La Goulette

La Goulette, in Arabic Halq al-Wadi, is a municipality and the port of Tunis, Tunisia.
La Goulette is located at around on a sandbar between Lake Tūnis and the Gulf of Tunis. The port, located 12km east of Tunis, is the point of convergence of Tunisia's major road and rail networks. La Goulette is linked to Tunis by the TGM railway and to Europe by a ferry service.

Origin of the name

The name derives from the "gullet" or "river's throat", a channel where the city is located, and not from the ship type schooner, called goélette, gulet, goleta or goletta in French, Turkish, Spanish and Italian.

Transit activities

In addition to its transit and cruise activities, the port of La Goulette also receives ships carrying cargoes such as cars, and bulk cereals. It handles a large portion of the country's imports and much of its exports.
However, the development plan of the port provides for its specialization as a port exclusively reserved for passenger and tourist traffic.

History

The kasbah fortress was built in 1535 by Charles V, [Holy Roman Emperor|Charles I of Spain], but was captured by the Ottoman Turks in 1574. The remains of Hispano-Turkish fortifications lie inland.
The port was a popular destination for summer holidays in the 19th century. La Goulette's Sicilian town quarter became commonly known as la Petite Sicile. It once housed a prominent Italian community - among othes the actress Claudia Cardinale.
It was also home to sizeable Jewish, Italian, and Maltese communities.