Blogs from Tunisia, Africa - page 18

For the first time in our trip we are seeing a culture that is significantly different than ours. Tunisia is where Nadine and her family lived for a year when she was 14 years old. Her and her sister (Annie) went to a French school in Sousse for a year. So Nadine is trying to go down memory lane…but apparently, Tunisia has undergone many changes in the 27 years since Nadine went to school here. She remembers the roads being clogged with horse or donkey driven wagons, bicycles, and people. Today the roads are still clogged…but now with other cars, trucks, mopeds, and people! People outside of Sousse compare Sousse today with New York city…in reference to its neon signs that have sprung up over the past decade. So it has changed, but it is still ... read more

Yesterday I went on a ride into the mountains of northern Israel, they are called the Gollan heights and it is edged by the Jordan river which feeds the sea of Galilee (or Tiberias as it is now known ). This is the Garden of Israel and full of banana plantations and other market gardening ventures set up by the multinational company's.Is is a very fertile area and the mountains have a rugged beauty about them. The air Is much cleaner and also a dammed sight cooler. I stop by Nazereth, known for being Christ's home town, bit like growing up in Luton, not alot to be said for this place, developed without thought, a mess without character or many redeeming features at all.Moved quickly on to Tiberias and did a lap of the Sea, found ... read more

25th September: The picture below shows us getting out of the car on the ferry from Dover to Calais We spent the night at a B&B just outside the town followed by breakfast with some hairy Belgium bikers. 26th September Then onto the autoroutes through France, Belgium, Luxembourg back to France and then Switzerland and a night stop with Amel’s friend Anila an Basal. Getting used to the concept of marriage, we have both been single for so long…. We are also now jobless and homeless, it will take a while to appreciate both. Definitely picked up one speeding ticket and I guess they post them to the UK? 27th September The next leg was from Basel to a small town outside Bologna to our first Couchsurfing stop. We were hosted by Sylvia and her sister ... read more

Siguiendo con la canción de este año del colegio de Pedro, “it’s a small world after all” (es un mundo pequeño después de todo), podemos dar fé que es cierto. Cuando era chico pasé la mitad de mis fines de semana en la casa de mis abuelos en Longchamps. Muchos de esos fines de semana me iba a jugar con Martín y Andrés, que son los hijos de Jorge e Iris, la prima de mi papá. Se ve que la pasaba muy bien, porque todavía tengo muchos recuerdos visuales de esos días en el fondo de la casa de los tíos Betty y Oscar (sus abuelos), de la pelopincho de lona, de cuando se mudaron a la casa nueva… El tiempo fue pasando, cada uno creciendo y nos perdimos un poco de vista, aunque cada tanto ... read more

After my brief stop over in Europe I headed to Tunisia to visit the ancient city of Carthage. According to Roman legend Carthage was founded by Queen Dido in 814BC. For those you up on your Virgil you may remember her as the queen who gave refuge to Aeneas and his men upon their recent escape following the fall of Troy. Aeneas and Dido fell in love but alas the god Mercury reminded Aeneas that his mission was to move on and found a great city (which would become Rome). Dido heart broken, killed herself by falling on Aeneas sword, but not before she prophesized an eternal conflict between her people and Aeneas’s. Carthage was the center of the Phoenician empire and much strife there was between Rome and Carthage. The first Punic war which lasted ... read more

As our roadtrip continued further south and again near the Algerian border, the scenery became increasingly mountainous and dry. The towns of Mides and Tamerza are located in a particularly hilly area complete with some senic dry canyons. One of which was used for scenes in The English Patient. An abandoned walled mud town near Tamerza provided a scenic foreground for a palmeraie and rough mountains. Aptly named, palmeraies are the palm groves or oases found in the desert typically fed by underground springs. Locals manage these groves and grow fruit and vegetables in the forgiving shade of taller palms. The desert towns of Tozeur and Douz both have huge palmeraies. We pulled over and had lunch one sunny day in the shade of a palmeraie with a date palm on one side and a pomegranate ... read more