Tunisia: George Sebastian Villa

One of the first "tours" we went on in Tunisia was a "self-made" tour. We were determined to find the Sebastian House, knowing it was near or in Hammamet. After a taxi ride, a detour into the souk at Hammamet, a long walk and another taxi ride, we finally find ourselves at the George Sebastian Villa.

To give you a little history lesson, George Sebastian was a Romanian architect who traveled to Tunisia in the early 1900s. Sebastian liked Tunisia so much, he decided to build a home there in the 1920s. As you will see from the pictures, the architecture is just amazing. Open air areas throughout the house and large sprawling rooms. It was a great place for entertaining, they even had a "group bath" that could fit several people in it!

Not only was the Sebastian Villa a perfect venue for entertaining, there is quite a history inside those walls. Right before the Germans lost Africa in WWII, Erwin Romell made the Sebastian Villa his headquarters. Romell was the head of the German/African Core. In 1943 the Sebastian Villa was made headquarters again by Field Marshall Montgomery, the commanding officer of the British Army. This was right before the invasion of Sicily by the England and the US, and with Sicily being about 95 miles from the northernmost point of Tunisia, the location makes sense.

After the war, Winston Churchill, made the Sebastian Villa his home to write his memoirs. Many other dignitaries used the villa as there getaway throughout the years. The villa really is truly rich in history so you can see why we (especially BF) wanted to visit the home. My main attraction, of course, was the architecture.