t.o.t.: tunisia

Situated at the center of the North African Mediterranean coast, separated from the Sicily island and Italian peninsula by a narrow strait, the northern cape of Tunisia held a navigational vantage point in ancient maritime trade routes.

Starting in the 9th century BC, a seafaring people from the eastern end of the Mediterranean (the Phoenicians) arrived here and built a vibrant merchant state Carthage that later became a formidable foe for the expanding Roman Republic across the strait. After its final defeat and subsumption by the Romans at the end of a series of warfare that lasted over one hundred years, it became a key province of the Roman Empire that provided not only agricultural essentials such as grains and livestock, textiles and olive oil, but emperors and popes, bishops and philosophers (the famous Christian theologian St. Augustine of Hippo, for example).

As the Western Roman Empire fell, the Vandals (one of the Germanic "barbarian" tribes) invaded and ruled the land for a hundred years before the Eastern Roman (the Byzantine) Empire reconquered and ruled it for 165 years, ended with the Arab Islam's invasion and westward spread into the Maghreb (western Northern African) region for the next eight hundred years, through the mid 16th century, when another Muslim powerhouse – the Ottoman Turks – took over. As the Ottoman's power waned in the late 19th century, the French took Tunisia under its colonial fold until the mid 1950's when it gained its independence from France.

Understanding such rich and convoluted history of Tunisia, you won't be surprised to find many Roman ruins, such as this seaside bathhouse near Tunis

and this Greco-Roman amphitheatre that's almost a duplicate of the Colosseum in Rome

Or this "Grand Mosque" that was the first and greatest of its kind in the Maghreb region in a city founded as a fortress for the Islamic conquest

and this little "Barber's Mosque" that was the burial site of the barber of Islamic prophet Muhammad and rumored to have kept three hairs from the prophet's beard

And this cathedral built by the French at a Carthage archaeological site commemorating King Louis IX (St. Louis) who led two Christian crusades to Jerusalem and died here during the second one

It has luxurious coastal hotels and sprightly tourist towns that rival those on the European side of the Mediterranean sea

Date palm oases and salt lake deserts, rough terrains that were filming locations for five "Star Wars" movies

Aborigine Berbers who predated the Phoenicians who still live in traditional cave houses and keep their language

Whose ancient barns are converted to modern day accommodations and restaurants

The "hand of Fatima (daughter of Muhammad)" door knockers and fish symbols everywhere manifest the diverse cultural and religious heritage of the country

Though declared a republic after its independence from France in 1956, Tunisian democracy was practically a one-party system that produced only two presidents from 1956 to 2011. Corruption, inflation, unemployment, a lack of freedom of speech and other political freedoms finally led to a revolution (called "Jasmine Revolution" in reference to the official flower of the country) that erupted when a young street vendor set himself on fire in protest of police humiliation and confiscation of his ware and died in January 2011. Such revolutionary flame soon spread to other Arab nations in the region, creating a movement later termed the "Arab Spring" in the early 2010's.

Though officially a muslim country, Tunisia abolished polygamy and gave women the right to file for divorce and access to higher education from day one of its independence, and full equal rights as men after the Jasmine Revolution. No Sharia courts or headscarf wearing requirement, it is deemed the most secularized country in the Arab world.

On the street of a rural town near the Sahara desert, we met an all-female crowd celebrating a coming wedding for a bride. Some were cheering, some dancing, some taking photos. As they proceeded and approached us, they invited us to mingle and dance with them, and roared with laughter as we complied. Some even exchanged Facebook accounts with us so we could send the video/photos we took with them later. What a joyful encounter that was!