 Al Qayrawan is one of the most important cities in the Maghreb and North Africa and it's the first Islamic city that was established in the area and it's the fourth holiest city in Islam after Mecca, Medina, Quds and then Al Qayrawan and I'm coming to you from the terrace of the hotel where I'm staying it's a budget hotel I paid about 30 Tunisian dinars so that's about 10 US dollars I chose this hotel because of its proximity to one of the main doors to enter the old Medina this is one of the doors to enter the old Medina so we'll start our adventure here from up there is where I was taking the video earlier I'll just walk in and see what we can find in the Medina of Qayrawan I was just walking by one of the stores selling sweets Makrut, this is the Tunisian Makrut, it's actually really good I tried it a couple of times when I was in the old Medina of Tunis someone just offered me a piece so good and I think he just made it so it's pretty warm as well delicious this is another door of the Medina I don't think I've ever noticed a door or an entrance to an old Medina with the actual door both of them are actually still there I was told by other travelers that the Medina of Al Qayrawan is a lot quieter than the other Medinas and I completely agree I love all of the new colors like the blue and yellow that you see almost in every Medina of Tunis here there are some new colors like light blue instead of dark blue light blue again and I also have this beautiful light green and then we've got fancier designs for doors here I also noticed that there are a lot of small community mosques Masjid, so this one right here Masjid ibn Qayrat Masjid ibn Qayrat and it looks like it's smaller than you know an actual mosque probably would fit like 10 20 people at best and I've seen at least three or four of those oh my gosh this is amazing they do have a lot of community mosques and it feels as if between two streets or so there is a community mosque and it's very understandable because this was the first establishment of an Islamic city in the region and it probably makes it even easier for the community to just get out of the door and then pray without having to walk the distance this is such a cool find it turned out that Baruta is actually a well the well right there and it's 1400 years old it's pretty old and it was first dug by the Abbasid and people have been using it since then there were a couple of governors or bays maybe who maintained the well and added maybe some marble and mosaic and it's it's still there and it uses the Noria system this is a system that was mainly used in Syria but it was adopted in this area of the world and in other countries in North Africa like Morocco second day in Al Qayrawan and I finally get to see the great mosque of Al Qayrawan or Masjid ibn Nunafe this is the person who founded the mosque 670 so it's pretty old the architecture is supposed to be amazing and I honestly cannot wait I will be taking you inside of the mosque and I will be probably praying there as well I am very very excited for that but first of all I have to figure out my tire and see if I can find a spot to grab a scarf to cover my head because I don't have one with me and we'll see if we can make that work so they do actually have head scarves and they do have long dresses actually for men the guy told me but I have no problem so I can wear that that's great I didn't want to buy new things the reason I'm outside right now is because they told me that if I want to to clean up and perform ablutions it has to be outside there's one for men and then the other one right there for women they do have a bunch of restaurants but then they also have rooms just with the hose you can probably clean up your feet here oh I'm going to show you the other side too this is where you perform wudu actually they do have seats so you can sit down and start your wudu or cleaning process and they also have sandals that you can wear I like this one better so they have here in the mosque they have a closet with a bunch of dresses but also head scarves that you can borrow and I'm very happy with that because I don't have to buy anything new because I have very limited space on my backpack okay I think we're looking good and we are finally inside the mosque this is the courtyard it's open for everyone to visit and foreigners do have to pay a fee to enter the mosque and you can use that same ticket to visit other monuments around the qairawan women are expected to wear head covering doesn't have to be scarf but your head has to be covered decent clothing and then for men no shorts or at least shorts that should be longer enough to cover your knees beautiful courtyard there's the dome all the way up there very beautiful and then the minaret with a very unique shape compared to many other mosques around the world and they do actually have some construction going on on the minaret they have one main prayer room for men like the largest space usually and then they have another prayer room for women so I'm going to go in and show you what that looks like there is a secret terrace in one of the shops here it's a carpet shop they have a lot of carpet and it's right in front of the mosque this is actually something that I even noticed when I was in tunis the capital did you have so many terraces but then you look at a store you wouldn't even think that they have a terrace open to the public but then you get up there it's like wow and wow indeed oh my gosh you can even look into the courtyard of the mosque incredible view wow wow wow this is the terrace nice tile epic views from the terrace up here that's for sure and they do also have restrooms I'm on a mission to find another terrace because there are actually plenty these are the outer doors of the mosque they're huge and