Intricately designed saddlery, wrought iron crafts, basket and fan making, JEBBA or GANDOURA "haute couture" traditional clothes made out of wool or cloth are the other activities in this area.

Kairouan is important center for carpet making. Supple hands pass wefts of cotton, tie the wool knots, press down with a heavy comb and cut the knot ends and it ends with great clicks of the scissors. Different numbers and colours which make up one horizontal line must be known by heart. This process is generally passed down the generations from mother to daughter and was the method used at all times in the East.

The quality of the final product is measured by the density of stitches per square metre, the number of lines across, the symmetrical perfection of the designs and motifs together with the carpet's dimensions. The national Crafts Office undertakes supervision of standards and issues an official mark to each carpet. The buyer may choose between three types of lambskin carpet, the ZARBIA and the ALLOUCHA (lamb) with high wool content and the MERGOUM which is of the short pile variety.

Situated some six miles or so from Kairouan on the Sfax road, Rakkada is worth seeing. Here can be found in a verdant setting a university, a large equestrian center where frisky thoroughbreds are stabled and a museum of Islamic art.

In the museum, you can see a collection of gold and silver coins, pottery, glassware, an extract out of the "KORAN" on blue parchment written in golden ink, something unique in the Muslim world.

Kairouan with its central position, one hour by car from Sousse, is a major tourist center. It is also only one hour away from the holiday beaches of Cape Bon (Hammamet, Nabeul)…

To the south, archaelogical excursions take you to the Roman town of Sbeitla (Sufeitula) or to El Jem where the famous coliseum loses nothing in comparison with its counterpart in Rome…And finally at the gateway to the desert and the Sahara at Nefta, Tozeur, Tamarza.