Back towards Tunis from Tabarka, and following the road some 60 kilometres south will bring you to Hammamet, surely the best known resort in the country.
Hammamet itself has changed greatly from the small fishing village it once was, evolving as a soughtafter holiday resort probably from the day in 1925 when Romanian millionaire Georges Sebastian built a sumptuous villa there. Nowadays, the house serves as Hammamet's International Cultural Centre, and both the villa and gardens are open to visitors.

A pretty resort, backed by olive, orange and lemon groves and lines of cypress trees, Hammamet's centre is a little cape jutting out into the sea with the well-preserved Medina (the old walled city) standing neatly on its point. The newer quarters of Hammamet spread out from the Medina, and the Great Mosque, dating back to the 15th century, has a beautifully intricate minaret for visitors to admire.

Overlooking the beach is a 13th-century Kasbah, which has been carefully restored since attacks by Christians in the 1 7th century. From the Kasbah, there are pleasant views over the gleaming domes of the Medina and the white sands of the coastline.

With Hammamet enjoying a large percentage of the nationts visitors, golf was destined to come to this thriving northeastern suntrap. Golf Citrus and Yasmine, about four miles from the port, are the city's offerings, and are two of the newer clubs to get placed on the Tunisian golf map.

Together they represent the new breed of golf development: a tranquil, up-market, 'western-style' facility coupled with top-notch golf layouts to satisfy the keenest of golfers. Located within minutes of each other, architect Ronald Fream provided the brains behind both courses. A Californian native who has designed courses all over the world, he was drafted to create three here. The result is two 18-hole courses and a nine-hole course on one side of the road in the Citrus complex, and on the other side is his Yasmine layout.

Both courses have holes that demand creative and interesting shots - which is exactly what holiday golf is all about. You can always count on the greens here being superb, the hazards well maintained and the fairways in beautiful, manicured condition.

At the Citrus complex, La Foret and its sister course Les Oliviers are quite different in character. Fream conquered the slightly rising and falling terrain by routing the 1 8-hole La F6ret course up and down valleys and hillsides, making it quite reminiscent of a Spanish country course. Although tight fairways are the order of the day, La Foret is not too difficult for the less accomplished player. Fream has done an excellent job in creating an interesting layout regardless of your standard of play.

While the front nine at Les Oliviers is much flatter and more difficult to negotiate through a plethora of olive trees, the back half has a surprisingly different look and feel. Much hillier and more undulating, the final holes here are more reminiscent of La Foret and beg you to reflect on just about every shot.

The Yasmine at first sight looks to have more room for error than its neighbours. It's a great mix: water, trees and undulations abound on several holes, while others have a distinct links feel about them. There are short, picturesque par-3s followed by hard-hitting, monster par-5s. Like Citrus, a pleasing feature here is a nine-hole course - as well as being great fun to play, it's also a challenging little layout.