The little mosques of Djerba look like fortresses that have turned to prayer. Whitewashed, with thick sloping buttresses, small domes and short squat minarets, they stand among olive groves and date palms across this flat Tunisian island, and they belong to a particular faith, the Ibadi branch of Islam, whose followers settled here in the early centuries after the Arab conquest and developed a distinctive local tradition.
Djerba entered the UNESCO list in 2023, not for any one monument but for its whole settlement pattern, with farms, villages, mosques, markets and wells scattered over a landscape without rivers. Everything depended on rainwater, stored in underground cisterns, and the houses, called menzels, stand on their own plots surrounded by walls, with olive trees, palms and vegetable plots. It is a dispersed, tidy, sun-bleached world.
Erriadh, the nearby village of some fourteen thousand people, has an unusual double character. It contains the Ghriba synagogue, one of the oldest in North Africa and a place of annual pilgrimage by Jews from many countries, and since 2014 it has also been a gallery of street art, called Djerbahood, with murals by artists from around the world on the whitewashed walls. The mixture of faiths and art suits an island where Jews, Muslims and Christians lived side by side for centuries.
Riding in Djerba is easy and slow. The island is flat, the roads are good, and the speed is set by scooters, trucks and sleepy dogs. Fuel is plentiful in Houmt Souk and Midoun, and every village has a shop for water and bread. The wind can be strong, and in summer the heat is fierce, so ride early and rest at midday. Spring and autumn are best.
Try a brik, a crisp pastry filled with egg and tuna, and strong sweet mint tea, preferably under an olive tree.