Travel Journal : Tunisia 06

The night on the train meant that we were tired and greasy the next morning.  We ate at a little cafe on the maid drag through Tunis - Ave Habib Bourgiba.  The coffee and pastries perked us up and the sunshine made the day in the old medina very pleasant.

Tunis's old medina is on the list of World Heritage Sites - it is ancient, narrow, and twisting.  And what fun!!  Shops selling anything and everything, ancient mosques, cute stray kitties, and food vendors everywhere!  We meandered through the alleys, trying not to get lost, looking at scarves, intricate pillowcoverings, and leather goods! 

At the center of the medina is the oldest mosque in Tunis - we were only allowed to enter part of the courtyard reserved for non-Muslims.  I donned a headscarf out of respect for their religion and we headed inside - it was beautiful with intricate tile work, a minaret towering above us and carved wooden doors heading into the prayer area.  After we finished filming in the medina, we decided to head to Sidi Bou Said one more time since it was sunny and we might just get better pictures.  We were also craving that chicken pizza one last time before we left Tunisia...

As we traveled the now-familiar route out to Carthage and Sidi Bou Said, the sun glistened on the Mediterranean and we could see clouds in the distance.  The chicken pizza place was open and the pizza just as good.  We raced to the lookout in Sidi Bou - just in time to see the clouds rolling in....  While we didn't get the perfect "Sidi Bou" postcard picture we wanted, it was still better than a week ago!!

We were cutting it close to our flight time, so we ended up taking a taxi straight to the airport - probably a good thing since we were actually closer to the airport in Carthage than in Tunis.  We shopped for chocolate in the airport and waited in the lounge for our flight to Paris.  One last orange for the road...  so sad!

As the lights of Tunis faded away, it sunk in to us that we were going to have one night in Paris!!  Being so tired from our trainride the night before, we knew that we wouldn't see much before we crashed, but gosh darn-it, we were going to see the Eifel Tower if it killed us.  How can you visit Paris and not see the Eifel Tower?

It took us a while in Charles De Gaulle to figure out how to get train tickets using the credit card machine - and we mistakenly got on a bus heading to a workers' parking lot - but we made our way into the city.  Our hotel reservation was made, but the chore of finding the place was just about all we could take.  The hotel was near to the Place de la Revolution, but there are a million streets heading away from the Place, so how do you know which one was ours? We wandered and wandered until we finally asked and found it.  The bed in our room was calling our name, but Tim was determined to see the Eifel Tower, so out again we went.

We did several quintessentially Parisian things that night - we stopped at a cafe for coffee, ate a warm nutella crepe from a street vendor, rode the Metro, and saw the Eifel Tower in all its lit-up glory.  It truly was breathtaking and it gave you a sense of how romantic Paris must be when you've had more than a few hours of sleep on a Tunisian train.  We spent all of five minutes photographing the tower, and decided our Paris romp was over.  Back to the hotel we went and off to bed.

The next day was our last travel day back to Minneapolis.  We flew Air Canada to Toronto and then on to Minneapolis.  We stood in the Air Canada line at CDG forever with a student group from Toronto - they were fun to listen to only for the fact that I wasn't chaperoning them and I didn't have to reprimand them for their behavior!  The gate for the Paris-Toronto flight was a door to a bus, then off we went to our plane.  I've never boarded a major international flight from a bus, but oh well!!  The flight was uneventful - and blissfully sleepy.  Toronto was fun in that we had Canadian and U.S. customs to pass, knowing that we wouldn't have to go through them in Minneapolis.

By the time we touched down in snowy, cold Minneapolis, the sands and colors of Tunisia seemed so far away.

Entry posted by Jennie Carlson at 6:26 PM | Permalink

Our second excursion out of Tozeur was to the villages of Tamerza, Chebika, and Mides.  All three villages were up in the mountains along the Algerian border and all three were ruined by an incredible rainfall in 1969, when it rained for 22 days and all the mudbrick homes were softened and washed away.

As we hiked to Tamerza, we passed gorgeous green waterfalls and sandstone cliffs which were orange. The town was in ruins and it was sad to think of the ancient way of life just washed out in 22 days.

The other villages were just as bizarre.  Old Chebika was on a clifftop above a river far below - the drop was scary and felt like you were standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon. Less than a kilometer away, you could see the gaurd shacks of the Algerian border.  Because of an ongoing tiff between the two countries, passing the border as a foreigner was not allowed... but we were so close!

On the way to the last village, our driver took us to the Grand Waterfall, a huge river which just cascaded over a large cliff. It was bizarre to be in the middle of the desert and see so much water gushing - we even encountered a bright green frog who had come out to sun itself. There were many vendors on our way to the waterfall, and one particular vendor was friendly enough to ask if I wanted to hold a snake and a lizard. He ended up putting them on my head - woo - I was freaked out!

