More than just Star Wars sightseeing!
Written: Nov 08 '04
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Pros: The people are generous, warm, and friendly. Transportation is easy.
Cons: Budget hotels leave much to be desired. The sights are not on par with Morocco.
The Bottom Line: Two weeks is more than enough time to visit the sights of Tunisia. What the sights lacked, however, was more than made up for with the people's warmth and kindness.
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| isewell's Full Review: Tunisia |
My wife and I visited Tunisia for two weeks during Christmas 2003. Why Tunisia? We visited Morocco in 2001 and loved it - and we thought this would be similar. Also, it's a relatively cheap destination - during peak period, the ticket from Paris only cost $300 (and $800 from San Francisco to Paris). We were looking forward to shopping in the medinas, visiting the Star Wars Hotel, visiting the desert and the old Berber villages, and of course, Roman ruins.
For lots of slideshows and pictures from our trip, please visit our website http://www.ianandwendy.com .
The direct link to Tunisia is: http://tunisia.ianandwendy.com
We travel independently - we are backpackers, stay at cheap hotels, and eat cheap food. We had a rough idea of the route we wanted to take before we left, but nothing was set in stone. For example, when we arrived, we only had our first night of hotel booked. This, of course, is the big advantage of backpacking, especially off-peak. We ended up visiting many more cities then we had thought we would. In fact, with the exception of Tunis, we visited a different city every day. We would sometimes wake up and not even know where we'd end up that evening - depending on the transportation, weather, and sights. Tunisia has lots to see overall, but it's pretty spread out, and there isn't any one place (except Tunis) that has more then a day's worth (for us) of worthwhile sights. Luckily, getting between places is exceptionally easy, with a fantastic system of Louages (communal shared taxis), with fixed prices, organized by the government.
In this review, I will start out with general discussions: the people, safety and security, quality of budget accomodation, the weather, the food, and getting around. Next, I will discuss our trip itself: Tunis, Carthage, El Jem, Sfax, Gabes, Tataouine, Djerba and Houmt Souq, Matmata, Douz, Gafsa, Sufetula (Sbeitla), Kairouan, and Sousse.
Accommodation:
The hotels are in general not good value for the money. They are expensive compared to other third world countries - especially considering that they have no heat. Although we are usually happy to stay in the `budget' category of hotels (per Lonely Planet/Let's Go) in the case of Tunisia, the budget hotels were not up to par - they were not as clean as we would have liked.
Weather:
Bring warm clothes in the winter, as nowhere is heated - neither restaurants nor hotels. There was even snow while we were there. So much for Africa being so hot! Apparently, in the summer, the heat can be quite extreme, especially in the desert. So make sure you dress appropriately!
Food:
My wife being vegetarian made restaurants difficult to find, but we found that even when nothing was offered on the menu, they were always willing to try to help. In general, we did not have many very memorable meals - but our choice of restaurants was restricted. We would often seek out the only pizza place in town - hardly authentic. We did enjoy many pastries from great bakeries. It's like French baking, with a distinctly Tunisian twist.
Language and the People:
We speak French fluently, which certainly helped us navigate the country. Unlike Morocco, almost everyone speaks French - not just people involved in the tourist business. Both old and young, educated and non, all had a working amount of French. It's a really nice feeling to be able to talk to everyone - we met lots of people on louages, at train stations, restaurants, etc. and really got a feel for the people. Almost any time we walked anywhere, someone would always stop us and welcome us to Tunisia, ask us if we were enjoying it, and thank us for visiting their country. At first, we were suspicious with this attention, waiting for the inevitable `hook'. In Morocco, we quickly learned that whenever anyone talked to us - it would always end in a `come visit our carpet shop, I will take you to a great restaurant', etc. But in this case, the `hook' never happened! People were simply genuinely really happy to see independent travelers, and always went out of their way to help us. It's a wonderful feeling to be this welcome - especially being Western tourists in an Arab country.
I must admit something, however - we are Canadian, and we have Canadian flags plastered to us everywhere. However, I do not suspect that had much to do with the exceptional treatment we received. We met a backpacking American family in Matmata (the only Americans we saw the whole time!) who told us they were also having a great time and were treated well by everyone. I'm not sure how much of a problem it would be not to speak French - I suspect not much, since everyone is so ready and willing to help.
Safety
We've met some people who thought we were brave to go to Tunisia independently. We never once felt threatened. The only time we felt vaguely uncomfortable, was sort of our fault. We sat down in a cafe in Douz. Cafes, even in tourist towns, are for men only. My wife got a few strange looks, and after about 10 minutes of no service, we, the geniuses, figured out we weren't welcome there and left for a restaurant.
Getting Around
Inside the cities, taxis are a pretty cheap option, if it's too far to walk. We never tried any local buses.
