Shopping Guide in Tunisia

In the tourist centres, souvenirs have edged out quality Tunisian crafts. Some of the items on sale – bags, jackets and brassware – are even imported from abroad, witness the Friday ‘camel’ market at Nabeul on Cap Bon. Each week tourists are bussed in from Sousse and Hammamet, and the market has now expanded into a vast pan-Arab bazaar carpeting a grid of streets on the eastern side of town (drift with the crowds to find it). Merchandise – toy camels are much more in evidence than the real thing – ranges from Egyptian papyrus to Moroccan babouches (slippers) and leather jackets. The sheer scale of the market seems to trigger shopping fever. To avoid expensive and easily-made mistakes, remember that items that look good in their North African setting often don’t look as fetching in the average Western sitting-room.

To my mind, the best buys are coral from Tabarka, rugs (found everywhere) and the beautifully tooled wooden bowls sold around Ain Draham. Also attractive are the bulbous, filigree bird cages of Sidi Bou Said and the rose de sable, natural sculptures of crystallised gypsum excavated in the south.

Whatever you buy, it is important to bargain hard. Begin bidding at approximately one-third of the asking price and settle at a fraction over half, though there are no fixed rules. Haggling for larger items, such as rugs or leather jackets, can be protracted and is invariably lubricated by copious quantities of tea or Boga lemonade. Prices are fixed in shops run by L’Office National de l’Artisanat Tunisien (onat), a government-run body which aims to promote Tunisian crafts.

In more upmarket shops, expensive purchases can be made by credit card: American Express, Visa and Mastercard are generally accepted. Tabarka’s Avenue Habib Bourguiba is packed with shops selling coral jewellery, the carved and polished products of the coral harvested offshore. If you are serious about buying, take your time, browsing in each of the shops and asking for prices as you go. Examine clasps, as they are often clues to the level of workmanship.

More ethnic is silver Berber jewellery – brooches like stirrups, massive hoop earrings, chunky bracelets and khul-khal, heavy anklets, still worn by some older women in villages in the Sahel. Popular motifs are ‘hands’, designed to ward off the evil eye, and fish, a symbol of fertility since Roman times when a pisciform phallus was a common motif in mosaics.

Lighter work is found in Houmt Souk, Jerba and, in gold, in the labyrinthine jewellery souks off Souk el Attarine in the medina in Tunis. Much of Tunisia’s silver jewellery is either influenced or produced by the Jewish jewellers of Jerba, who still serve as wholesalers to jewellers throughout the country. As a result, the jewellery souk in Jerba offers the best variety of jewellery, with some old pieces available.

Ceramics
Nabeul, near Hammamet on Cap Bon, Guellala on Jerba and Mok-nine near Monastir in the Sahel are all known for their potters, but you will find pretty much the same ware -painted and glazed ashtrays, plant holders, teapot stands and candlesticks – on sale all over the country. Among the most attractive and practical items, the huge earthenware pots and pitchers are difficult to transport, as are sufficient quantities of the lovely tiles which replicate the urn and plant designs found on mosque walls.

Carpets and Textiles
Though not bought as investments, Tunisian rugs are striking. The government monitors their production and sale and each one must have an official stamp stating whether it is deuxieme choix, premiere choix or, top of the range, qualite superieure. The more knots a carpet has to the square metre, the better it is.

You are unlikely to find genuine antique articles for sale, but most ONAT shops have some on display. These can help you identify regional designs and develop an eye for quality. Kairouan is renowned for carpet-weaving, but the hard sell encountered here can be off-putting.

Also popular are mergoums (woven as opposed to knotted carpets). Mergoums from Gafsa and Gabes, but sold everywhere, are especially distinctive: they are usually distinguished by large, bright geometrical designs, sometimes incorporating naive images of camels and trees. They are fun for children’s bedrooms. Much finer, darker patterns in wine-reds, browns, black and creams are particular to the Ksour region of the south.

Other textiles include ‘marriage wraps’ (though they would be just as attractive at an opera or a party), made in Mahdia, a town traditionally associated with silk weaving.