Travel & bike ride in Tunisia:
Traveling to Tunis, I wondered if I would have the opportunity to see traditional handicrafts being created.I thought it was only done in small villages far removed from the bustling city. Happily, I learned quickly how wrong I was. Just a ten-minute bike ride from Nomadic Bike in Bardo stands the handicraft village Maison de l’Artisanal du Denden (House of Crafts).
Here, Selim, Iheb, Ghyeth and I were lucky enough to witness age-old traditions still being practiced by local artisans. We saw the processing of raw materials into finished products. These products include carpets, baskets, woodwork, pottery, and mosaics. It was such a treat to see and speak with those creating such beautiful crafts, and thus we left with a lot more knowledge than we arrived with. It’s amazing how a few minutes bike ride from Nomadic Bike can take you to this wonderful place.
Tunisian handicrafts:
Bike ride & Carpets:
Maybe you’re familiar with the look of a Tunisian carpet. It could be because they are highly influenced by Ottoman carpets. In addition, the local versions often reflect Amazingh/Berber designs and symbols. It includes geometric shapes and stylized animals. These carpets are woven on a loom with knotted, dyed wool added to create complex designs. The sheer amount of time needed to create an arrangement, let alone harvest and color the wool, makes the amount of rolled-up carpets filling the House of Crafts overwhelming!
Bike ride & Basketry:
All across the world’s indigenous cultures, plants such as reeds and grasses were harvested, dried (and often dyed). later on, they can be woven into baskets and carpets. The land now known as Tunisia is no different. As we saw at the House of Crafts, grasses are cut, dried and coiled, braided, or woven into different products. we admired products like mats, baskets, lampshades, hats, and fans. Often this process also includes a loom, making the weaving process (one over, one under, etc.) simpler. Depending on its size and complexity, just the weaving of a basket may take more than two days to complete.
Bike ride & Olive Wood:
Tunisia is the world’s second-largest producer of olive oil (after Spain). Logically, that would mean there is also an abundance of olive wood. This wood is a popular raw material as it’s hard and strong. Naturally antibacterial, water-repellant and has a distinctive, beautiful texture due to its gnarled growth patterns. At the House of Crafts, They processed olive wood (from trees that no longer produced the fruit). They used traditional tools for cutting boards, mortar and pestles, spoons, and bowls. Olive oil is then used to polish the final piece.
Pottery:
Since the days of Carthage, pottery has been a big industry in Tunisia. At that time, ceramic jugs (known as amphorae) were necessary to transmit olive oil and wine for trade by sea. As happens with craft, purely functional objects gained adornment and decoration as tradespeople developed in technique. Both the introduction of Islam and the patterns of Andalusia (Spain) influenced the look of Tunisian ceramics. In Denden, we watched the pottery makers and painters create beautiful examples of design that included swirls, geometric forms, flowers, animals and more.
Mosaics:
As the Roman Empire shifted southward into North Africa two thousand years ago, intricate, decorative mosaics came along too. In Tunisia, large, detailed, vibrant (due to the supply of colored marble in the area) mosaics proliferated in private homes as a sign of wealth and status. They often covered whole floors or walls. Mosaics were integrated into the architectural scheme of a room.
After our bike ride, at the House of Crafts, we were fortunate to see the process unfold from raw chunks of marble to clean stone bars. The stones were individually broken up into small pieces by the artisan. Each tile was then placed according to a pattern to create a larger image, which would eventually be transferred via resin to its final form. If you are interested in getting immersed into the mosaics world you can join one of Nomadic Bike rides to Sidi Bou said and Carthage.
After many hours of wandering through the rooms of busy artisans at work, we left with a newfound appreciation for the intricate and delicate beauty of Tunisian handicrafts. It takes many hands and hours to create these pieces of art. A quick bike ride past the Bardo National Museum, which houses exquisite examples of the region’s art (including one of the world’s largest collections of Roman mosaics). the bike ride visit brought us back to Nomadic Bike with dreams of creating mosaics along walls and pavements around the city.
Epilogue to Nabeul:
Another great way of moving around Tunisia (if you are seeking a break from biking) is the louage. The word “louage” comes from the French word for “rental.” It is an excellent shared minibus system that connects the whole country via its bigger towns and cities. Rock up to the correct louage depot, read the signs, or ask where the vehicle you want is (based on your desired destination). You need to wait until the minibus fills with other passengers. The wait time can be one minute, ten minutes, or longer if you are hunting for a ride late at night or going to a less popular town. This is a cheap, effective and efficient way to move around the whole country!
I jumped in a “louage” for a day trip to Nabeul After getting a taste of Tunisian handicrafts in Denden with the Nomadic Bike crew. It’s a town 70 kilometers south of Tunis along the coast. Nabeul is famed for its pottery production and orange distilled into a prized culinary and cosmetic essence. While there, I strolled through the Medina admiring exquisitely painted flatware and tiles, as well as patterned carpets and woven baskets, and mats.
I even made it toward the edge of town and peeked into some pottery and weaving workshops to admire the works in progress. One street I passed through featured weaving room after weaving room, with men concentrating on small floor looms while stacks of grasses waited on the side. What a privilege to see the process behind such beautiful handicrafts! Nabeul is a friendly cycling town where you can enjoy a bike ride.
Cycle from Nomadic Bike: 10 minutes (3 kilometers)
Hours: Monday-Saturday 8am-6pm
Admission: free
From Nadine (31, USA)…
