The ground around Carthage is one huge archaeological layer cake. Phoenician traders arrived about the ninth century BC, a Punic city grew up and dominated the western Mediterranean, and in 146 BC the Romans finished it off after a long series of wars. A century later they decided to build a new city on the same hill, and it grew into one of the richest in the Roman world, the capital of the province of Africa. The Amilcar district, a residential area on the coast just north of the main ruins, is where some of the wealthy Romans built their villas, with views of the sea and gardens running down to the shore.
What survives is mostly foundations, mosaic floors and fragments of walls, scattered between modern houses and gardens. Carthage today is a leafy suburb of Tunis, with villas behind walls covered in bougainvillea, a presidential palace and the sort of quiet streets where cats sit in the sun. You need patience to read the site, and a bit of imagination, but the mosaics, with their geometric patterns and hunting scenes, are the real prize. Many of the best pieces are in the Bardo Museum in Tunis, so a visit there fills in what you see in the ground.
The riding here is slow and gentle. The roads are narrow and often lined with parked cars, and the TGM commuter train runs along the shore, with stops at Carthage and Sidi Bou Said. Traffic builds in the afternoon, and weekends bring families to the beaches, so go early or after the rush. Surfaces are generally good, but there are speed bumps and patches of loose sand near the sea. Keep a bit of change for parking attendants, who appear everywhere.
Carthage, with nearly sixteen thousand people, and the larger town of La Marsa a couple of kilometres up the coast, have fuel, cafes and shops. A stop for tea with pine nuts at a terrace in Sidi Bou Said, only a few minutes away, goes well with a morning of ruins. Spring is wonderful, with clear air and flowers in the gardens.