Tunisian Adventures
It was only a week ago today when i first woke up in Tunisia. Philippa and i stayed in a Hotel just a few miles outside of Sousse on the edge of Port El Kantoui. The Sun was out so decided to take a trip to the beach after our first breakfast of sausages, salami, beans and doughnuts. On th way down to the beach we came across some giant African ants marching across the road. They were rather scarey, I have never seen a bigger, blacker ant ever.
Treading carefully over the creepy crawlies we found the beach and was immediately approached by a very friendly Tunisian who had some thing to sell. We politely declined his offer of going on a camel ride and informed him that we are happily just taking a stroll and exploring our surroundings. After a short walk on the beach we headed back to the hotel to try and decide what we were going to do for the forthcoming week. And this is what we did...
Tuesday morning we went ofn a free tour of a carpet factory where i purchased a payer matt. There we go to sit with the Tunisian ladies who were hand making carpets and rugs. This was followed by a visit to a leather factory and shop. I had a new leather jacket tailored for me - A replacement fo the one that was lost. However this came to half the price... Bonus!
Upon returning to the hotel, we went back to the beach to relax and enjoy my birthday some more before dinner. It was also about dinner time when we booked a 2 day tour of Tunisia so we arranged an early morning wake up call (5.30am) and went out for a meal to celebrate the special occasion before retiring for an early night (a little drunk).
Sods law would have predicted me waking up before the wake up call. And this was the case.
We set off watching the sun rise over the ocean. The tour guide who looked like slime informed us there were a few more pickups to be made from other hotels then we set off on our way.
There was thousands upon thousands of olive groves and after the first 2 hours i was bored with them. Then the tour guide started talking. After about 2 hours of travel we came to our first scheduled stop in a place called El Jem. Here we had a guided tour of he Colosseum used in the film Gladiator (the one they digitally remastered) Here we went in to the lions pits and dungeons. It was truly breath taking. Sadly a lot of it has been destroyed over the thousands of years it has been stood there. However, i couldn't begin to imagine how many must have died in its walls.
Next stop was interesting, we stopped at a "Service Station" for a rest and just outside there was a sheep hanging from a tree with it's throat cut. Saying that though, there was also a severed cows head hanging in a door way of a butchers. At one butchers i recall seeing a severed cows head and a live cow next to it tied up at the butchers. According to our tour guide this was to show how fresh the meat is when buying it. Strangely disturbing!
We had now entered the Lime Stone desert which was a very rocky and very hilly. The tour guide then told us more about th history of Tunisia and how it's native inhabitants were the Burma people and they were pushed south by the French and they built there homes into the hillsides [called troglodytes]. And we were going to be invited in to a home. The home was very simple and without electricity. An old woman ground at a mill grinding wheat to make bread whilst the other lady showed off her woven pictures. It was rather fascinating that people live in such a way which is self reliant. Their beds were just thin home made mattresses. Their homes were just caves.
The next stop was for lunch at another troglodyte, a rather familiar one. The Hotel Sidi Driss,
The hotel served as the home of Luke Skywalker on the planet Tatooine in the Star Wars films. In here we were served with a "Meat" cous cous and some other strange local cuisine. Then went snap happy with the camera. This photo is taken on wikipedia as Philippa has the camera and i haven't yet had chance to steal it off her yet.
Reluctantly, we had to leave. We were now heading to a place called Douz "The Gateway to the Sahara". The journey took us past lots of people selling oil/petrol at the side of the raod purchased in Libya at a cheap price and sold for a cheaper price than the government set for fuel. Highly illegal but the police turn a blind eye on this trade in he south. Only 50% of the population is in employment.On this stretch of the journey, the Lime stone desert took us to the edge of the Sahara and plant life got thin and sand danced across the road as if it was late to join the rest of the desert.
Upon arrival, we dressed up in traditional ware and was escorted to some camels and spent an hour riding in to the desert. The wind was cold and the sun was getting low but it looked more silver than it did golden but it was all we could see all the way to the horizon.
That night we stayed in a rather poky hotel but we didn't care as we were too tired. The next morning we awoke and got excited about breakfast. We helped ourselves to eggs, doughnuts, and some yorkshire pudding type savouries then was pushed back on the bus to embark of the journey to the Salt Lakes of the desert. This was strange, with the reflection of the sky on the water, the horizon vanished and past the road i could only see blue. It felt as though if we fell off the road we would start falling out of nothingness. We stopped here for a rest and photo opportunities before heading to the Atlas mountain.
We were dropped off a train station and placed on a over crowded train and was left standing outside in between carriages which was great for photo taking. The rock the ravines the kids running along the side of the train waving... It was a great experience and is a must for anyone. Occasionally the train stopped for us all to get out and take photos and run around like loons. After doing a forward - backwards we went to the train station to start heading back to the hotel.
We got back about 7pm in time for dinner and bed.
The next two days we spent doing not much really, we got a taxi into Sousse and experienced the strangest sales techniques and dabbled in some bartering in a hussle and bussle market maze. Followed by a casual stroll back to our hotel. The stroll took 4.5 hours across 4 beaches but we made it.
