Tunisia

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TUNISIA 13^th January 2023 – 20^th January 2023

Just a week in the sun with a TUI package tour £300.43 All Inclusive!! It seemed rude to stay at home and we couldn’t resist it – especially as it wasn’t in the Schengen Agreement ( Not in Europe either so we had to take out more Insurance – another story!!) We eventually left Manchester Airport about 1 ½ hrs late due to someone phoning in sick, which meant we didn’t get to Tunisia until about 4.00ish! First impressions of Enfidha Airport is…well enough to say we were the only plane arriving!!First impressions of Tunisia is …well its very dry here!

We were staying in Paradis Palace Hotel (3^rd drop off!) which seemed pretty palatial! Sent for a drink at the all-inclusive bar before we were taken to our rooms – it was lovely! Balcony, south facing, overlooking the gardens and sea. Didn’t do very much else, except wander down to the beach (saw camel!) watched the magnificent sunset, go to dinner, which was lush…a choice of about 10 dishes as well as soup, salad, and puddings and then to the free bar – if you ask for a Hendricks gin you get a cup of tea?!! Then I learnt you had to ask for Nicholson Gin…….!!

We had a reps meeting at 11.00am the next day and took some cash out for the trips we had booked (closed currency which means you cannot take currency out of the country!) and then had a quick BBQ lunch at the beach bar, before walking along the beach into Hammamet! It took about 1 ½ hours and was mostly on sand apart from a rocky bit towards the end. Wind was getting up by now so we dived straight into the dark souk (It was covered!!) to be bombarded with traders! We didn’t last too long in there!!! Walked around the outside of the whole marina before venturing again into the souk where we bought some pottery! Had a good wander around inside the medina and then went to the fort (ignoring all the traders!!) Quite small but we had a walk around the walls and duly took photographs before getting a taxi back to the hotel (8.50 dinars + tip!!) Beautiful sunset!

On the Sunday, we decided to walk the other way on the beach to the marina at Yassmine Hammamet. This looked much nearer – which it was- only we had a lot softer sand, so it seemed quite hard work!! Lots of fishermen as well as the usual camels and also some kind of seaweed rolled into balls! We thought at first it was camel dung! Had a lovely walk around the marina, looked at the three wooden galleons and the fish that were being fed in the clear water. Had lunch in Peckers Bar that is just off the main square and the food was ok. Except he wanted us to visit his ‘mothers’ shop and then turned quite nasty when we didn’t buy anything and just wanted money. Just walked back to the hotel afterwards and read by the swimming pool!

Monday was the first day of our two-day trip to the South of Tunisia – Sahara Explorer. Up at 5.15 to get the coach at 6.00am. Watched the beautiful sunrise then onto our first real stop, El Jem to see the impressive Colosseum. Definitely a wow factor – it was massive!! Built in the 3^rd Century and could hold 30,000 people ( Rome holds 50,000) it was the only colosseum in the whole world, built out of cut stone. Onwards south on the GR1 Motorway, loads of olive trees, and the land got progressively sandier. The guide (Mohammed) kept us entertained explaining that Tunisia manufactures phosphate in SE (Sfax) and explained the car number plates, saying than Tunisia is black, Libya white and Algeria is yellow! The Red number plates are Government cars!! Also explained that Libya has cheaper petrol which is why there are lots of stalls with containers full of petrol!! Also, I never had realised that there are three types of oasis – sea, desert and mountain! And the desert oasis is more like a forest!! Thousands of palm trees!!There was a sandstorm in one of the towns, Gabes I think it was, and a few of the towns had butchers’ shops with meat hung outside to show it was fresh. There were also butchers’ shops with sheep and camels outside waiting to be slaughtered!!

