The story of Tunisia reads somewhat differently to that of other Arab nations. Duelling dynasties, orgy-loving rulers, invasions by both the French Foreign Legion and film crews shooting series-spawning sci-fi classics. Its capital, Tunis, is a city like no other: a magical melange of the Moorish and modern, dynamic and Islamic. Eric Enno Tamm reports for Wallpaper*.

Imagine a city where Rue Charles de Gaulle begins near Place de la Victoire on Avenue de France and ends fittingly, and metaphorically, at a mosque on Rue d’Algerie. Picture, too, Rue de Palestine which is separated from Avenue de la Liberte, as history and city officials would have it, by a synagogue. And at the intersection where Iran and Iraq streets collide you would almost expect that the smallest fender bender or motorist’s misunderstanding would lead to non-holds barred road rage lasting eight years.

So in a city where street names seem as conflicted as the world around, surely city hall would have made Rue de la Tolerance more than a mere half a block long, if only for symbolic significance, right? Alas, such is not the case. Yet, while the street map might read like a history of down-and-dirty regional strife – colonial, religious, megalomaniacal – the actual city itself is a mirror opposite: orderly, safe and peaceful. Indeed, downright flirtatious.

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