Old Souk & Zaytuna University of Tunis

After completing our visit of the zawiya, we decided to head into the Old City for some lunch, shopping, and to pray (once it opened for prayer) at the Zaytuna University.

I love revisiting places I've captured before. It's a lot of fun to take different shots or capture different perspectives of similar places, or even to get a similar shot as before but with more experience and better equipment! Such is the case with the first photo below—the last time I'd visited Tunis I'd wanted to capture the Tunisian flag banner against the architecture, and I did it again but from a different viewpoint.

It's like a bookmark in my memory and also in my photography.

I also love visiting souqs; they're always a treasure trove of sights and sounds and experiences, tunnelling through stone archways and branching out into a hundred alleys.

One moment, colourful woven verandas form a roof overhead, the next moment you step into a pool of blazing light beaming down upon you, and in another moment you're walking through cool shade, sidestepping other people, carts, mopeds, stray cats, and little tables of diners and vendors with carts bearing everything imaginable.

You also get the sense that souqs are, at heart, timeless. The wares and fashions may change, but souqs feel like they exist in a liminal space, and at any moment I'm always convinced I'll bump into someone from a very different time, a hundred years past or a hundred years from now, just rounding the corner.

After a lot of walking, my parents were dying for a coffee, so we stopped at a little cafe for a bit, where we came upon this cat and her kitten! Very cute and utterly unbothered by my lens in their faces.

A mosaic of architectural decor at the cafe

After our rest and a lunch (not pictured, but of very delicious fish and rice) we headed to the university, lingering on the steps and people-watching until the doors were opened for prayer.

Parents being cute

Zaytuna Mosque and University is simply stunning. One of my favourite places ever. I was absolutely ecstatic that there happened to be a flock of pigeons, as I got to get some dream shots of pigeons flying by against the gorgeous background!

Enjoy the black and white photos!

With that, we said farewell to the old city and headed to Mahres, my grandparents' village.