Between the cities, there's bus, rail, and louage. Some buses are government run, and the rest are a hodge podge of local companies, using buses that by all rights should have been retired a long time ago. It is relatively hard to find out information about buses, except at the bus terminal. Tourist offices didn't have timetables. The few buses we took weren't really on time, and the guidebook time estimates were usually pretty far off (some faster, some slower). However, everyone is very happy to help you get on the right bus and figure out how to buy a ticket, etc.
The train network goes up and down the eastern coast, and also cuts inland farther north. There is a also a "TGM" (light-rail) route that will take you up the coast to Carthage and Sidi Bou Said from Tunis.
Tunis:
We arrived in Tunis late at night, as we had wanted a full day stopover in Paris. The airport was easy to navigate, with an ATM right at the exit, and soon we were on our way to our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Maison Doree . The cab driver even gave us a guided tour on our way in at midnight, as we tried to stay awake.
The hotel was a three star hotel that I guess used to be much nicer. The main entry was off a deserted side street. The location could not have been more convenient for the medina, the train station, and the trams. The large room had a very comfortable bed, dodgy looking rug (we wore sandals), and a shower with sometimes hot water (about half the time we tried to use it. Unfortunately, there was no rhyme or reason to when it had hot water - we just learned to try morning and night and hope for the best). (Hot water did not seem to be Tunisia's forte).
The next morning we headed off to the medina. First up, we wanted to visit the Great Mosque, as the courtyard is open to visitors only until 11AM. The mosques in Tunisia were constructed in a minimalist style, so they aren't as impressive as what we saw in Morocco. Also, as in Morocco, it is not possible to get past the courtyard if you are non-Muslim. Some of the wood carving (especially around the doors) was very ornate and impressive. The medina itself did not have the number of authentic souqs and craftsman's shops we saw in Morocco's big medinas. I'm guessing that a lot of the souvenirs were actually bulk produced in India. However, we did see chechias being made in (these are the round red hats that you see Tunisian men wearing), as well as some woodworking. The medina was not that crowded, and the storeowners were not that aggressive (despite the lack of tourists). There are several walking tours that are possible through the medina - it's pretty easy to navigate.
Carthage
The next day we took a day trip out to Carthage. Carthage is about a 30 minute train ride outside of Tunis. The
TGM is the name of the train line that took us there - it's a small train line that runs up the Tunisian coast past Carthage and Sidi Bou Said. Getting to the TGM station proved to be non-trivial. Its Tunis terminus is located just outside of the downtown area, and not really a pleasant walk. So we tried to take the tram (LRT). The ticket-sellers were less then helpful in directing us to the right tram, and there was no signs in the main tram station (outside the train station) indicating where we should wait. We had to keep asking people - and we still managed to get on the tram going the wrong way. Stops are not announced, and often the station signs (if they are there at all) are impossible to see, due to a crowded tram, or bad positioning of the sign. Basically, we had to ask a lot of people a lot of directions. Of course, everyone is extremely nice, so this isn't that much of a problem. The TGM itself is very easy, however (it's impossible to get on the wrong train!)
Carthage proved to be a bit of a bust. Our guidebook didn't tell us clearly what stop we should get off at, and the people we asked onboard seemed to disagree. Turns out, it is better to get off at the Carthage Byrsa stop. We walked around small deserted residential streets in Carthage, completely lost, in the pouring rain. There were no signs, and the Lonely Planet's map was lacking. Obviously Carthage is aimed at the package tourists and not the backpacker crowd. We were trying to climb the Byrsa Hill to get to the Cathedral of St Louis. We eventually made it, and also visited the museum next door, but it was hardly worth the trip. We saw a few ruins scattered around the Hill, but they were not well preserved.
We had planned to continue on the TGM to Sidi Bou Said, but decided to head back to Tunis due do the weather. We spent the rest of the day trying to figure out the best way to head south.
El Jem:
Our next destination was El Jem. The only reason to go to El Jem is a magnificently preserved coliseum. It is directly off the train line heading south out of Tunis. We couldn't decide whether it would be better to take the bus (which had more flexible times) or the train. We visited the tourist information office, but they were less than helpful - they could only provide train times, and had no idea of bus times. We ended up walking to the bus station to get the times, and ended up on the first train out the next morning. The train has a few different classes. We took "first class", since it had guaranteed seats. It really wasn't necessary as the train was empty. In the summer, first class offers air conditioning which would be more useful. There is also the "comfort" class which is the same as first class (only more expensive) but with wider seats. In El-Jem, the coliseum is a 5 minute walk from the train station. It's impossible to miss, as it dominates over the town. The day we were there, it was extremely windy and cold. It was so windy, in fact, that it was very uncomfortable climbing up the different levels of the coliseum. The sand was blowing in our face, and the stairs at times were quite steep and didn't always have railings. The natural comparison is the Coliseum in Rome, and it actually compares quite favorably. It is possible to explore everywhere, even underneath the main level in the tunnels where the gladiators and animals were kept. It was quite empty the day we were there, so this also added to the experience. Of course, given the weather, it wasn't really a surprise that it was so empty!
