Beyond the ramparts, Sfax runs a quieter cultural circuit: a kasbah museum of courtyard-house craft, Roman mosaics under the town hall, drama companies rehearsing in Tunisian, and an Art Nouveau colonial quarter most visitors walk straight through.
Inside the Medina's southwest fortress, the Kasbah holds Sfax's museum of traditional architecture — carved gypsum panels, painted ceiling beams and a rampart walkway explaining how Sfaxian courtyard houses were built.
The old powder tower at the ramparts' southeast angle now works as an exhibition hall for Sfaxian painters, ceramicists and calligraphers, its vaulted rooms and roof terrace giving the clearest read of the Medina's skyline.
The French-built quarter layers Art Nouveau ironwork, 1930s Art Deco bank facades and neo-Moorish arcades; the 1906 Hôtel de Ville with its Andalusian clock tower anchors the whole ensemble along Avenue Hedi Chaker.
The Institut Français on Rue Mongi Slim programmes contemporary shows by Tunisian artists plus screenings and courtyard concerts; the gallery is free and its noticeboard lists what the Sfax art scene is doing that week.
Set in the town hall's lower floor, this museum keeps mosaics lifted from Roman Thaenae and Taparura — Daniel in the lions' den, marine scenes — alongside Punic stelae and oil lamps from the Sfax olive country.
The 1930s covered market off Rue Habib Maazoun is a working piece of architecture: iron trusses, a tiled fish hall, and stalls of harissa, brik pastry, dried octopus and jars of local olive oil under one roof.
The regional drama centre rehearses and stages Tunisian-language theatre and has trained much of the city's acting scene; the box office sells same-evening tickets and staff point you to fringe shows around town.
The colonial-era municipal theatre still hosts malouf orchestras, oud recitals and the autumn drama season beneath a painted ceiling and horseshoe balconies; doors open around thirty minutes before curtain.
Roman Thaenae, 11 km south past the salt flats, spreads over bath complexes with surviving mosaic floors, a capitol platform and a stubby lighthouse tower — open ground you wander with the caretaker as guide.
The northern gate quarter is where Sfax actually shops: pyramids of olives, henna, spices and grilled-fish stalls spill out from Bab Jebli, and the Rbat lanes behind keep the old blacksmiths and basket weavers at work.
The fishing village north of the city gave Tunisia its most-covered song; a whitewashed marabout, moored charfia palm-frond fish traps and shorefront cafés make it where Sfaxians spend Friday afternoons.
Named for the Sfax-born singer and composer, the culture complex runs film-club nights, malouf and choir rehearsals, poetry readings and youth exhibitions — the everyday engine of the city's cultural calendar.