[3] Arab armies took Bizerte in 647 in their first invasion of the area, but the city reverted to control from Constantinople until the Byzantines were defeated and finally driven from North Africa in 695–98.

With its occupation of Tunisia in 1881, France gained control of Bizerte and built a large naval harbour in the city.

Three cruisers, eight destroyers and two submarines left Cartagena harbor and reached Bizerte, where the French authorities impounded them.

[9] During the Second World War, the German and Italian armies occupied Bizerte until Allied troops defeated them on 7 May 1943.

[10] Due to Bizerte's strategic location on the Mediterranean, France retained control of the city and their naval base after Tunisian independence in 1956.

[11] Meetings at the UN Security Council and other international pressure moved France to agreement; the French military finally abandoned Bizerte on 15 October 1963.

West of the city there are coastal hills forming an outcrop of the Tell Atlas with well-conserved woods and vantage points.

On the town side the P11 passes semi-rural Louata, hugs Ichkeul Lake and branches into a western route, the P7, leading directly to Tabarka on the coast next to the Algerian border.

The P11 leads south-west to Béja, a governorate center, in the foothills of the Tell Atlas, forks into several roads at Bou Salem, a small town in a broad fertile plain, and climbs to Firnanah passing two high-altitude lakes and also approaching the north-west border with Algeria.

Bizerte enjoys a hot-summer mediterranean climate, with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers.

A modest boat painted in red and green slices through the calm water, a fisherman unloads his fish for the nearby market, another weighs anchor... Bizerte presents the familiar spectacle of a small Provençal or Spanish port which would have traded its bell tower for a minaret.

In its winding labyrinth of narrow alleys and covered souks are the workshops of metalworkers and carpenters, and butchers and grocery stores.

It is a very atmospheric place to walk, and unlike the Medinas of Hammamet and Monastir, it has not been restored so it oozes with all the exotic charm of the Orient.

On the other side of the canal, the kasbah rises its ramparts above the medina: it is accessed for the beautiful view of the city, the port, the lake and the sea.

The origins of this fortress go back to the time of the Byzantine occupation: rectangular in shape, a tower occupies each corner.

The entrance to the kasbah is a narrow arched passageway designed to slow down any invaders attempting to enter it at the time.

At the foot of the north-west rampart, the market place comes alive with the cry of the merchants, and the stalls give the impression of an organized jumble.

Further along, linked by a rampart of the kasbah, we can see the silhouette of the fort of Spain, which overlooks Bizerte at an altitude of about 40 meters on a height to the north.

Now far from any threat, the fort has since been redeveloped into an open-air theater, which notably hosts the Bizerte International Festival (music, dance, film).

The street where the admiral was carried, today bears his name (Serbian: Улица адмирала Гепрата, lit.

[37] In Northern Africa, Serbian wounded soldiers were treated in the hospitals in Bizerte, Tunis, Sousse, Sidi Abdala, Algiers, Oran and Annaba.