Tunisia - 26 September 2010 (4)

We got back on the bus at 16.00 and headed for El Kef.  I slept all the way.

One of my feathered friends

Our hotel – the Hotel des Pins – was so much nicer than the one in Tunis, but it was quite a way outside town.  It was built on a spiral so we went down and round to our rooms.  The spiral continued down to a central courtyard with a swimming pool.  Just beyond reception there were several cages of canaries and I amused myself by getting them to chirp.

We were taken to a restaurant in town where we were given a very large set meal.  Most of the restaurants on the trip wanted to give us set meals, but no one really wants to eat that much every time.  It was made even more difficult for Caroline and I who were vegetarians.  This evening our first course was a salad, but I thought I detected a tuna taste, as if someone had removed the fish from the plate before serving.  Worse, I was convinced that I found a chip of bone in my vegetable couscous, so sent that back immediately and did not eat that much of the replacement dish.

Still, we all had a good chat over dinner – mostly talking about the adventures we had enjoyed as children, when we were allowed to roam free with minimal parental supervision.  I guess that is a common subject among older people – Caroline had done some research and I was the youngest (if you ignore Ruth).

Tunisia - 26 September 2010 (3)

Dougga

Theatre

Temple to Jupiter, Juno, Minerva

The next stop was the very impressive site of Dougga.  The ruins are draped on a hillside and include a well-preserved theatre, numerous temples, baths, cisterns, large villas, a mausoleum and an auditorium for bacchanalia.

It took a long time to explore everything and listen to all Lotfi’s explanations and the hill made the walking quite strenuous, but it was worth it.

Villa of Dar el Achab

Temple of Caelestis

At the far end of the site, a man sold us some prickly cactus fruits, which he peeled expertly.  I bought two, which were really nice.  He also gave me a sprig of tiny flowers, which smelt of peppermint.  As we walked back, we could see the pears and peppermint growing on the site, so our salesman probably got them for nothing.  Still, they were cheap and it was good to have them peeled.  I spotted his donkey and was impressed when it scratched its ear with its hind leg.

Temple

Arch of Alexander Severus

Licinian Baths

Cistern

Mausoleum

Donkey

Prickly Pear

Tunisia - 26 September 2010 (2)

Testour

Minaret in Testour

We made an unplanned diversion to Testour which Salah had mentioned during our tour of Carthage.  When the Catholics expelled the Moslems from Spain, some refugees from Andalusia settled here.  Its mosque has achieved some fame because the minaret includes Star of David designs and the dial of the clock is numbered anticlockwise.

We walked up and down the main street, searching for a restaurant., but with no luck.  In the end we were forced to scour the shops and coffee bars to try to buy some lunch and I managed to find a citronade, stale madeira cake and some cashew nuts.  At least there were seats in a paved area near to where our bus was parked, so we had somewhere decent to sit and eat.

Tunisia - 26 September 2010 (1)

Bardo Museum

Getting ready for company

Although our room was a bit more pleasant when we got back because Caroline had managed to get us a fan, I woke up at 02.10 with a nightmare and then found it very difficult to get back to sleep.  During the briefing session, someone had pointed out that we needed $1,000 or a credit card with a similar amount to get into Libya.  As you do in the middle of the night, I started to worry because I had no dollars and only the equivalent of £500 in cash.  I had also forgotten to ring the bank and the credit card company to let them know that I would be going abroad, so would I be able to get any money out on my cards?  I spent hours turning things around in my head and finally got to sleep at 05.00.  The alarm went off at 06.00.

A God and the Four Seasons

We were all on the bus well before the due time.  The bus was large which meant that we were able to get our luggage inside and have lots of spare seats to spread out on.  I sat next to Werner and gave him my BBC History magazine.  Unfortunately, he took this as a much too positive sign and not just that I had felt sorry for him the previous evening.  With his bad breath and his suggestive comments, I resolved not to sit next to him again.

Food for thought

Our new guide, who was to remain with us until the border, was called Lotfi.  Again, he was an excellent guide and did the guiding on all the sites we visited.  If I have a complaint, it was that he knew so much and wanted to tell us everything, so we spent a long time listening to him and not just exploring the sites and feeling the atmosphere – but that is not really a complaint.  Our driver was called Hammadi.

