Blogs from Tunisia, Africa - page 12

Well, a bit of a mishmash to finish of the year in Tunisia! We found ourselves with another long weekend because of the Muslim New Year. We miss our friends in Sousse so we decided to go there yet again! Other friends were on holiday in Hammamet and they came down to see us. Luckily the weather was good even though it was a bit on the cold side. We took them around the medina and showed them the sights like the fish market and the ghoulish butchers!! We also managed to visit the Grand Mosque which had always been closed to infidels before. It was very nice inside, even though we couldn't venture beyond the courtyard. Back home in La Marsa we took advantage of a nice day to travel to nearby Carthage. We wanted ... read more

Salaam! I am in the southern part of Tunisia where life is much more different than the north. The culture is richer in this part of the country. People seem more genuine and so it is easier to make friends. In fact, I was lucky enough to have made a close friend in Sousse and was invited to his home to celebrate a Islamic holiday with his family. The holiday is called Adic Bill and its when all the Muslims sacrifice a sheep in Allah's honor. It was a pretty bloody celebration though, haha, and the poor sheep was still kicking even after they slit its throat! Eek! There was a 8 year old daughter who was braver than me and watched the whole thing without even flinching. The mom cooked a traditional lamb dish called ... read more

With a few days off work for the Eid festival, we found a good deal online in a 4 star hotel in Yasmine Hammamet. It cost us just £24 per night half board and the food was surprisingly good. Our first night the place was deserted but several busloads of tourists soon filled the place up the next day. The weather was glorious most of the time but still it was only the handful of Brits at the hotel who were lying out by the pool. The water was too cold to consider a dip though. Yasmine Hammamet is home to Tunisia's "Carthageland" theme park. It's closed at this time of year but we had a bit of a laugh with the huge plastic elephants and camels nearby! There really are some tacky sights around though ... read more

"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, We will remember them." 11 November is a date which will always remain special to those who have served in the Armed Forces and to those associated through family and friends. Wherever we are, we try to attend a remembrance service and this year we travelled down to the small town of Enfidha, an hour or so South of Tunis, where the British Embassy had organised a ceremony at the British Commonwealth Cemetery. The sun shone for us too, which is apparently quite different to last year. Enfidha has a very large cemetery, much bigger than the ones we saw last year at Ras ... read more

Ever since we arrived in Tunisia there seem to have been weddings on a regular basis. Apparently August is normally a popular time for nuptials but Ramadan is rather interfering with that at the moment. That means so many weddings have been crammed in to the late summer evenings. Sweet eh! Unfortunately for us, a traditional Tunisian wedding can involve up to a week of partying. There's the henna party, bride's family party, pre-wedding party, post wedding party and who knows what else! I say unfortunately for us because most of these parties take place in temporary tented structures on rooftops and involve lots of loud Arabic music (drums and something akin to bagpipes) accompanied by the shrieks of ululating women. Just what you need until well after midnight when you have to be up inthe ... read more