I reached Dougga from Ichkeul National Park, passing by to see the pottery of Berber women in Sejnane, a skill classified as Intangible Heritage, and arrived beyond Dougga-ville at the second entrance to the archaeological site, the lower one, as Zoé mentions. The guard informed me that since the ticket office was absent, I had to go to the upper entrance, which I did by going through the new town. A tourism police officer was waiting for me and asked me the following questions: where are you from, where are you going, how many are you, and how long do you plan to stay in Tunisia? He formally forbade me to camp in the site's parking lot. I agreed and went to sleep after the visit in the parking lot of the eponymous, secure hotel in town.

Once I had made my promise to the policeman, and with my ticket in hand (8 dinars), I went to the ruins. The tourist guides don't lie: the site is not lacking in majesty and you will be there all alone to fully experience its universal value. I didn't share exactly the same impression as Zoé: every time I am surprised and charmed by the difference, however slight, between two different sites from a similar period. And the setting in which this one nestles is simply magnificent, wherever you are: in the theater, in the forum, the capitol or the thermal baths.

What's also fun to discover is that some ancient sculptures were deliberately left in place. One detail surprised me: the rose of the 12 winds engraved in the pavement of the second forum. One of these winds is called "Africus." I don't know if it's a good wind or an evil wind, but this mise en abyme made me smile. I was in Africa, and someone, two millennia ago, engraved in stone: Africa, as if it were for my own personal benefit! If he had engraved: "welcome to you," I wouldn't have been surprised!

From the Roman ruins you can clearly see a very complete Libyan-Punic mausoleum below. It can also be seen from the lower entrance parking lot. Two birds with one stone for WHS lovers, as this monument is included in the "Royal Mausoleums of Numidia, Mauritania and Pre-Islamic Funerary Monuments" site on Tunisia's tentative list.