Our first stop was the Bardo Museum, which is still in Tunis.  The museum was being refurbished and, if all the new rooms are as good as the ones already open for our visit, it will be spectacular.

Fishing

Baptismal Font

 Most of the items in the museum were mosaics, some of them of a very exceptional standard, using tiny tesserae, which made the pictures look much more true to life than the average mosaic.  The mosaics covered a range of subjects, the best being the everyday scenes of things like food, fishing, farming and a lady’s dressing room.  There were also some Christian mosaics and some that covered mythological scenes.  The new extension gave good, well lit views of the mosaics, which could be seen from both above and below as you wandered round the galleries.  One room had the heads of some Roman Emperors – Septimus Severus, Augustus, Trajan, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius.  Other rooms in the old part of the museum had some ornate baptismal fonts.

After the museum, we went for a drink in the nearby café and watched two tiny kittens having a wrestling match.

Wrestling Kittens

Tunisia - 25 September 2010 (2)

Our next stop was the very picturesque town of Sidi Bou Said, with white and blue buildings.  Not surprisingly, there were a lot of tourists and souvenir shops to tempt them. 

Kim & Barry in Restaurant in Sidi Bou Said

We walked up a very steep hill, making our way through the crowds, and went for lunch in a restaurant near the top.  We sat in the courtyard and were introduced to the “brik”.  This typical Tunisian starter comprises crispy fried pancakes filled with egg and whatever else you like.  I chose a cheese brik and chips.  I think I would have preferred it if the pancakes had not been fried as they were too greasy and I am a big fan of English-style pancakes.  Still it was a rare vegetarian option and we made a note.  We were all given a mint tea, but it came already made with far too much sugar for me.

After lunch, Caroline, Vic and Heuly decided to stay and explore Sidi Bou Said, but I was tired and went back with the others.  After all that walking and only a few hours sleep, I did my usual trick of falling asleep on the train going back.  Luckily, our stop was the end of the line and Anne and Robin were there to wake me up.  Anne and Robin would have had a good excuse for falling asleep too, because their room was at the back of the hotel – right next to the tram line, which kept them awake until late and then woke them up very early.

As we walked back down the Avenue Habib Bourguiba, we met Werner, the final member of our group.  He also came from Australia and was still recovering from the flight, so had not felt fit enough to join us on our long walk

After an afternoon of chores and a nap, we met up at 18.00 for the “admin meeting”.  We were asked to put $60 into the tip fund and Sue volunteered to look after the money.  I only had sterling and euros but contributed the equivalent – I hope.

Once we were all fully briefed and sorted, we went to a nearby restaurant for dinner.  I had vegetables and couscous, the only veggie option on most menus, and forced myself to drink a litre of water to avoid dehydration.  Werner told us about his experiences living in the former East Germany, especially after the war, and came near to tears at a couple of points.  I thought that he was a sweet old man.  Even though he had lived in Adelaide for many years, his German accent was still very strong.

Tunisia - 25 September 2010 (1)

Carthage

Horloge Obelisque

We had a basic breakfast of croissant and hot chocolate and met Kim and Sue, who were from Australia and had already been travelling for several weeks in Egypt and Uganda to make the most of their long flight.

Sanctuary of Tophet - Stelae

We set off at 08.00 and walked along the Avenue Habib Bourguiba under a blue sky, but avoiding the puddles from the rain the previous day.  We passed the “horloge obelisque”, which I had admired on the bus ride from the airport, when it had been illuminated.  Eventually we reached the TGM station and headed for the first site of ancient Carthage.

Sanctuary of Tophet - detail on a Stela

While we waited for Salah, our local guide, we went into a café where I tried a citronade.  The lemon was very refreshing and this became my drink of choice on the tour.  It was normally not that expensive a drink.  This one cost just D0.500. 

