Carthage is a name that carries more weight than the site can show, because the Romans did their best to erase it. According to tradition, Phoenician settlers from Tyre founded the city in the ninth century BC, led by Queen Dido, and it grew into a naval and trading power that fought Rome in three wars. Hannibal came from here, the general who crossed the Alps with elephants. In 146 BC Rome destroyed the city after a long siege, and a century later it was refounded as a Roman colony and became one of the great cities of the western Mediterranean. The Vandals took it in 439, the Byzantines in 533, and the Arabs in 698.
What I can say is how the whole area feels today: a suburb of villas, gardens, bougainvillea and scattered ruins on a low hill above the Gulf of Tunis, with archaeological sites tucked between modern houses and the presidential palace. The main ones include the Antonine Baths on the seafront, the Roman theatre, the Punic ports, the Tophet and the Byrsa hill with its museum and cathedral-turned-concert hall. The site is on the UNESCO list.
For a rider the ride here is a slow, local one. The roads around Carthage are narrow and busy, with taxis, minibuses and delivery vans moving fast and unpredictably, and surfaces are patched, with cobbles on some streets. A light rail line, the TGM, runs between Tunis and La Marsa and stops at several stations near the sites, so many visitors park the bike and use it. Summer heat can be fierce, so go early, and bring water, as shade is rare among the ruins.
Carthage is a town of fifteen thousand, and La Goulette, the port next door, is far bigger, so fuel, shops and cafés are never far away. The nearby village of Sidi Bou Saïd is a short walk or drive, and Tunis itself, with its medina, is a few kilometres away.
Spring and autumn are the best seasons. Try brik, a thin pastry filled with egg and tuna, fried until crisp, and a glass of mint tea with pine nuts, served in a café with a view of the Gulf.