Tunisia

The Half term finished with Declan and Andy spending most of the last week with the "flu", but not to be deterred we set off for Tunisia on Sunday morning on our final big trip for the year - excluding our trip home!

When we arrived at Monastir airport, we had a little hassle getting an entry visa. Interestingly they let you go through customs (without your passport), collect your bags and enter the airport and get money (Tunisian Dinar) and then go back into to collect your passport and visa! When we got back in the "travel rep" of Thomas Cook was finding out what the delay was with the visa, managed to upset the man who was organising it, to which he threatened to refuse our entry!! anyhow half an hour later we were on a bus to our hotel - Vincci Nour Palace, Mahdia.

Tunisia is situated on the Mediterranean Sea, in Northern Africa, about 80 miles from Sicily and wedged between Algeria and Libya. Tunisia is about the size of England and Wales, population of about 11 million and about one third desert (the Sahara). Mahdia, where we stayed, is located on the Eastern coast about 150 km South of the capital Tunis. Tunisia has a rich Roman, Spanish, French and Arab history.

We went for the All Inclusive package at the hotel, so we wasted no time in getting a drink at the poolside bar not long after we arrived! The weather for the week was similar for most days, low 20's and a bit of a cool breeze, which made sun baking and swimming in the outdoor pool not as enjoyable as we had hoped! (But having got back to Cardiff where it is 12 oC, wet and windy - It wasn't too bad in retrospect!).

Monday afternoon, Andy and Kristin went into the local town of Mahdia, where we looked at the sites - ancient ruins, Great Mosque, lighthouse, Mahdia Medina, local bazaar and Andy had a haircut and shave!
We caught a taxi into Mahdia, we were warned that there were only 2 types of drivers - Michael Schumacher and Noddy and nothing in between - well take it from me there is only one type - The F1 wanna-be!!

Tuesday saw a lazy day around the pool, the bar and all-you can -eat breakfast, lunch and dinner! Someone has to do it!! Tuesday night dinner was at the Tunisian restaurant at the hotel and we had traditional Tunisian food - mainly Couscous! The food had a heavy French influence (former colony) and I quite enjoyed it (washed down with a local red), as did Kristin and Billy, but it wasn't Declan's idea of dinner - he went to the buffet restaurant and ate his traditional food - pizza!

Wednesday was another pool day and visit to Mahdia (the boys came this time) and lots more shopping! Wednesday night dinner was the Italian Restaurant - not as good as the Tunisian but ok!

On Thursday morning we headed off (quite early) on a 2 day tour of Southern Tunisia and this was the highlight of the week away! the first stop was about an hour away at a place called El Jem. El Jem has a Roman Colosseum, which compares well to the Colosseum in Rome, and even better you could access all parts of the colosseum, even the Gladiator quarters. If you look at the photos, you will see that the arena surface was in place and you can walk under the arena. It was quite impressive, even though a little smaller than the Rome Colosseum!

After a bit of a drive South and a stop for lunch at a hotel in Gabes (and by chance, sat next to another Aussie couple!), we headed for Matmata. Matmata is the area where the Troglodytes houses of the Berbers are situated. To give you an idea what they are like, think of the original Star Wars film (A New Hope) and Luke Skywalker's home in Tatoonie. These homes are carved into the mountains, and in fact it was this area that inspired George Lucas for the first Star Wars film and many of the scenes were shot here. After a visit to a troglodyte home we stopped at the top of the mountain at Matmata and viewed the "Lunar Landscape". Not far from here was the ancient town of Tamezret, which was totally destroyed by heavy rains in 1969 - I suppose that is a problem with building houses out of mud and sandstone! I suppose it isn't too bad an idea when most of the country has a rainfall in the 150 - 300 mm range!

Next we continued the bus tour to the town of Douz which sits on the Northern part of the Sahara Desert (the World's Largest Desert in Tunisia. At Douz, we went on a camel ride into the Sahara and watched the sunset over the Sahara - Special!! Everyone enjoyed the camel ride, although Kristin was complaining that she was a bit saddle sore the next day!

We stayed the night at a hotel in Douz, where there was a thermal swimming pool - this was quite nice - until we noticed back in our rooms that our bathers and towels were quite muddy! After dinner we had an early night, because we were having a 4 am start the next day!

Friday morning we headed off to the Salt lake, Chott El-Jerid, about 51000 square kilometres, making it one of North Africa's largest salt lakes. We stopped halfway across the 64 km causeway to watch the sunrise over the salt lake and the colours were very impressive.

From Chott El-Jerid, we went to the town of Touzer, which is a tourist centre based on a huge oasis. Here we went on a horse and carriage ride around the oasis and saw a demonstration of how they collect the dates. Next was 4WD trip to the mountain oasis of Chebika. Chebika is located in the Atlas Mountains (which forms a natural border between Algeria and Tunisia) about 20 km from the Algerian border. Natural springs from the mountain, allow the town to grow date palms and other other fruits and vegetables. Chebika also was severely damaged in the 1969 floods! Not far from Chebika are the waterfalls at Tamerza, but the flow of water was not very high and wasn't as spectacular as it apparently can be! It is more famous for the filming of The English Patient in this area.

After lunch at Gafsa,  we headed to the Holy City of Kairouan, an important pilgrimage for Muslims. Apparently 4 visits to Kairouan can be considered the same as visiting Mecca once - only three to go!! There is a Great Mosque situated in the impressive medina walls. From Kairouan we headed back to the hotel via several stops at other resorts, dropping others from the bus tour.

The 1200km 2 day trip was a real highlight of the trip to Tunisia. The last day was spent around the pool, eating and drinking! Have a look at the Web albums (there are 8 different folders) to see the variety of landscape that we experienced in Tunisia.

We have started the last half-term (7 weeks), it gets dark about 5 pm and I think winter has settled in, so we are beginning to think that going home sounds good! (They don't have a day off for the Melbourne Cup here - how backward!).

Check out the Web Albums and see the sights of Tunisia. Cheers for now~