Why this ride
A 79 km round trip from Erriadh - roughly 2 h 17 in the saddle. On the way it passes Mosquée Sidi Yeti, Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern and back through Mosquée Sidi Yeti. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Mosquée Ben Biene and Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 79 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 17
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Mosquée Ben Biene
In the south-west of Djerba, between Erriadh and the pottery village of Guellala, the island's farmland is at its most traditional, and the mosque of Ben Biene sits among it. This is the part of the island where the compounds stand furthest apart, each one an island of white wall and green trees in the middle of a field, and where the lanes are quiet enough for a rider to hear the pigeons and the wind in the palms.
Read the complete Mosquée Ben Biene write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mosquée Ben Biene is where the day begins. Next is Mosquée Sidi Yeti.
2. Mosquée Sidi Yeti
Djerba is the sort of island where you can ride for an hour and never see anything higher than a date palm. The mosque of Sidi Yati sits on the flat interior, a short run from Erriadh, which is the nearest proper town, with Midoun and the capital Houmt Souk a little further out. Everything here is low, white and thick-walled, and the mosques follow the same rule: buttressed, squat, almost fortress-like, with small windows and none of the soaring minarets you might expect from the mainland.
Read the complete Mosquée Sidi Yeti write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mosquée Sidi Yeti comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern.
3. Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern
In 2023 UNESCO added Djerba to its World Heritage list under a title that sounds more like a university thesis than a holiday island: Djerba, Testimony to a Settlement Pattern in an Island Territory. What it means in practice is that the island has kept the way people have lived on it for centuries. Instead of one big town, families lived in scattered farms called menzels, each surrounded by its own fields, and villages grew around mosques, markets and cisterns. Rain is scarce here, so water was collected from the roofs and stored in underground tanks, and the layout of the land reflects that.
Read the complete Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 39 km into the recorded legs you reach Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern. Next is back through Mosquée Sidi Yeti.
4. back through Mosquée Sidi Yeti
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mosquée Sidi Yeti write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Mosquée Sidi Yeti, late in the day. Next is Mosquée Ben Biene.
5. Mosquée Ben Biene
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mosquée Ben Biene write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Mosquée Ben Biene. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Mosquée Ben Biene to Mosquée Sidi Yeti
Mosquée Ben Biene → Mosquée Sidi Yeti is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mosquée Sidi Yeti to Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern
Mosquée Sidi Yeti → Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern to back through Mosquée Sidi Yeti
Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern → back through Mosquée Sidi Yeti is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mosquée Sidi Yeti to Mosquée Ben Biene
back through Mosquée Sidi Yeti → Mosquée Ben Biene is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.