Blogs from Sousse, Tunisia, Africa

Wednesday February 21 - Another night without much sleep. I just can’t sleep well in new places, and it’s always a new place. I hear everything. After breakfast we left for Sousse, which is just a few kilometers away. We are staying at one of those all inclusive resorts on the beach a few miles from town, so we couldn’t just walk in. Don’t get too excited - my room is nice, but it’s only about $25 with breakfast and dinner. It was chilly when we arrived but warmed up throughout the day. At least I thought so. I peeled down to a t-shirt at times whereas the locals were all in their puffy coats and winter jackets. Sousse is mostly medina - old town surrounded by a wall - and it is quite large. We ... read more

So, it's been almost 2 years since we first arrived in Tunisia, and it's time to say goodbye. After finishing work, we headed down to Sousse where we rented a friend's apartment for a month. What a month! We didn't do a lot. We went to the beach, swam, got stung by jellyfish, drank lots of coffee, went out for some wonderful meals and caught up with some good friends. We also had visitors! That meant a return to Monsatir and yet more eating and drinking. Yes, it was a good month!!!! Saying goodbye is never easy but it goes with the job. If you move on every year or so, you are always saying goodbye, but it never gets any easier. We will miss Tunisia and all of our friends. Our thoughts will be with ... read more

After telling our Canadian goodbye as he left for the airport, dad and I hopped in the car with our new driver and took off down the coast of Tunisia. We drove through small villages and saw a lot of agriculture along our way, including wheat harvest, vineyards, fruit trees and herds of sheep/goats. The countryside is beautiful and some of the estates remind us of France. After driving only a couple of hours, we stopped in Sousse to spend the night. We are staying on the beach with incredible views. We found an old 4 star hotel--paid about 25 dollars each for ocean view suite that included breakfast. There is a nice boardwalk where local tourists and local residents seem to gather. Very popular place. While we were out walking in Sousse, a small rain ... read more

Tunisia - what can I say? It is a beautiful country with major garbage issues, breathtaking sceneries, nice beaches, traffic chaos, a lot of mosques, friendly people, the Sahara desert, 4 types of deserts altogether (sand, salt, mountain, and stone desert), the oldest mosque in Northern Africa, the 3rd biggest amphitheater in the world... I am going to write about the highlights of our trip, which were the 1100 km bus ride through the southern part of Tunisia, a visit to Port el Kantaoui and the medina of Sousse. But before I start, I would like to thank my brother who accompanied me, since the actual travel plans were screwed up and I nearly had to go to that nice country all by myself (would not have been a problem, but he was an uncomplicated travel ... read more

We have finished work in Tunisia a little earlier than scheduled. The upside is that we now have far more time to travel! So, we took the train down to Sfax, a journey which took just two hours. On arrival we traipsed around almost every hotel in the guidebooks and ended up back in the first one we looked at! The Thyna was the best value we could find but still a bit more expensive than we had hoped for. Still, it was comfortable and very well located. Sfax is not a touristy city and while we were there we didn't see another tourist at all. Despite this, we didn't get hassled, even when we walked through the medina. It was interesting to see the traditional way of life in the souks without the interference of ... read more