After the excursion, and back in the civilization of Tozeur, we weren't happy about it, but we knew we needed to work out the details of getting back to Tunis. We rented bikes that afternoon and biked through the massive palmerie, enjoying the cool, green environment which was so different from the desert sand around it.  In the last 10 minutes of our bike rental, we pedaled furiously to the train station to find out train details.  Our train left at 9:00 p.m., so we spent the rest of the day soaking up Tozeur and all its vibrant colors.

The camel had been so tasty the day before that we went  back to that same restaurant for dinner the next day - Tim ended up ordering it as well, and we both agreed that camel was delicious and should be tried again in the future. We spent the rest of the evening walking around the shops, buying CDs of music which had been recommended by our driver that morning, and buying food for the train ride. One thing I love about Tunisia is that they love yogurt and oranges and you can buy them at almost every streetcorner store. The yogurt is sour and tangy and the oranges are juicy and blood red.

The train to Tunis left on schedule, and we had the whole car to ourselves - or so we thought.  It quickly filled up with locals heading to Tunis - and we didn't realize it then, but we were on the party train!!  It was non-stop chatting and visiting the whole night.  While it was fun to be in the midst of such local color, at 3:00 a.m., we weren't too amused!  We arrived in Tunis at 6:00 a.m. and looked like we had been dragged behind the train.

Entry posted by Jennie Carlson at 5:24 PM | Permalink

Another early morning, and another cold shower!  This was quickly becoming the trip of cold showers! 

Our bus to Tozeur left in the dark and we got to watch the sunrise over the salt flats as we drove through them!!  Getting to Tozeur at 8:00 a.m. meant that the we had the whole day ahead of us. We walked into one tour agency and they quoted us a price for several excursions, but the price seemed high and we weren't very impressed with the service.  We quickly snuck out and headed into the main shopping area of Tozeur. As we turned the corner toward the main tourist drag (the west part of Tozeur is like a little Las Vegas - casinos and fancy hotels - we stayed FAR away from that part!), we found Desert Expeditions, a tour agency that hooked us up with two excursions for a very decent price!!  That evening, we took a tour to Ong Jemal and sunset in the dunes.

Because the tour didn't leave until 3:00, we had a few hours to kill in Tozeur, which was quickly becoming our favorite part of the trip.  It was a green city with an ancient medina, twisting alleys to explore and daily life to witness.  We spent hours wandering the back alleys, watching kids go to school,  play, adults shopping and cleaning, and everyone was so friendly - always ready with a "Bonjour, Madame!" or "Bonjour, Monsieur!"  We also settled our hotel for the night - Hotel Residence Karim was very colorful with shady courtyards and open balcony walkways.

The excursion into the desert was fantastic.  Our driver didn't speak English, but knew enough French that we were able to converse and talk about what we were seeing. We saw herds of camels, and rough rock formations as we drove out of town.  Ong Jemal (Neck of the Camel) is a place not too far from Tozeur used in the Star Wars movies, and famous for truly looking like a camel's head in the rocks. From the top of it, you can see a great salt-flats lake which glistened in the setting sun. Our guide had lots of fun listening to us whoop and holler as he drove up and down steep unpaved 4WD roads that seemed fun at the time, dangerous as we look back at it!! Oh well, we lived and had tons of fun!

On through the desert, with the sun low in the sky, there it was.  I didn't know this was part of our tour, but we pulled up to a group of buildings that looked vaguely familiar, and as we got closer, I yelled out "Look!! Mos Eisley!" And yes, there it was, the set of Mos Eisley from the Star Wars films. Lucas left the sets after filming, and they have since been a huge tourist draw. It was so bizarre to stand there and picture the movie, except that the buildings were mostly made of chicken wire, plastic doodads, plaster, and plywood.  I played around with my lightsaber until Tim told me it was time to move on.  We also were yelled at because we put Pog on one of the buildings for a picture - an apparent no-no.

Finally, the sun was setting and we made our way to the town of Nefta on the Algerian border, with its sunken palmerie and the dunes beyond.  The sky was filled with dust which made the sunset take on colors of gray and white, rather than the traditional red and orange.

When we got back to Tozeur, we headed for our hotel and stopped to find a bite to eat.  We found this great tourist restaurant, and even though the menu was a tourist menu, I ordered the camel.  Yes,  I ate camel and loved it!!  It was juicy, tasted like a rich steak, and was marinated in something scrumptious!

