- What to bring from Tunisia from clothes
- Valuable jewellery
- Traditional souvenirs
The magnificent Tunisian resorts and thalassotherapy sessions can fade in memory over time, but souvenirs, precious jewelry and valuables will remind you of a trip to the center of cultures and civilizations for a long time, a meeting place for Phoenicians and Berbers, Turks and Spaniards. The question of what to bring from Tunisia usually does not arise, the task is more difficult, how to bring a bunch of purchases and gifts.
Below we will tell you about what tourists most often buy, what household items they pay attention to, whether it is worth buying Tunisian silver on a huge scale, or is it better to make good stocks of souvenirs made of copper and glass.
What to bring from Tunisia from clothes
The most popular Tunisian souvenir is sheshii, the local name for fesques, more familiar to the Russian language. The Tunisians themselves, one might say, received the art of felting wool as a gift from the Turks, developed it and raised it to an unattainable height, and in the XVIII-XIX centuries. these lovely men's hats were actively supplied to Turkey. Of course, today you can find factory-made hats dyed with artificial dyes, rather than cochineal, obtained from the shell of special insects. But the real sheshiyas can be bought in Souk el Shawashin, a market located in the heart of the capital of Tunisia.
And, if men stop at buying 1-2 hats, then when it comes to women's shopping, it is difficult to stop lovely ladies, especially since they have a huge choice. This applies, first of all, to fabrics, among which the real leaders stand out - silk from Mahdia and linen from Hammamet.
Mahdian craftswomen perfectly mastered the ancient art of making the finest stoles, scarves and shawls from multi-colored silk. They can be used as cover from head to toe in hot weather. Silk dresses embroidered with gold threads look amazing; silk shoes and bags can be used as accessories. A worthy competition for silk from Mahdia is linen and linen garments that are made in Hammamet. Not a single Hammamet bridesmaid outfit is complete without a linen shirt and trousers (from the same material).
Valuable jewellery
In addition to clothing, jewelry made of gold and silver is very popular among the guests of Tunisian resorts. True, you need to remember about the large number of fakes, made with great skill and distinguished by a fairly low price, which tourists who are poorly versed in precious metals usually fall for.
If you want something special, then you should pay attention to silver products, which are made in the traditional Berber style - they are very massive, decorated with stones. You can also pick up jewelry in the national style, including corals, pearls, colored stones. The jewelers' secret weapon is the shab, the jewelry in which is hidden ambergris, sensing the warmth of a person, it begins to emit a delicate, pleasant aroma.
Traditional souvenirs
Tunisia is remembered for the richness and brightness of flowers, which are also preserved in souvenirs adored by tourists. Each Tunisian city has its own secrets and its favorite materials and colors:
- blue, orange, green ceramics - in Nabeul;
- jugs, dishes, figurines made of unbaked clay - in Gellal;
- lamps and vases, home decorations from blown glass - in Carthage.
In addition to such rather fragile products, copper gifts are popular; working with copper is also traditional for Tunisia. Most often, the market presents metal dishes, the color of which varies from silver to dark red shades, Tunisians remind you that you can cook in “white” dishes, and serve in “red” ones. The copper Turk leaves the country in every second tourist suitcase.
Another very beautiful gift can be made to your loved one by buying a knotted carpet in Tunisia. Masters from Kairouan reached special heights in carpet weaving. The most expensive are products made of pure wool, decorated with religious ornaments, ancient symbols, simpler in appearance and price - striped carpets, the so-called kilims.
And guests who have visited the city of Sidi Bou Said take bird cages with them, even if they were not going, in principle, to have domestic birds. The skill of the inhabitants of the city, who have reached unprecedented heights in such an unusual art, is striking. For the cages, a wire is used, which is intertwined with delicacy, hundreds of beads-inserts of azure color serve as decoration. You can choose the size to your liking - from a very tiny, symbolic souvenir to a huge cage in which a person of average height can easily fit.
Tunisia is beautiful and multifaceted, it leaves vivid memories in the form of hats and stoles, silver and gold jewelry, copper dishes and glass souvenirs.
