Sahel · Tunisia
Sfax
Tunisia's working second city — fortified medina, olive trade and Kerkennah ferry.
Sfax is Tunisia's economic engine and second-largest city — a place that lives off olive oil, phosphates, and a busy commercial port. Tourism here is real but secondary, which is exactly its charm.
Its medina is among the best fortified in the country, with intact 9th-century walls and a Bab Diwan gate still in daily use. The covered souks sell everything from spices to gold.
From Sfax port, the slow ferry crosses to the Kerkennah Islands — a flat, windswept archipelago of palm groves, lagoons and traditional fish-trap fishing.