Entry posted by Jennie Carlson at 4:59 PM | Permalink

The night in the tent was cozy and warm, and we were up before sunrise to see the beautiful colors come into full glory and to take a camel trek to the nearby Roman fortress.

My camel was white, Tim's was brown and we were the first two people in the chain of animals.  The ride was rather comforable - camels have a wide girth and it was well padded with blankets.  The swaying motion was gentle and the early morning desert was silent except for the creak of the saddle.  Our camel guide walked in front of us, guiding us over dune after dune, knowing the way because he must have walked it a thousand times.  

The Roman fortress was breathtaking - not because it was a beautiful place - but because of what it represented.  It was the southern-most outpost of Roman civilization and it dawned on me that I had visited the northern-most Roman border at Hadrian's Wall just a few years back.  What a desolate place - Roman soldiers must have dreaded or loved being stationed here - you were literally at the outskirts of the known world.

On the ride back to the oasis, our guide kept smiling and saying "Gallop?"  It took me a while to figure out what he was asking, but when I did, I just laughed and kept saying "No, merci!"  Our backsides hurt in places we didn't even know existed!!  Thank goodness the rest of the morning consisted of relaxing amongst the oasis, and then driving to Douz.  Tim and I separated ourselves from the rest of the crowd and found an isolated edge of the oasis - we sat and read, filmed, and shooed the beetles away - and told ourselves that this is where we should retire, or at least get back here often in our lives.

Our drive back to Douz found us with one more flat tire, for a total of three in 24 hours...  We weren't in a hurry to leave the desert, so it was just fine that we waited and stayed there a little bit longer.  The dunes gave way to scrub grass, and eventually to rolling hills covered in green.  The road to Douz was paved and felt like much more civilization we wanted.

We found a roof-top hotel in Douz where we could hear the sounds of the city below.  We ate at a restaurant where we were by ourselves and the server was delighted to have customers - he gave us top-notch service and even acted in our video!  After dinner we scouted out the bus situation to Tozeur for the next day, and found out we would have to be at the bus station at 6:00 a.m.!!

Entry posted by Jennie Carlson at 4:46 PM | Permalink

Woooo - was that shower in the troglodyte hotel cold!!  And we had a towel the size of a piece of paper to dry off with!!  Wow!

Our pick up for our desert trek was bright and early and after a breakfast of french bread and dark coffee, we were picked up by our driver, another guy named Mohammed. His English was not too great, so thank goodness for my French!!  Josh joined us from the Hotel Sidi Driss, as well as two other guys, a Dutch father/son pair.

Our drive into the deep Sahara started on paved roads into the Berber hill villages, and then to Ksar Hallouf, an ancient Berber fortress and grain storage. The drive was beautiful and we were able to get up close and personal with a few Berber people in the ancient Berber villages as they went about their daily lives - the chickens were cute too! At the fortress, which was similar to fortresses George Lucas used in filming Episode I of Star Wars, we were able to poke around the ancient grain bins, play with the puppies, and climb to the top of the hill for an excellent panoramic view of the farming in the valley. This was the last vestige of green before the sands of the desert took over.

The journey really got fun as we headed down a rocky, sandy oil pipeline road south into the desert.  We passed nomadic camel herders and their families and wondered what life for them must be like.  As the ride got bumpy, our driver realized we had a flat tire.  We pulled off to the side and the five of us got out and took pictures as Mohammed replaced the flat with the spare I took my watch off to put on sunscreen, only to realize later that I left it on a rock and we drove off without it.  Somewhere in the middle of the Sahara is my watch!!

About half an hour later, we started to get really bumpy again... and, you guessed it, we had another flat. .But this time, the mood was more somber - what do you do when you've blown out both the regular tires and the spare?  It looked bleak until another couple of SUVs drove up and squeezed us in.  The SUVs were carrying a large family of Italians to the same camp we were headed to - and as their driver drove, they shouted words of encouragement to go faster, faster, faster, laughing the whole time and shouting Ole! as we hit bumps and fishtailed in the sand!

We did make it there in one piece, however, I think we did almost pee our pants out of nervousness, along with a few bruises on our heads from hitting them on the roof of the car as we bounced down the road! After finding our tent (canvas tent over cement slabs with large, wool blankets for warmth), we wandered the amazing dunes just outside the oasis.  This was the Sahara at its glory - reddish sand, blown into mind-boggling patterns by the sand, interrupted occassionally by camel footprints. We also met these crazy-big sand beetles - ones that I didn't want to meet at night in my sleep.  We heard they were poisonous, and we weren't taking chances.

After sunset, the entire community staying in tents gathered around the fire for a conversation in many languages - there was English, Dutch, French, Italian, and Arabic, and we all laughed a lot, even if we didn't follow what was being said.

