Into the Tunis Medina

Nosing around the Fondok El Ghalia - Tunis’s central market - is a tantalizingly sensory experience, with enough colour, aromas and texture to set anyone seriously salivating. On display is the whole of the Mediterranean plus a corner of Africa, from mountains of delicate pink rose petals to silvery fish of all dimensions, tentacular octopus, pyramids of deep orange harissa, round white mounds of creamy, fresh cheese, buckets of fragrant mint - and a few heads of sheep in between. Glossy vegetables and plump fruit grown in Cap Bon to the east and in Mejerda, the fertile belt to the west, change with the seasons - nothing is imported. It feels like a land of plenty, despite the fact that half of Tunisia is covered by the Sahara Desert.