This morning i am back home tired and am setting off for work in 10 minutes and not looking forward to it in all fairness. All the above still fresh in my head i had to blog it. :)
Treading carefully over the creepy crawlies we found the beach and was immediately approached by a very friendly Tunisian who had some thing to sell. We politely declined his offer of going on a camel ride and informed him that we are happily just taking a stroll and exploring our surroundings. After a short walk on the beach we headed back to the hotel to try and decide what we were going to do for the forthcoming week. And this is what we did...
Tuesday morning we went ofn a free tour of a carpet factory where i purchased a payer matt. There we go to sit with the Tunisian ladies who were hand making carpets and rugs. This was followed by a visit to a leather factory and shop. I had a new leather jacket tailored for me - A replacement fo the one that was lost. However this came to half the price... Bonus!
Upon returning to the hotel, we went back to the beach to relax and enjoy my birthday some more before dinner. It was also about dinner time when we booked a 2 day tour of Tunisia so we arranged an early morning wake up call (5.30am) and went out for a meal to celebrate the special occasion before retiring for an early night (a little drunk).
Sods law would have predicted me waking up before the wake up call. And this was the case.
We set off watching the sun rise over the ocean. The tour guide who looked like slime informed us there were a few more pickups to be made from other hotels then we set off on our way.
There was thousands upon thousands of olive groves and after the first 2 hours i was bored with them. Then the tour guide started talking. After about 2 hours of travel we came to our first scheduled stop in a place called El Jem. Here we had a guided tour of he Colosseum used in the film Gladiator (the one they digitally remastered) Here we went in to the lions pits and dungeons. It was truly breath taking. Sadly a lot of it has been destroyed over the thousands of years it has been stood there. However, i couldn't begin to imagine how many must have died in its walls.
Next stop was interesting, we stopped at a "Service Station" for a rest and just outside there was a sheep hanging from a tree with it's throat cut. Saying that though, there was also a severed cows head hanging in a door way of a butchers. At one butchers i recall seeing a severed cows head and a live cow next to it tied up at the butchers. According to our tour guide this was to show how fresh the meat is when buying it. Strangely disturbing!
We had now entered the Lime Stone desert which was a very rocky and very hilly. The tour guide then told us more about th history of Tunisia and how it's native inhabitants were the Burma people and they were pushed south by the French and they built there homes into the hillsides [called troglodytes]. And we were going to be invited in to a home. The home was very simple and without electricity. An old woman ground at a mill grinding wheat to make bread whilst the other lady showed off her woven pictures. It was rather fascinating that people live in such a way which is self reliant. Their beds were just thin home made mattresses. Their homes were just caves.
The next stop was for lunch at another troglodyte, a rather familiar one. The Hotel Sidi Driss,
The hotel served as the home of Luke Skywalker on the planet Tatooine in the Star Wars films. In here we were served with a "Meat" cous cous and some other strange local cuisine. Then went snap happy with the camera. This photo is taken on wikipedia as Philippa has the camera and i haven't yet had chance to steal it off her yet.
Reluctantly, we had to leave. We were now heading to a place called Douz "The Gateway to the Sahara". The journey took us past lots of people selling oil/petrol at the side of the raod purchased in Libya at a cheap price and sold for a cheaper price than the government set for fuel. Highly illegal but the police turn a blind eye on this trade in he south. Only 50% of the population is in employment.On this stretch of the journey, the Lime stone desert took us to the edge of the Sahara and plant life got thin and sand danced across the road as if it was late to join the rest of the desert.
Upon arrival, we dressed up in traditional ware and was escorted to some camels and spent an hour riding in to the desert. The wind was cold and the sun was getting low but it looked more silver than it did golden but it was all we could see all the way to the horizon.
That night we stayed in a rather poky hotel but we didn't care as we were too tired. The next morning we awoke and got excited about breakfast. We helped ourselves to eggs, doughnuts, and some yorkshire pudding type savouries then was pushed back on the bus to embark of the journey to the Salt Lakes of the desert. This was strange, with the reflection of the sky on the water, the horizon vanished and past the road i could only see blue. It felt as though if we fell off the road we would start falling out of nothingness. We stopped here for a rest and photo opportunities before heading to the Atlas mountain.
We were dropped off a train station and placed on a over crowded train and was left standing outside in between carriages which was great for photo taking. The rock the ravines the kids running along the side of the train waving... It was a great experience and is a must for anyone. Occasionally the train stopped for us all to get out and take photos and run around like loons. After doing a forward - backwards we went to the train station to start heading back to the hotel.
We got back about 7pm in time for dinner and bed.
The next two days we spent doing not much really, we got a taxi into Sousse and experienced the strangest sales techniques and dabbled in some bartering in a hussle and bussle market maze. Followed by a casual stroll back to our hotel. The stroll took 4.5 hours across 4 beaches but we made it.
This morning i am back home tired and am setting off for work in 10 minutes and not looking forward to it in all fairness. All the above still fresh in my head i had to blog it. :)
posted by McParty at 6:32 AM
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