Entry posted by Jennie Carlson at 4:25 PM | Permalink

Because the weather forecasts for Tunis were rainy for the next few days, we decided to make a beeline for the desert.  The bus was our best option for heading south, and with my shaky French, bought two tickets for Gabes. Eight hours later, with a bus stop in the middle of nowhere where our bus stopped for drinks and sweet, fig type pastries, we walked around Gabes trying to find the louage station. Louages are shared mini-van taxis and it took us about a half-hour to find the corner of the world where louages left for Matmata.  We thought we would sit there for a while waiting for the louage to fill up, but within 15 minutes, we were full and we were off, shoulder to shoulder with local Tunisians.

In Matmata, we were quickly met by a guy named Mohammed.  I knew that there were people who would try to find us a place to stay, and this guy seemed nice enough, so we followed him to his family's hotel.  One of my goals in Tunisia was to see a troglodyte dwelling, the ancient, below-ground Berber dwellings where some of the scenes from Star Wars were filmed (Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru's moisture farm inside shots).  Not only did we get to see a troglodyte dwelling, but we stayed in one at Hotel les Berberes.  It was SO cool - the room was tiny and felt like we were staying in a cave, the bed was a part of the wall and floor, and oh, was it cold that night! 

After getting our hotel settled, Mohammed asked us if we were planning to go further south into the desert.  Inside, we were screaming YES!, but we didn't let on too quickly, or we knew he would take us for a ride with our money. Some haggling and negotiating later, with a few moments of being prepared to walk away, we made a deal that his tour company would take us into the desert, to Ksar Ghilene.  The package deal included transportation, lodging, a camel ride (although he didn't tell us this right away), and food.  Not bad -and he even said he would take us to our next destination of Douz.

That night, as we filmed the sun setting, we met a guy named Josh who we found out would be coming with us on our desert journey, which cut our cost in half.  We ate dinner that night at a local restaurant/bar (no alcohol), and laughed hysterically when a local offered us something to smoke - I thought it was marijuana at first, but then realized several days later that it was flavored tobacco out of a large contraption called a Sheesha.

Entry posted by Jennie Carlson at 3:33 PM | Permalink

Our first full day in Tunisia came after a full day of travel - through Amsterdam and Paris. Upon arriving in Tunis, we sat blurry-eyed in our taxi as it zoomed away to the city center toward our hotel (El Hana Interntaional) that night.

It was cold and windy the next morning - not exactly what we expected of a north African country, but we knew that the Mediterranean greatly influenced the weather here more than the Sahara. Breakfast at the hotel and then off by train to Carthage, buying tickets proved to be easier when I showed the ticketseller the Arabic word for Carthage. We ended up walking the wrong way to the site of the Carthage ruins - and it didn't help that we started up the wrong hill. Knowing that Carthage was on a hill, and with help from a local, we made it to the museum after a trek up some steep stairs and past a few stray cats.

The museum was cold and gray, but so fascinating as we stood there trying to comprehend the centuries and millenia of events that had taken place on that hill. We poked around the ruins, filming amongst the large stones that once stood in glory before the Romans and succeeding generations pulled them apart. After the fields of ruins, we warmed up inside an enclosed museum full of mosiac tiles and artifacts from the Carthagian era. Outside, it downpoured and we felt very lucky we were high and dry in history.

With our museum ticket, we also had access to the other Carthaginian sites, so we walked to a set of reconstructed Roman villas looking out over the Gulf of Tunis. It was incredible to see what life must have been like for the wealthy during that time - beautiful views and an airy house.

In hindsight, we should have taken the train to Sidi Bou Said, but we were hopeful to see the US World War I cemetary. We ended up walking on the main road past the Presidential Palace and got funny looks from the gaurds as we were the only pedestrians in the area. Further up the road, we passed a car accident and roads that didn't seem to fit with our Lonely Planet map. Forget the museum, we were hungry - and luckily - we hit Sidi Bou Said just as our frustration and feet were about to give way. We found a wonderful pizzeria that had great chicken pizza - the best we would have on the trip!!

Sidi Bou was like nothing we had seen - blue windows and doors set in white buildings, tiny and charming on a high cliff above the Mediterranean. This was the Tunisia was had seen in the postcards, and we would have been in the postcard, but it was raining, windy, and very cold. The Mediterranean was slate gray and it felt like the winds would pick us up and plop us in the water.

Weary and cold, we stopped at a local restaurant for our first taste of brique - a fried egg pastry that makes our mouths water just thinking about it!

Entry posted by Jennie Carlson at 3:03 PM | Permalink