, 21:01
@ Charles J. Buttigieg. The proper name is Edwige Fenech (link below). I remember coming across this Christian name occasionally in my boyhood. I remember thinking it was a bit like my middle name - Edwin - hence, I remember this little snippet of 'useless' detail dear to me. Ah! the sweet joy of getting older.
Joe Xuereb
Feb 17th 2010, 20:49
Thanks KZT for reviving my memories when I used to come to Malta and have a holiday within a holiday in Tunisia. Ah! Sidi Bou, the Bardo mosaics, Sfax, the desert with natural hot water springs, Djerba, the Lotus isle, the long bus-rides through pink and mauve back-lit xotts (desert). And bright orange sunrises, up with the lark, on the hotel roof, photo-shooting dodging the steel uprights and half-concrete columns of a hotel getting ever taller. All there, in my archive of travels past. And beautiful photogenic people of course. Ah my youth, my misspent youth, so beautifully spent. Je ne regrette rien. J'ai deux amours - moi, mon pays and OK, la Tunisie. (No regrets. I have two loves, myself, my country and a close honorary concession, a 3rd, Tunisia). And if you didn't go, Roman Maktar in the mountains, freezing on New Year's Eve, dancing and eating oranges with the villagers - fair sex interdit - all vying for the honour of 'dancing with the Malti'. And Sbeitla. And magnificent Dougga with intact public latrines and corner blocks with male members in high relief indicated the Strait Street of the time. I wouldn't mind returning Tabona Z.K.
Lawrence Attard
Feb 17th 2010, 09:11
I really enjoyed reading your article about Tunisia. It has become one of my favourite holiday destinations. The Maltese tourism industry has a lot to learn from them. I visited twice in the last two years and I would go back anytime.
The first time I had a heart-attack just before leaving for Malta. I can tell you that I was really impressed with their expertise and high calibre of treatment that I got at Clinique Essalem in Sousse.
As you said Kenneth, one should not take advantage of their hospitality and one cannot treat their laws with disrespect. I don't like the way they search you so thoroughly and without grace at the airport and the Maltese government should do somthing about it. However, we have some of our Maltese people who are to blame for this, they try to take out birds, tortoises and so on illegally. It is also illegal to take Tunisian money out of the country.
All in all, I would go back to Tunisia anytime and thanks to Kenneth, I have new places to visit now.
victor zammit
Feb 16th 2010, 22:31
Kenneth, according to your good self: "It was when my great-grandfather Antonio Zammit came to Malta as an adolescent from Cap Bon that the nickname Ta' Bona eventually transformed itself into the surname, which is used by all his descendants" - voilá: Zammit Tabona! Good for you and my half barrel.
Kenneth Zammit Tabona
Feb 16th 2010, 18:34
' u il-gmal (beauty) harab bina.' could have alarming connotations Charles! I can visualise a runaway camel more than I can imagine a Tunisian beauty bolting!!!!
Victor so am I doubly Tunisian? Zammit AND Tabona? wow
Charles J. Buttigieg
Feb 16th 2010, 18:34
@ KZT
Old members of my extended family, from my mother’s side (Fenech) and a whole family that bears your name who’s roots are at Mellieha, were forced to leave Tunisia when it gained independence in spite of having a French passport like all nationals used to have at that time. They all moved to the South of France. The names Fenech and Zammit are not that scarce in Nice. Do you remember Edwich Fenech who used to come on our TV screen after midnight? Lol.
Charles J. Buttigieg
Feb 16th 2010, 17:45
@ KZT
My impression is that its ‘gmal’ (beauty) not ‘gemel’
victor zammit
Feb 16th 2010, 17:41
Kenneth, brought back happy memories of a visit there, especially of the troclodyte town of Matmata – of homes burrowed into soft sandstone and of ‘Star Wars’ fame. Unspoiled almost. Perhaps the attraction is due to my surname being linked, too, to a descendant of sorts from that place ( I do not know), but perhaps not from Cap Bon and “Ta’ Bon” (too exclusive at that, because my second barrel derives from elsewhere). Your last-but-one-but-one paragraph (’However democracy…’) struck a chord re: democracyy/fundamentalism and Muslim/Christian dichotomies, mainly in relation to al-Kindi, the same Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi (mentioned by Karen Armstrong in ‘A History of God') and Abu Yusuf Ismail al-Kindi (mentioned by Dan Brown in ‘The Da Vinci Code’). He was from Saudi Arabia and a brilliant scholar of many facets, whose legacy is widespread and might have had a mitigating influence. The ‘sardines’ bit sounds to me like a latter-day haiku, so much in the news nowadays in the EU, to expess, in its waywardness, affinity. Good to know. I too would like to return.
Claire Busuttil
Feb 16th 2010, 16:38
Invited to the cockpit??? as far as I know, IATA banned this sometime ago!
Kenneth Zammit Tabona
Feb 16th 2010, 16:04
I dont think anyone was actually thrown out of the French colonies or the ex ones. Joe Grech Attard who is a retired doctor of medicine lives in Tunis but I dont know of anyone else...............The coups that got foreigners thrown out were in Libya and Egypt. Some of my ZT cousins were in Cairo at the time.........
As for the Siculo Muscati roundabout; yes of course, considering the predominance of the arab culture and population in Sicily pre Norman Conquest, the incidence of Moscato is hardly surprising!
What a hotchpotch the Mediterranean is!
E.Muscat
Feb 16th 2010, 15:15
@KZT:I thought that such a comment would get you going! Easy,I am descended from pure gozitans who came to Gozo from Sicily after all the able bodied population of Gozo was taken away by the north africans in the time of the Knights of Malta! You should actually talk more about the north africans who threw you all out from Egypt,Algeria,Libya,and Tunisia:did you meet many maltese while you were in Tunisia?
When I was in Sicily,I was told I looked like a mafioso from Catania by an old sicilian!
You know where Muscatello grapes come from?
Kenneth Zammit Tabona
Feb 16th 2010, 14:34
@ E Muscat
Sicilian farmers? With a name like Muscat? Very interesting indeed. One thinks of Arabian Nights and Muscat grapes but not Calatagirone and Gela with a name like Muscat...............
Tell us more
E.Muscat
Feb 16th 2010, 11:21
@KZT:I am descended from sicilian farmers, but I also was quite enchanted to see the playing skill and 'joie de vivre' abandon with which selima sfar,a tunisian tennis player, played at the Dubai Open yesterday.
The more one moves away from the central point where the great religions originated, the more people become reasonable!The greeks invented logic and gave the west the seeds of scepticism which even Rome could not resist:so we had western science and art.
We are now moving again: art has become superficial and science is no longer trustworthy.
The genius and physical suffering of Michelangelo to produce his masterpieces are great, but most kids couldn't care less.The names of the great scientists who made our present good life possible are almost unknown.
We should be counting our blessings but as despondent kids we need to learn the lessons of growing up:discipline and 'joie de vivre' are the opposite sides of the same coin!