While in the Mediterranean on True East we find the period mid July to mid August to be very hot and crowded; therefore, we leave the boat and plan a trip away.
Having visited Morocco, we thought it would be interesting to see Tunisia and Algeria. Algeria turned out to be a visa nightmare so we settled on a road trip thru Tunisia for about three weeks.
Tunisia is a county of about 37 million with about 600,000 living in the capital of Tunis. This was the birthplace of the Arab Spring in 2010 coming on the back of the financial collapse of 2008. Whatever momentum the country had economically disappeared and is still witnessed by the unfinished buildings throughout the country…40-50% of the total property stock. While about 98% of the population is Muslim, it is quite liberal with headscarfs optional for women and few Burka in sight.
As there were no direct flights from Sardinia to Tunis, we chose to go thru Palermo on Sicily. Arriving in Tunis we took a cab to our hotel located at the edge of the medina or center of the old city where vehicles are prohibited. A wonderful boutique hotel in a converted home with several restraints with liquor. Our first day was spent wandering the bazaar within the medina. Unlike the bazaars in Morocco, we could observe no craftsman at work anywhere in the bazaar…simply traders.
The next day we hired a guide to take us to Carthage, the fabled city from Roman times…just ruins now. We would visit the famous Bardo Musuem when we returned to the city at the end of our trip. Our guide took us around much of the city, it proved to be not very exciting.
Next stop was the walled city of Hammamet, a beach resort. Thankfully we were in an Adults Only resort for a couple of days. On route to Monister, we stopped a the walled city of Sousse with its wonderful archeological museum. On to another walled city, Monistir, with a great fortress. Lots of walking here in the bazaar and over to the marina. At one point we thought of coming over from Sicily with the boat….no longer a plan.
El Jim turned out to be the highlight of the trip. This was an important Roman city with it great coliseum the remains of which are still impressive. Here we found the finest Roman mosaics from the 1st and 2nd centuries when this part of the empire was at its peak.
This is a country of olive groves and melons galore, primarily agricultural at the edge of the desert. Next stop was Djerba Island, primarily a resort area. We did play a round of 9 hole golf…pretty much had the course to ourselves.
At major intersections, we noticed stands with dozens of 5 gallon plastic jugs and a funnel type stand. It turns out these are bootleg fuel stations. Gas in Tunisia was .37 euro per liter vs. 2.20 euro per liter in Europe (about $12/gal). However, gas in Algeria is only .27/liter; therefore the bootleggers.
Next stop was about 200 miles running along the edge of the desert over to Tozeur. This is the land made famous by the filming of Star Wars. We stayed in a very high end resort with out private pool which had a cooling system to offset the 104 degree heat.
Our next leg was another 200 miles to Kairouan with a stop at the roman ruins in Sbeitla. Kairouan is again a walled city and is home to The Great Mosque, suburb workmanship and quite a sight. We took a day trip to Makthar, another set of Roman ruins.
From Kairouan it was a short drive back to Tunis where we spent several hours at the Bardo National Museum before our flight back to Palermo.
Our advice on visiting Tunisia, go to Tunis and visit the Bardo. Get a driver and go to El Jem for the day. Then get on a plan and go somewhere else.
click on the picture to see the album
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