After the coastline, the blue Mediterranean Sea and the movie history of Sousse and Monastir, on Day 3 we slowly leave Tunisia's coastal landscape behind. We turn inland, heading towards a city that would become one of the biggest surprises of our entire journey: Kairouan.

And that's not just because of Indiana Jones.

From the coast into the heart of Tunisia

After our visit to Sousse and Monastir, the landscape gradually changes as we make our way towards Kairouan. The countryside coast disappears behind us, the becomes drier and we travel deeper into Tunisia's interior. Once again, the country begins to show us a completely different side of itself.

From the moment we arrive, Kairouan feels special. The atmosphere is relaxed, the pace of life is slower and, despite the city's enormous historical and religious significance, it feels surprisingly accessible. There is no overwhelming tourist circus here, just narrow streets, small shops, markets, smells, colors and, above all, incredibly friendly people.

This feels like the North Africa you hope to discover.

Kairouan was founded as early as 670 and developed into one of the most important centers of the Arab-Islamic world in North Africa. Even after Tunis became the political capital, Kairouan retained its religious importance. Today, the city is regarded as one of Islam's most important holy cities and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988.

Everywhere in and around the medina you see mosques, minarets, domes and religious buildings. The absolute highlight is the famous Great Mosque of Kairouan, whose origins, like those of the city itself, date back to the seventh century. Much of its present form dates from the ninth century, and the mosque had a major influence on Islamic architecture throughout the Maghreb.

But, of course, we are here on another mission as well.

Cairo? No… Kairouan!

For movie fans, Kairouan has a second identity. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the city doubles as Cairo.

In the movie, Indiana Jones arrives in Egypt as his search for the Ark of the Covenant continues. But Harrison Ford wasn't actually walking through the streets of Cairo for many of those scenes. The Raiders production came to Tunisia to shoot several of them.

And once you walk through Kairouan, you immediately understand why.

What surprised us most was this: they hardly needed to build anything at all.

Of course, the filmmakers added decorations, extras, animals, market stalls and all sorts of details to create the image of 1930s Cairo. But the streets, walls, gateways, passages and houses?

They were simply already there.

And the best thing is: they still are.

As if Indiana Jones left yesterday

With images from the movie in hand, we wander through the medina searching for the different filming locations. And then something happens that makes us, as filming-location fans, ridiculously happy.

You look at a shot from a movie released in 1981, lower your phone and…

There it is.

The same wall. The same archway. The same doorway. The same narrow street.

Sometimes a building has been painted a different color, or there is now an air-conditioning unit, an electricity cable or a modern shop sign. But the basic structure of the medina remains astonishingly recognisable. It is also part of what makes historic Kairouan so special: its maze of narrow streets, traditional houses, walls and gateways has been remarkably well preserved.

We recognize several places from the Cairo sequences and walk through streets where Indiana Jones, Marion and Sallah moved through the movie. And because so little has fundamentally changed, it doesn't feel as though you are visiting the remains of an old film set.

You are literally walking through it.

That perhaps makes Kairouan even more impressive than a purpose-built movie set. A set can disappear. This city existed for centuries before Indiana Jones arrived and will hopefully remain here for centuries after us.

Exactly why we make this journey

After all that movie-location hunting, there is fortunately plenty of time to simply let Kairouan be Kairouan.

Wandering through the medina. Stopping at a little shop. Having a chat. Looking around and, most importantly, not being in too much of a hurry. The city has a wonderful, authentic Arab atmosphere without constantly giving you the feeling that someone is trying to sell you something. We found the people friendly, curious and relaxed.

And in many ways, Kairouan perfectly sums up what we want to show people with Binary Sunset Tours.

Yes, we travel to Tunisia because of our love for movies. We want to stand in the places where iconic scenes from the films of our youth were shot. But along the way, we keep discovering that Tunisia is about so much more than a collection of filming locations.

On Day 3, those two worlds come together beautifully.

We start on the coast at locations associated with Life of Brian, then head inland and finish in an ancient Islamic city that suddenly became Cairo in 1981.

And somewhere in one of those narrow streets of the medina, there is really only one thing left to do:

look around and start playing the Raiders of the Lost Ark Theme tune in your head.

Da-da-da-daaaah, da-da-daaa, da-da-da-daaaah, da-da-da-da-daaaah…

Welcome to Cairo. Or rather: welcome to Kairouan.