Swap beaches for ancient history in Tunisia, the North African destination with more ruins than Rome

Marble columns and granite pillars are silhouetted against the Mediterranean Sea. The Latin inscriptions have faded with time, but the grandeur of a city that once housed hundreds of thousands is unmistakable amidst the 2,000-year-old stone archways rising above an arid coastline. But this isn’t Italy, nor anywhere else in Europe; located on Tunisia’s northeastern shores, these are the remains of Rome’s great rival, Carthage.

The Romans burned Carthage to the ground in 146BC, before rebuilding the city in an even grander fashion from the rubble. Like Hannibal himself, though, Carthage was seemingly destined to sit forever in the shadow of its conquerors, and even today, few tourists visit in comparison to better-known ancient sites in Europe.

Now Carthage is rising again, as the Tunisian Ministry of Culture, with EU funding, is redeveloping Carthage National Museum into a state-of-the-art visitor attraction. Other Unesco World Heritage Sites, such as the Roman amphitheatre of El Jem, are in country’s ancient and Islamic history.