Monday, November 2, 2009

Jugurtha's Table

We drove our formidable Peugeot up a long winding dirt road until we couldn't go any further.  Then we hiked to the top of this beast, just a few kilometers from the Algerian border.  Jugurtha was a second-century-BC Numidian king who spent a good deal of his time fighting with the Romans.  The sides of the table are mostly sheer rock, 50 meters or taller, but somebody carved stairs into the rock a long time ago.  Thanks for that.  The top was described to us as being like the moon, but that seemed a little off unless the moon is covered with grass, shrubs, caves, and a small mosque.  In any event, the view is extraordinary, and -- in keeping with the theme of my Tunisian journey -- there was absolutely nobody around.  It would be a wonderful place to camp, and it's worth a trip to the top just to check out the marabout.

       

The road, shortly after we abandoned the Peugeot.
       

The view back toward Tunisia.


The view to the north, more or less.
       

Me, sitting on the edge of Jugurtha's Table.  Those are (what else?) ruins just behind me, way down below.




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