The Medina of Sousse is a UNESCO World Heritage Site — one of the best-preserved medieval Islamic city centres in North Africa. Its walls, built in the 9th century by the Aghlabid dynasty, run almost complete around the old town, and within them the street pattern, the building scale, and the urban organisation of the early Islamic period have survived largely intact.
The Medina is a working neighbourhood, not a museum piece. Souks sell everything from spices and leather to household goods; the lanes narrow and branch unpredictably; craftsmen work in the same trades that have occupied the same spots for centuries. The main axis leads from the Great Mosque through the central souk toward the Kasbah, but the real character of the place is in the quieter streets off this route, where residential houses turn blank walls to the street and life happens behind closed doors.