Sfax (Arabic Safakis) lies at the north end of the Gulf of Gabès, 155km/ 96mi southwest of Tunis, in the most extensive olive-growing area in Tunisia. It is the country's largest city after Tunis and the economic center of southern Tunisia.
Tourism plays little part in the economy of Sfax, which lacks the attraction of the long sandy beaches possessed by other coastal towns (it has only a small beach, artificially built up). But it is well worth a visit for the sake of its Medina, one of the finest in the whole of Tunisia.
It is also a good base for excursions to El Djem and the Kerkennah Islands.
Economy
Olives have been grown in the Sahel since ancient times, for the maritime climate, reaching far inland, allows the soil to retain its moisture and moderates the effects of the desert winds. Huge olive-groves extend endlessly around the town, with over 8million trees reaching far into the steppe country. Some 20km/12.5mi from the town the picture changes, as olive-trees (many of them old and past their best) give place to almond-trees. A 4-8km/2.5-5mi wide belt of small gardens growing fruit, vegetables and flowers, with numbers of summer cottages, runs round the town, which is steadily extending farther into the surrounding countryside.
The olives of the Sahel are processed in over 400 oil-mills in the town and sold in the Olive Exchange. Large quantities are exported from the commercial harbor.
Sfax also has important industries, including leatherworking, the manufacture of perfume and optical glass, the processing of olive residues to make soap, two phosphate works (also producing fertilisers) and a factory producing cellulose from esparto grass.
The major part of the port's turnover is accounted for by the export of phosphates from the Metlaoui and Djebel Mdilla areas, which are transported by rail to Sfax. Other bulk goods shipped from here are corn, esparto grass, sponges and salt. Sfax also has an important fishing Harbor, at which over a fifth of the total Tunisian catch is landed.
History
Sfax was founded at the beginning of the ninth century A.D. on the site of ancient Taparura. There are no remains worth mentioning of the Roman town, which was probably a place of no great consequence; its regular street grid may, however, be reflected in the rectangular layout of the Medina. Of greater importance in Roman times was Thaenae, 12km/7.5mi south. Sfax's economic heyday began under Arab rule at the beginning of the 10th century, when the trade in olive oil prospered as never before. After the devastation wrought by the Beni Hilal nomads the town took a long time to recover. From 1148 Sfax, like most of the coastal towns, was occupied by the Normans, who were driven out by the Almohads in 1159. The town suffered heavy damage during the French conquest in 1881 and also in the Second World War, when it was occupied by the Axis powers and bombed by the Allies in 1942-43. Fortunately the Medina survived largely unscathed.
Access
Sfax lies on GP 1 (Sousse-Gabès), 127km/79mi south of Sousse and 137km/85mi north of Gabés.
From the airport, 10km/6mi west of the town on the Gafsa road (GP 14), there are flights to Tunis, Gabès, Djerba/Tripoli (Libya), Malta and France. Rail services (station at seaward end of Avenue Habib Bourguiba) to Tunis, Sousse, Gabès and Gafsa/Metlaoui/Tozeur.
Bus services (from Gare Routière at west end of Avenue Habib Bourguiba) to Sousse/Tunis, Kairouan, Kasserine, Gafsa/Tozeur, Gabès/Médenine and Djerba.
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Folk Museum (Dar Jellouli)
