Why this ride
A 132 km round trip from Midoun - roughly 2 h 54 in the saddle. On the way it passes Eglise Saint Nicolas, Mosquée Guellala, Mosquée Sidi Salem and back through Mosquée Guellala.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Mosquée Moghzel and Mosquée Sidi Salem
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 132 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 54
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 Moghzel
Djerba is a flat, low island off the south coast of Tunisia, joined to the mainland by a Roman causeway and a ferry, and its landscape of olive groves, palms and whitewashed farmhouses is dotted with small mosques that look more like fortresses than places of prayer. The Moghzel mosque is one of them. Djerba has a long Ibadi tradition, a branch of Islam that is neither Sunni nor Shia, and many of the island's villages are Berber speaking, with architecture suited to hard times: thick walls, buttresses, small domes, and a plain whitewashed look that fits the sun and the sea.
Read the complete Mosquée Moghzel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mosquée Moghzel is where the day begins. Next is Eglise Saint Nicolas.
2. Eglise Saint Nicolas
Houmt Souk is the island's main town, a place of whitewashed arcades, small squares and a busy fishing harbour, and the church of St Nicolas gives it a reminder that Djerba has never been exclusively one thing. The island has been home to Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities for centuries, and its location on the trade routes of the central Mediterranean brought Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Spaniards and Ottomans. In 1560, a Spanish and allied fleet was defeated nearby by an Ottoman force under Dragut, and the victors built a tower of the skulls of the dead beside the harbour, which stood until the nineteenth century. A monument now marks the site.
Read the complete Eglise Saint Nicolas write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Eglise Saint Nicolas comes up 25 km in. Next is Mosquée Guellala.
3. Mosquée Guellala
Guellala is a potters' village, and has been for as long as anyone can remember. The clay beneath the hills of southern Djerba is a fine, pale material that fires to a warm terracotta, and the workshops around the village shape it into jars, plates, oil lamps and large amphorae, still using techniques similar to those of Roman times. Potters work at wheels in open yards, stack their wares to dry in the sun, and fire them in kilns fuelled with olive wood, and visitors can stand and watch. A small museum about local culture lies a short drive away.
Read the complete Mosquée Guellala write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
50 km in you reach Mosquée Guellala. Next is Mosquée Sidi Salem.
4. Mosquée Sidi Salem
Sidi is the title given to a local holy man, and many Djerban mosques and small domed tombs carry a saint's name, with a whitewashed cube or dome standing beside a tree at the edge of a field. Sidi Salem sits in the north-west of the island, between Houmt Souk and the sea, in an area of olive groves and market gardens where the land is so flat that you can see every dome for miles. On the coast not far away, the Borj Ghazi Mustapha, a square sixteenth-century fort that the Spanish built and the Ottomans took, stands over the shallow water at the old harbour entrance.
Read the complete Mosquée Sidi Salem write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mosquée Sidi Salem, about halfway. Next is back through Mosquée Guellala.
5. back through Mosquée Guellala
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mosquée Guellala write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Mosquée Guellala sits at 100 km, about halfway. Next is back through Eglise Saint Nicolas.
6. back through Eglise Saint Nicolas
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eglise Saint Nicolas write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Eglise Saint Nicolas comes up 125 km in. Next is Mosquée Moghzel.
7. Mosquée Moghzel
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mosquée Moghzel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mosquée Moghzel closes the day.
Leg by leg
Mosquée Moghzel to Eglise Saint Nicolas
Mosquée Moghzel → Eglise Saint Nicolas is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Eglise Saint Nicolas to Mosquée Guellala
Eglise Saint Nicolas → Mosquée Guellala is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mosquée Guellala to Mosquée Sidi Salem
Mosquée Guellala → Mosquée Sidi Salem is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mosquée Sidi Salem to back through Mosquée Guellala
Mosquée Sidi Salem → back through Mosquée Guellala is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mosquée Guellala to back through Eglise Saint Nicolas
back through Mosquée Guellala → back through Eglise Saint Nicolas is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Eglise Saint Nicolas to Mosquée Moghzel
back through Eglise Saint Nicolas → Mosquée Moghzel is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.