Tunisia Way

The finest mosaics

You should have heard me shout when I discovered the near perfect mosaic floor in the House of Liberii. It is without doubt the finest Roman mosaic in situ in all of Tunisia, perhaps only challenged by the one in the House of Amphitrite at Bulla Regia.
Only bad thing that the original is in the Bardo Musuem in Tunis. But the copy feels more than real enough.
The artistic quality may be debated, there are many examples of more creativity and better understanding of form. But it does at least have an interesting style! It shows Ikarios giving a vine to the king of Attica. Just in front of it, a smaller mosaic shows hunting scenes .

Further to the side, there is another perfect mosaic floor. Smaller, it still has a nicer design (lowest photo). It depicts agriculture some 2000 years ago!
If you come out here, it may be a good idea to bring a bottle of water, as there is a thin layer of dust over the mosaics. On the lower photo you can see what difference a little bit of rain does.

Houses and more baths

Being designed to endure water and heavy use, it is not surprising that baths have fared better than most houses at Oudna, just like anywhere else in Tunisia. The top photo, however, shows a wealthy mansion where walls still stand almost a metre high. The lower photo is another bath, which has a nice pool with much of the original mosaics still intact.

Baths of bats 

Seen from a distance it looks like a rubble of giant stones. Being on a slight mound, it is clear that the thing is man-made. What you see from a distance were once the over ground structures of the public baths, but destroyed during WW2, when it was used as an arms depot. Some of the "stones" are tremendous, and really made up of smaller bricks.
But looking down the structure, you will see excellent underground structures. Unfortunately, they are usually closed, since reconstruction work is undertaken here.
Locals have named this part "Bat Tunnel" from the many bats living here before.
Before leaving the structure, look out for the many holes leading down to the underground structures. All, but the one on the photo to the left, are made in modern times, most likely having been used as rescue holes by locals into the ground to seek protection.

Tunisia's finest aqueduct

6 km from Oudna, but on the road to Oudna, are some of the finest Roman aqueducts in Tunisia. The aqueduct carried water from Zaghouan to Carthage.
What has survived stretches for a few kilometres, and appears quite surreal. At points even the water shaft is intact, although note that the section meeting the highway is a result of modern reconstruction.

 PRACTICALITIES

There is nothing to aid the traveller in Oudna itself, but it fortunately lies close to Tunis or Hammamet.
Getting there requires a bit of planning. You may either catch a bus to the village of Ferch el Annabi, or hire a taxi for the journey.
New is it that there is an entrance fee of 1.1TD plus 1TD. But the area is not fenced off, should that be too expensive for you.