If there is a flower that stands out above the others in Hammamet, this is jasmine. It perfumes and decorates the Tunisian city in every corner and every street. This is, without doubt, one of the Hammamet symbols. In fact, the southern part of Hammamet, which is more modern with luxury resorts and shopping areas, has taken the name of Yasmine Hammamet.
In addition to the streets decoration, this flower also gives an economic life to the city through shops and markets, which offer to visitor’s handicrafts made with jasmine or raw material of these.
The most curious of all is that Jasmine is not a native flower of Hammamet, no even from Tunisia. This flower comes from Andalucía in Spain, where Tunisians brought seeds for centuries. They had to do it secretly among their belongings as it was forbidden to take them out of the country. Therefore, jasmine and other sources of expression of Al-Andalus were reflected in Hammamet and its architecture.
