It was a press trip in 1990-something. It wasn’t a trip for journalists who specialised in archaeology or history. It was a trip for gourmet journos…the ones who write the restaurant reviews and make the silly, boorish chefs famous. God knows how I ended up on this junket as I never wrote about food. But there I was anyway…and we spent five days in a stuffy, tin can of car being driven up and down Tunisia, from one over-blown, gastronomic feast to another, in the blazing heat. To be frank, once you’ve had one Tunisian meal, you’ve had them all. I was bored out of my mind. Finally, on the last afternoon, and probably to try and drum a bit of culture into this boozy, over-stuffed and increasingly vulgar plebeian crowd… they took us to Carthage.
I just remember standing in these desolate ruins, and bits of rubble, and all I could think of was that my stilettos were killing me and there was nowhere to sit down. Our guide did say something about Berbers – bearded Arabs – being the original inhabitants. He may have mentioned Phoenicians … I really can’t remember.
So that’s it… my eyewitness report from Carthage.
I hope it helps.
Glenda Slagg
Gossip Columnist to the Stars