We then went up the mountains to see the old berber houses. A let of Berbers are still nomadic and live in tents that we saw. A lot of the people had been moved to New Matala as in the old Matala, they were living in caves and underground. We saw plenty of old houses and visited an old house and hotel Sidi Idriss where they filmed some of Star Wars films. It was definitely getting sandier now, with sand covering up the roads. We then went to Camel Riding in the Sahara Desert where quite a few people rode off into the sunset on camels (a few people did Quad Biking) We had to content ourself with climbing sand dunes and watching the sunset over the Sahara Desert (I was worried about breaking bones if I fell off a camel – but I regretted not going!) Onto our hotel at Douz, where we were told we would have a telephone wakeup call at…….4.30am!!! I thought the guide was joking but apparently not!! Ate,drank and asleep by 8.30pm!!

Up at 4.30am – the hotel had laid on a full breakfast for us and onto the coach at 5.30am where we caught up on some sleep!! It was still dark!! Stopped at 7.00am for the mirage-filled Salt Lakes and again at the straight road built 1979 across Lake Chott el Jerid for the sunrise. Definitely worth getting up for!! Onto Tozeur and then we were taken in 4x4 whizzing across old dessert roads and a mostly dried-up lake before climbing up sand dunes! Great fun! And there, in the middle of the desert at Onk Jemal (about 40km from Algeria) we were greeted with another Star Wars Set! Had a good look round the set, trying to avoid all the Hawkers and traders selling their desert roses etc! We were then driven back through the streets of El Hamma to our starting place. Lunch was in a stunning hotel outside Gafsa then it was a long drive to see the Grand Mosque at Kairouan, stopping for tea etc ½ way, just before Jelma.

Onto the Grand Mosque where we viewed the Mosque from the roof of a nearby shop. We are not allowed to go in!) and after looking round the shop had a wander outside looking at the cemetery. The guide told us that Tunisia had been independent from 1956 but before this had been invaded by Punics, Phoenicians, Ottomans, Romans, in 1534 it was invaded by Spain, then the Persecuted Moslems from Andalucía then France in 1881. A big mish mash of history!!

Onwards back towards Hamammet, past the stork nests that now seemed to be occupied by storks and watched the sunset again before going back to the hotel for a much deserved rest on the Wednesday! (We also had 6 drops of rain!!)

Thursday we were off again, this time to the North of the country. We only had a small coach this time and Mohammed spoke mostly French first, and then English! And then it started raining as we went across the mountains, and it didn’t stop!! First of all, we went to Carthage where we visited a graveyard where children were sacrificed until the 4thC. Had a 20 minute visit, in the rain (it was cold too!) lots of fertility signs and also a couple of caves which, where I assume, the sacrifices to the Gods were made. We had a quick stop at Carthage Old Port and then old water cisterns before our 3-course lunch at La Goulette.

We then went to the main park at Carthage, the old city of Ancient Carthage! It was once the most important city in North Africa due to its location, controlled access to the Mediterranean and had the most powerful navy with docks for 220 ships in its unique circular port. Carthage was destroyed in the 3rdC by Romans during the 3rd Punic War in 146BC, It was redeveloped a year later but the Battle of Cathage in 698AD prevented the Byzantiums re-conquering it. It was used as a fort by the Moslems before the Crusaders massacred all the inhabitants! The Hafsids then destroyed the defenses so no-one could use it as a base for a hostile power. No-one really knows why Carthage declined and eventually was demised. We saw a Punic necropolis before seeing the main antoninian baths at Carthage, which were enormous!

We then drove to Sidi Bou-Said (it had stopped raining by now!) a seaside village to the north of Tunis that is renowned for its old white houses painted with blue shutters! Very pretty! Even had its own stray dog (tagged with a green tag to show its number!) Had a good wander round and went shopping (again!) Shopping takes so long here as they start a price eg 45 dinars and after haggling (that they expect!) they sell it for 15 dinars!!

Back to the hotel at 4.00pm where, after tea, we went to the Beach to see if Bracelet Man was there (He wasn’t – but we managed to catch him the next morning!) and then walked to La Pupput (shut) didn’t look too impressive after Cathage!

Had a lovely last evening with Gordon and Brenda, Chris and Sharon. Back to UK Friday, coach collected us for airport 11.20am, flight at 14.40pm , back at Manchester 16.40, collected car (after misleading signs) from Meet & Greet reception then home by 9.30pm ish

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