Why this ride
81 km from Houmt El Souk to Houmt El Souk, about 1 h 49 of riding. It goes by way of Zone Temlel, Mosquée Sidi Yeti and back through Zone Temlel. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Mosquée Sidi Smain and Mosquée Sidi Yeti
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 81 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 49
- 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 Sidi Smain
Close to the coast road on Djerba's north side, a few kilometres from Houmt El Souk, the mosque of Sidi Smain is one of many small religious buildings on the island, and like most of them it is better enjoyed as part of the landscape than as an isolated monument. Djerba is a flat island of olive groves, palm gardens and low white houses, and the mosques here come in two types: the large village ones with thick buttresses, and the small neighbourhood ones that look a bit like lime-washed cubes with a dome on top.
Read the complete Mosquée Sidi Smain write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mosquée Sidi Smain is where the day begins. Next is Zone Temlel.
2. Zone Temlel
Midoun is the second town of Djerba, and Temlel lies just beside it, a rural zone of walled plots, olive trees, palms and whitewashed houses in the east of the island. It is the kind of place that a guidebook would skip, and yet it is exactly what the island's World Heritage listing is about. In 2023 UNESCO recognised Djerba as an outstanding example of how a community lived on an island with no rivers, by dividing the land into small family holdings, each with its well, its cistern, its olive press or oven, and its orchard, grouped in neighbourhoods called houmas, around a mosque and a market.
Read the complete Zone Temlel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zone Temlel comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mosquée Sidi Yeti.
3. 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
about 41 km into the recorded legs you reach Mosquée Sidi Yeti. Next is back through Zone Temlel.
4. back through Zone Temlel
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zone Temlel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Zone Temlel, late in the day. Next is Mosquée Sidi Smain.
5. Mosquée Sidi Smain
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mosquée Sidi Smain write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Mosquée Sidi Smain. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Mosquée Sidi Smain to Zone Temlel
Mosquée Sidi Smain → Zone Temlel is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zone Temlel to Mosquée Sidi Yeti
Zone Temlel → Mosquée Sidi Yeti is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mosquée Sidi Yeti to back through Zone Temlel
Mosquée Sidi Yeti → back through Zone Temlel is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Zone Temlel to Mosquée Sidi Smain
back through Zone Temlel → Mosquée Sidi Smain is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.