International culture in this centre in Hammamet (International Cultural Centre (Hammamet, Tunisia))

Member Name: mumsymary

Product:	International Cultural Centre (Hammamet, Tunisia)
Date:	18/04/09 (143 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Pleasant place

Disadvantages: none

We escaped to Tunisia in late February this year. We stayed in a Hotel in Hammamet one of the places we visited was the International Cultural Centre. This centre is in the house and gardens which is known as Sebastian's villa.

This villa was built in the 1920's commissioned by a Roman billionaire George Sebastian. This villa hosted many parties its guest list the royal, rich and famous I believe Winston Churchill stayed here and wrote some of his memoirs. Another famous visitor field Marshall Rommell.

The villa is about 2 or 3k from the centre of Hammamet and about 4 or 5 k from Yasmine. The villa and gardens is on the coast. Easy to find really. We could have walked there from our hotel but with me still recovering from am operation we caught a taxi. Buses seen to run past the centre from Hammamet too.
We went through the gates and paid a few Dina for entrance. We paid to have a cup of tea in the house we got tickets for these.

We walked along the garden paths. Very early in the season so no flowers really. I could tell the gardeners were preparing to tidy up after the winter as there was an area that had a few trees in pots ready for planting. In fact the gardens were a little wild really (that suits me prefer a wilder garden) in fact it looked as if it did need a little maintenance. We found an amphitheatre where there are concerts in the summer. I felt this would be a good music venue, a good place for plays maybe.
I found an area of the gardens with a few seats and a kiosk (not open I imagine in summer they sols snacks and drinks)
We only saw one other group of 4 people wandering around the grounds it was very quiet.

We walked along the paths to the villa, the villa not very large really. The Villa a simple white building elegant. The reception rooms had art exhibitions on the walls. We looked at the art had a bit of a snoop around found one of the rooms was a bedroom. We found a kitchen and dining room. The bath cut into the floor was for 4 people! There was an open courtyard with a couple of seats around a swimming pool.
The villa uncluttered and simple.

We found someone and gave him our tickets for tea. We went and sat outside the entrance on the terrace to the villas at the front looking out to sea our drinks served we spent a while leisurely drinking and watching the sea. I could just about imagine Churchill sitting here in the warm sun.

This was an interesting visit. I imagine in peak season it as busier especially when there are events on.

Summary: A 1920's billionaires villa