also I just got myself some coffee Arabic coffee it's so delicious the smell of it the taste of it it's incredible if you are here in tunisia you must try it look at the colors so beautiful oh oh we're still going up I'm really enjoying the treasure hunt just going around the Medina and trying to find hidden spots for beautiful terraces but the view from the terrace was incredible this is the mosque of the three doors clearly because it has three different doors and it's one of the places you can visit with the same ticket it's closed right now they open it just for prayers there are two main doors right there for men and then there's one for women and they have verses from the Quran or prayers written on the wall beautiful and right next to it there are a bunch of shops we can just buy some souvenirs if you'd like blue This door is the museum of the Mosque of Barbies. When you find a house decorated like this, that is to say that someone from the family is going to visit Info Alamek, we call him Mr. Hajj. And if you have to go to Kirwan, you have to visit Info Alamek because you are in the Holy Life, in the fourth Holy Life of Islam. So the governor is sitting there, the orchestra is here, and the harem is up there. So in this palace there are 17 rooms. 17 rooms. Before independence. Please come here, please. This is his office. Look at the dome here. And it's a great museum of the Tapis, of the Mergoum, of the Kilim, of the Poinou and Matou. If you go to Kirwan, you can see the Tapis, the Macros and the Mosques. This is another important monument here in the Medina of Al Qayrawan. This is a mausoleum. It's called Zawiyet Sidi Aqeed Al Gharyani. And I already love all of the tiles and the colors. So we're going to go inside and check it out. This is another important monument to see here in Al Qayrawan, the basins of the aglabids, Fasqiyat Al Aghaliba. These basins were built by the aglabids when they ruled the area. The aglabids basically came from today's Iraq and they were sent by the ruler of the Abbas Yiyin. And the reason he sent them here is to establish a government of their own and spread Islam. And they accepted to move from Iraq all the way here for one condition, is that the rule of the aglabids will always stay from the family of Bani al-Aqlab. So all of the rulers will be from the family of Bani al-Aqlab. And also, even though the aglabids were still under the umbrella or the government of the Abbas Yiyin, they were promised that they can have some autonomy and come up with their own rules in the region. And these two are some of the basins that they built here. They were used to harvest water from the rain and help with the city's need for water. There's a large one right here and there's a smaller one all the way there. That's a large one. That's a smaller one. Funny, when I'm exploring, I'm so caught up just following my plan and seeing places that I completely forget about eating is becoming like my lowest priority until it starts hurting. Thank you. But the good thing is, here in Tunisia, they sell dates everywhere. So when I'm hungry, grab myself some dates. Just bought a bunch from up here. And the dates in Tunisia are amazing. So this will be lunch for today. I'm inside the Zawiya of Sidi Stahabi or the Zawiya of Abu Zuma Al-Balawi. This is a shrine. That's what the translation says, I don't know if there is a difference between a mausoleam and a shrine. If you guys know, let me know in the comments. But this person, Abu Zuma Al-Balawi, was a close companion of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. He's buried up here. A mosque was built later on and the whole shrine. So I'm going to make my way up and see what's there. The architecture, the colors, beautiful. I love the tile. It looks very similar to the Zawiya we saw earlier. This is the entrance to the mosque and they have some admin offices for people who work to maintain the site. And then the shrine or where the Sahabi, companion of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is buried right there. And I already see that they do have two baskets with the headscarves and then just more appropriate clothing that I can grab. So let's do that. I'm back near the mosque, the great mosque of Al Qayrawan. And the reason I'm back here is to see this graveyard. I believe it's called the Graveyard Vouled Farhan, but I really like how all of the graves are painted white, the colors and with the brown on the walls and the masjid. It looks pretty neat. There is a square right here with some cannons for decoration purposes. But the reason I'm actually here is because there's another terrace that I'm trying to find but I haven't been successful. I saw photos. I know what it looks like but I'm not sure how to get there. So we're going on a treasure hunt. How are you feeling? This is the one. If it's the case, it wasn't really hard because the police officers saw me taking some videos and then they said, oh, did you check the terrace? So let's see. Is it the one? The view from up here is super, but this is not the one that I'm looking for. You can still see the mosque and you can see into the courtyard which is pretty neat. However, I think the one I'm looking for is all the way there. I don't know if you guys can see the dome. It has some Arabic writing in yellow and blue. I think that's the one. It's right there. I'm standing in the way to get all the way up there to the terrace and see is the... by entering this association of Kairawan. I'm not sure what this association is for but they are closed. Let's see. I found this restaurant next to the mosque called Le Breja. And it has an incredible view. I can see both domes. So colorful. So beautiful. You can also see the mosque standing here and listening to the call of prayer. An incredible feeling.