Maggie's Farm

I spent quite a bit of time in Tunisia, and they have a deep abiding contempt for Libyans. But the geography is very similar; Arid, lots of almond and olive trees (some extremely old) and the Roman ruins. I had an old Roman bath quite close to my office in an undeveloped area, there was a fragment of Roman road nearby and the baths, with their clay piping and beautiful mosaics were still surprisingly intact - and completely out in the open, unfenced, unposted. I would sometimes go there just to walk around and reflect.

In El Gem there is a Roman coliseum that is almost completely open, in much better condition than the one in Rome, I would say. The Nazis used it as officer's quarters during WWII, apparently because they knew the allies never bombed antiquities. We drilled off a couple of small offshore islands and there was an old Turkish fort there, also in remarkably sound condition. It really is humbling being around history on that scale, and recognizing that most of the people around you probably know less about the actual history, but are influenced by it to a much greater degree than you are.

Well it said 'El gem' on the maps in my day, now I see that they spell the city "El Djem", inshallah.