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This 514 square
kilometre island that Homer cites in the Odyssey as the
place where Ulysses landed to have his companions taste
the lotus, the exquisite fruit with the taste of honey
that made them forget everything including family and
homeland, has taken advantage of its legacy ; today, tourism
extends along the coasts, especially where the white sand
beaches shine under the blazing Tunisian sun along tepid
and hospitable waters. desired always especially by the
Mediterranean populations (Greeks, Pheonicians, Romans,
Vandals, Byzantines), its coasts where the object, during
Medieval and more recent times, of aggressions that were
doubtlessly ephemeral but nonetheless frequent (by the
Normans from Sicily, the Aragons, the Turks). |
| Dragut, the Corsar,
in the 16th century, set up one of his favorite headquarters
there after having eliminated the Spanish occupants and
exterminating the last resisters who had sought refuge
in the Borj Ghazi Mustapha. Accustomed to emigrating temporarily
to dedicate himself to merchant activity in the large
inhabited towns in Tunisia, the Jerban today tends to
leave definitively for his native town such as Houmt Souk,
Ajim, Guellala, Sedouikech or Midoun only to pass vacations
there like a tourist taking advantage of the sun, beaches
and the sea. The "Menzel", the age old farms
with the "houch" (the house) built upon them
continue to be very well maintained along with the small
characteristic mosques in the countryside. It is the hope
that the island will be able to maintain its natural environment
intact for a long time : "this exquisite fruit with
the honey taste that makes you forget everything". |
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