An escape to Tunisia for some winter sun

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As the Indian summer comes to an end in England, my brother and myself escape for some winter sun in Tunisia. We had found a good deal through a travel agent which offered 10 nights all inclusive for the price of 7 nights. We decided to go with low expectations on the hotel after reading mixed reviews on TripAdvisor with comments like 'faulty towers'

Our first day resulted with a painful early flight which was at 6am and meant a couple of hours sleep for us both. Upon arrival at Tunisia, we found the airport to be slow as hundreds of tourists queued to get past immigration. Although our first time in Tunisia, it was not our first time to north Africa and so we expected to be pestered by locals once we had cleared customs. Three times someone tried to take my luggage off me by offering porter services as we looked for our transportation to the hotel.

Once we had arrived at our hotel, we were told that the rooms were not ready and so we had go get something to eat while we waited. Once we got the key to our room there was a nice mix up resulting in us being given a double bed. We complained and was given another key, which we then ended up walking in on someone who was in bed. It appears that the hotel had got our cards mixed up with a couple that arrived the same time as ourselves and so they got the twin room instead. Anyway, third time lucky we got a twin room, although only problem now was it was next to the elevator!

After the mix up with the hotel rooms, we had decided that this wasn't going to be a pleasant stay. However, we decided that you have to try and take the positives where possible and make the most out of our break and not to be too negative.

The next few days we spent sunbathing, relaxing, eating, playing on our Gameboys (due to lack of entertainment at the hotel) Although we did play a game of 3-aside football which included my brother, myself and another lad from Yorkshire. England vs. Tunisia, in 28c heat. Of course England won and then the match turned into loads of young Tunisian children against 3 English lads. I was knackered after about an hour!

After spending a few days relaxing my brother and myself were ready to go and explore as the only exploring we had done was visit the nearby beach. We wanted to see the Roman colosseum and the place where they filmed the Star Wars set, but discovered the only tours we could get to see this involved a two day trip and an overnight stay at a hotel in the Sahara Dessert. This was not a problem but then we discovered the tour also took you along the Algerian border. I remembered the UK government website saying to avoid going near the Algerian border where possible due to Kidnapping/terrorist attacks so we decided to see some different Roman ruins at a place called Carthage.

On our way to the Carthage, the tour bus stopped off for an hour in Tunis; the capital of Tunisia. The streets were packed with lots of local people and my brother and myself went to the Medina to look for some bargains. We did get hassled a lot but a firm 'no' usually got the local shopkeepers off our backs.

After the city experience, we were back on the road and headed up to the Carthage ruins. Once we arrived at Carthage, we were asked to pay a small charge for the privilege of using our cameras to take photos. We did not need to pay to enter the ruin site, as this had already been paid with the cost of the excursion. We discovered that Carthage was founded in the 9th century B.C. Carthage's location gave it great power and influence as ships had to cross between the coast of Tunisia and Scilly. The ruins offered astonishing views with the beautiful Mediterranean sea in the background. The ruins seem well preserved given their age, although I was surprised that people were allowed to walk over the mosaic floor.

Next, we visited the Carthage National Museum. The museum had been founded in the late 19th century and holds lots of different types of architecture that belonged to the Romans and Phoenicians. The museum offers great views of the Mediterranean Sea and the city of Tunis. It is also located next to Saint Louis Cathedral, an old Roman Catholic cathedral that was restored by the French in the late 19th century.

We then had some Tunisian lunch which was included in the trip, before heading off to a beautiful blue and white village called Sidi Bou Said. This pretty village attracts the wealthy local Tunisian people as well as tourists. Walking around the village we saw lots of shops selling similar items to what we saw in the capital of Tunis. We found this nice restaurant that overlooked the sea and village, and ordered our first mint tea in Tunisia, although not our first in north Africa. The mint tea in Africa is amazing, I have tried to get mint tea back in the UK but it is nowhere near as good as in Africa. The visit to Sidi Bou Said was the last part of our day trip out, but what a great day we both had.

The next day in the evening we went on another excursion that took us down to Sousse to Medinat Alzahra Parc. Once at the park, we got to see some great Arabian dancing, had food included and saw a live show where they played the history of Tunisia. It was very interesting to learn the history of Tunisia which has been influenced by the Africans, Romans, Arabs, Turks and French.

The last few days of our trip the weather was not as good so we adventured out to local towns nearby. One day we went to Jasmine Hammamet which is a very tourist area. I personally wished we had stay in this resort as the hotels looked a lot nicer than our one and there were some British bars. We discovered a bar called The Rovers Return, although nothing like the one from Coronation Street. This bar was very friendly and the food looked nice. The local beer they served was good and reasonably priced. The next day we visited the town centre of Hammamet. The town of Hammamet was very busy with locals and tourists. When buying souvenirs, we were glad to find a reasonably priced shop selling alcohol and local wines.

Overall our experience of Tunisia was good. If we had stayed in a better hotel then I think my brother and myself would have said it was a great trip. The hotel that we stayed in wasn't awful but it was very dated inside and we found it inappropriate to be sharing a hotel with mummies who were recovering from cosmetic surgery. Once back in the UK, I did complain to our travel agent but doubt they will take any action.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Tunisia
Alan, it is great to see you on the road again. Sounds like you found a pretty good deal and always good to escape winter. Follow along with us as we hope to publish again soon.

[Readingfcboi]

Tunisia
Hi Dave & Merry Jo, great to hear from you. I will keep an eye out for your next blogs. Not sure if you had chance to see my previous blog, but you both inspired me to write about places in the UK.