Nabeur, Hammamet, and Takrouna Berber Village

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Tuesday February 20 - I had an extra thick blanket last night and slept much warmer. I woke up around 4:00 and had trouble getting back to sleep, but at least I was warm. I didn’t use earplugs this time, so I would hear my alarm at 6:30, but that meant that at 5:30 or so I heard the mosques calling people to prayer. Sometimes amusing, the amusement fades at that time of day.

I said goodbye to Khaoula last night, since I didn’t expect to see her today, and that was a good choice. She left before me, though I left around 7:45. I said goodbye to her kids and headed out, back to the tram. This time was a little more familiar and smooth, if you can call cramming yourself and your pack onto an overcrowded tram smooth. I’m sure I knocked several people over before taking my pack and holding it low by my legs. Last night I made the decision to travel with Felix, the Canadian I met yesterday, and I was heading to his hotel to meet him so we could go to the rental car company together. I ended up getting breakfast there, which was a nice treat, and then we were on our way. We had to wait a while for the car to be delivered to the site, as he was actually supposed to pick it up yesterday (whoops!), but we did get it and then we were off to our first destination, Nabeul. Nabeul is a town on the sea, not quite as touristic as many of the others we would see. We wandered around for a few hours, bought some freshly made cookie type things, had some tea, etc. From there, we headed to Hammamet, a very touristic beach town. We spend time in the medina, the old town, wandering the old windy streets. We also went into the kashbah (the old fort), and before and since we entered, I have not gotten “Rock the Casbah” out of my head. And now I probably never will. There was actually not much to see there, except the rest of the medina from the walls.

From there we went to a Berber village outside of a small “town” called Takrouna. We got there just before 5pm, and the lighting was quite nice. Quite a photogenic place. We had some more tea in a very cute place - it’s always fresh mint tea with sugar - and then we got a move on so we could make it to Sousse before it got dark. We’ll stay here for two nights, as we will visit Sousse and Monastir tomorrow. That should be our most relaxed day, since there will not be so much driving in comparison to the others.

We checked in and got settled and then went downstairs and had dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, which is pretty much the only option here. But it was a buffet, and pretty decent. Today I certainly ate a lot more than yesterday. Both good and bad, I suppose.

So far, I’m glad I decided to tag along, as it is nice to have company and I’m going to be able to see so much more of the country in the time I have.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Thanks for taking us along
Glad you have blankets and ear plugs. I love waking up to the call to prayer.