Sanctuary of Tophet

Salah appeared to be quite a character.  He arrived in the growing heat wearing a brown suit and white shoes.  His hair was either very greasy or had been seriously subjected to some Tunisian version of bryl-cream.  But, like all our guides on the tour, he was very interesting and seemed to know his stuff.  History is written by the victors and the Romans, who finally conquered and laid waste to Carthage after some close calls in the three Punic wars, had a vested interest in discrediting the Phoenicians.  Salah went to great lengths to contradict the common held view that they practiced child sacrifice and worshipped a god of the underworld.

Carthage Harbour - Slipway

Carthage Harbour

The archaeological sites of ancient Carthage are scattered over a wide area.  We walked miles from the Sanctuary of Tophet, to the harbour, to the Antonine Baths and then to the museum, all in ever increasing temperatures.  When I was exploring the ruins in the harbour site, carefully picking a route which avoided the flooding and mud, I looked up and saw what looked like a cathedral, far off in the distance on the side of a hill.  Little did I think that I would end up walking there – all before lunch!

View of ex-Cathedral of St Louis from Carthage Harbour

Detail from Antonine Baths

Antonine Baths by the Sea

Of all the sites, my favourite was the Antonine baths, apparently the second largest in the Roman Empire.  The site was right next to the sea, which made the setting all the more attractive.  Salah was keen to point out the different types of stone and marble which were used in their construction and which, he said, came from as far away as Brittany.  We were able to wander around the site for a while and I took lots of photos.

Antonine Baths

At one point in our long trek, we came to a wide busy crossroads with its traffic being directed by a policeman.  Salah had a quiet word with him and the policeman kindly stopped all the traffic for us to cross.

Salah in front of ex-Cathedral of St Louis

Eventually we reached the top of Byrsa Hill which once was the centre of Punic Carthage.  It is now home to the decommissioned cathedral of St Louis, used for concerts and similar cultural events, and the Carthage museum.  There are also a few remains of ancient Carthage.  We met Salah’s father by the entrance to the museum area.  He was obviously very proud of his son and seemed a very nice man.

View from the Museum

The ruins were inside the museum area.  From there, you could see the coast and I took some photos of the harbour area to show how far we had come.  After a brief visit to the museum, we said goodbye to Salah and then walked down the hill to a TGM station.

Tunisia - 24 September 2010

 Travelling to Tunis

The paperwork for our Explore tour clearly said to check in at 14.05 for our flight at 17.05, so it was not surprising that four of us met in the queue long before any Tunisian Airways staff materialised – or any other passengers for that matter.

It was good to have three new friends when we had finally been checked in and had gone through security.  After a late lunch, we had somewhere to leave our bags, as we disappeared, one by one, for sorties into duty free for those last minute purchases.

It was even better to have three new friends when the plane was delayed until 20.00 by industrial action from French air traffic control.  Heuly, Vic and Caroline were all very experienced travellers and we happily exchanged stories of our adventures as we waited and waited and waited.

Heuly, Vic, Lotfi, Caroline and Ruth (in Sbeitla)

When we were finally on the plane, I sat next to Anne and Robin, two more members of our group.  I don’t remember much about the flight, except that they did manage to provide a decent vegetarian meal and the coffee was really nice.

We were lucky when we arrived in Tunis airport because several other planes landed just after us.  We were first at immigration, but huge queues gathered behind.

Once through, we met Ruth our guide.  She was German and, although she had a smattering of Arabic, did not speak any French or Italian.  It was also her first time on the tour.  We also met Barry, who had been on our flight but had stayed hidden because he had a terrible cold.

After getting some Tunisian Dinar (£1=D2.350), we headed for the bus which took us to our hotel near to the centre of Tunis.  It was called the Maison Dorée and was in the Rue El Koufa.  Ruth gave us our room numbers and I found that I was sharing with Caroline.

This hotel was one of the two worst on the trip.  At least things did get better, but our initial reaction was concern that we would be staying in similar places for the full three weeks.  The lift did not work very well and the door closed on me which was quite painful.  Our room was very very hot, but when Caroline opened the window, the smell from outside was terrible.  The bathroom was adequate but not that clean.  Caroline and I chatted until 01.45, a pattern which was to continue through much of the tour, but we did fall asleep eventually despite the heat.