Dougga delivers on promise of spectacular ruined city

Today, away from beguiling coastal views and into the interior.

Our objective was Dougga, legendary for being one of the finest Roman sites in the world. It's about 80 miles from Tunis and quite literally in the middle of nowhere.

We hired a driver for the day for 200 dinars (about £75). He was cheerful and attentive but neither his English, nor his French, was up to communicating that we were taking the longer, but much more picturesque, route out to Dougga and would take the shorter route home. This might have made us a bit more relaxed about the seemingly interminable, but in fact 3 hour, ride. It was enjoyable nonetheless.

We drove through vast agricultural valleys with wheat fields spreading to distant horizons and olive groves on every hill. (Turns out 19% of the world's total of olive trees are in Tunisia, and it's the world's fourth biggest producer after Italy, Greece and Spain.) But this isn't an area of modern agriculture. It was half way through the return journey before I saw a tractor; the roads were filled with horse carts and men bobbing along on heavily laden donkeys. People were selling piles of melons, garlic and pomegranates on the roadside. And every flock of sheep or goats we saw was accompanied by its own shepherd. (I can't grasp the economic validity of that.) It was both easy to see how this was the bread basket of the Roman empire, and to understand how they now import wheat because their modern agricultural standards are backwards.

We climbed over a low mountain range, getting spectacular views reminiscent of Tuscany. Then we wound back down into a non-descript, rickety outpost of a town, followed a country road along the edge of more hills and finally saw the temple of Saturn on the promontory that told us we had arrived.

Dougga has the usual mix for Roman urban sites: forum, temples, houses, baths. But I found it unusual in three ways. First, the whole place is made of a golden, almost Cotswold-coloured stone, which gives it a buttery glow. Second, there's been no attempt at a geometric city plan. The hill was too steep. So roads circle up it, creating a most un-Roman spiral plan. Third, it was almost empty. For vast parts of our visit we were alone but for site workers and their donkeys, and were free to scramble up or over any ruin we fancied. It wasn't hard to imagine that we were the first discovering a lost city after a thousand year sleep.

Several buildings are particularly well preserved and dramatic. The capitol has been rebuilt to its full height, though not re roofed. Not only does this provide a picturesque focal point for the whole site, but it also means the capitol is one of the few places in Dougga where there's any shade. Thus we paused here for a picnic lunch, perched on bits of broken pediments beneath the empty niches where Jupiter, Juno and Minerva once stood.

Another temple nearby is not so complete, but interesting in its unique structure. It stood in a semi-circular walled enclosure, and you get a perfect sense of the gracious proportions of the space. The theatre has been extensively rebuilt and has a full complement of seating as well as comprehensive remains of the stage. There's enough of the forum areas to paint a vivid picture of commercial and civic life, and the warren of residential areas was fascinating. I'm so glad we did this after visiting the Bardo, as multiple places are identified by the mosaics that were discovered there.

By far the greatest thrill of Dougga was that sense of discovering the unknown. We tramped between sites over fields covered with scrubby brush and burnt out thistles, strange white snails clinging to the dead foliage in such profuse amounts they seemed like flowers. We reached other sites through olive groves. Hobbled donkeys with no masters in sight munched on the wild thyme and rosemary growing amongst the stones. This was just so far from your usual regulated, high traffic tourist site. There was no guidebook in English, so we followed the entries in our general guidebooks and pieced the stories together as well as we could. It was a wonderful journey of discovery.

The shorter route back to Tunis still took 2 hours thanks to hitting the city at rush hour. We didn't linger at the hotel, however, but rather changed and headed for a local restaurant, Les Bon Vieux Temps. Great views, a mix of French and Tunisian specialties and a location close enough to dash to and from the hotel without minding the rain that has returned.

I started with the marinated seafood salad and went on to the stuffed squid, both dishes that could have been served in any Sicilian restaurant. More reminders, should you need it, that Palermo is a hell of a lot closer to Tunis than it is to Rome. I finished with perhaps the best lemon sherbet I've ever had (the Arabs did invent the stuff, after all), the perfect balance to the spices of the meal and the heat of the day.

Tomorrow we head into Tunis. The only chance to shop in the main souks before we catch our 4pm transfer down the coast to the beach resort half of the trip.