Sfax:
Continuing south from El Jem, we were headed to Sfax. Our Lonely Planet indicated that the bus station was right outside the train station, but, well, it wasn't there. It didn't really exist - one simply has to stop on the road and wait for the bus. There is no "bus stop" and no timetable, and the locals seemed pretty shaky on the times. In retrospect, we should have taken a louage (communal taxi) south, but we didn't know the wonders of the louage system this early on in our trip.
So after an hour of waiting in the cold with sand whipping around us, the bus finally came. Sfax is a big city that is not on the normal backpacker route, but we were interested by the authentic medina - there are no tourists here. The bus had dropped us off at the wrong end of the city, but a cheap cab ride took us to the train station, where we dropped off our bags in the lockers and headed towards the medina, which is just 5 minutes away from the train station. It was a relaxing stroll through the medina. We saw some craftsmen at work, bought a shi-sha (water pipe), and visited the Dar Jellouli Museum, which is a house built by a wealthy merchant in the 17th century, and displays jewelry, and some painted glass.
In Sfax, we weren't hassled at all - I think a few people were surprised to see tourists, but it was an interesting view of Tunisian life. Of course, the downside to it being more authentic was that the stores were selling mostly modern useful goods, not handicrafts (yeah I know, probably made in China) that appeal to simple-minded tourists like us.
Gabes:
Continuing our trek south, we took a train to Gabes. There isn't much to do here. We stayed at Hotel Regina, because it was late and we couldn't be bothered to find anywhere else (navigating this town is not an easy feat). The hotel was unheated except for a space heater we rented (that was way too small for the room, we should have saved our $2). The toilet leaked, the shower splashed everywhere, the taps were backward - the whole place was a plumber's worst nightmare. The bathroom had a window that couldn't be closed, etc. In the morning we got a cab to the far end of town (we're glad we did, it would have been quite a hike) to the bus/louage station. It's right next to the palmeraie. While we were waiting across the street in the sun for the bus that left an hour later than advertised, a kid (probably about 9) came up and started begging us for money. It was actually quite unusual - we didn't see anywhere near as much of this as we saw in Morocco. There was no one else around, so the kid just kept whining at us for some money, pushing her hand into us. We could have just walked away from our little spot in the sun and lost the kid, but I was too cold. So we started talking back - but she didn't understand a word of French or English. So out came our trusty phrasebook. I did my best to sound menacing, yelling "Go away, leave us alone! Shame!" in Arabic, while motioning to shoo her away. My wife just kept smiling, which didn't really help our cause, but the kid finally took the hint and gave up :)
Tataouine:
The bus turned out to be a very old accordion bus - which I thought was an odd choice for a 3 hour trip to Tataouine, especially considering that the bus was mostly empty. However, once we reached Medenine (about half way there), the intercity bus turned into a local bus for a twisty drive through town. Finally we popped out the other end and continued towards Tataouine. Tataouine is a compact, easy city to get around in. There isn't much in the way of nice hotels - there are a few expensive tourist hotels out of town that cater to the coach potatoes, but in town the quality goes down. Our hotel (Hotel La Gazelle - not highly recommended, but it's probably the best in town) was more than happy to hook us up with a tour guide / taxi driver who would take us to the Ksour. The Ksour are abandoned Berber settlements, and are the main attraction in Tataouine. We started by visiting Ksar Ouled Sultane. This was definitely a highlight of the trip. The granaries are four stories high, and are really other-worldly. We were there at the end of the day, and had the place to ourselves. Our cab driver ("Ali Baba!") left us alone - even the lone guy running the obligatory cafe let us be. We got some great photos in the fading evening sun - be sure to check our website to see them.
We ate a bad dinner at the hotel (`tourist menu' - we should have just asked to have whatever the locals were having on the other side of the room). Again, the restaurant was unheated and we could see our breath as we ate. The next day, we headed to Chenini and Douiret with Mr. Baba. These are abandoned hillside villages, with more granaries (though not as grand as Ouled Sultane). We climbed to the top of Chenini, and got a great overview of the valley below and the Mosque perched just below us on top of a ridge. Douiret was in rougher shape, apart from a few granaries that had been reconstructed just a bit too well.
Djerba and Houmt Souq:
We headed back north. Given that we were seeing things faster than we thought, we decided to head to the island of Djerba and see Houmt Souq. To get there, we decided to give the louage system a shot - we should have done so much before. We got to the Louage station, waited 20 mins, and split the fare with two other guys. The 2 hour cab ride cost us about $5.
Djerba is a holidaymakers island, but the place gets very quiet in the winter months. Accommodation wasn't a problem. We stayed at the Hotel Erriadh, which is an old funduq. A funduq is a former lodging house for travelling merchants of the camel caravans that stopped there in Ottoman times. The top floor was for the merchants, and the bottom floor was for the animals. Definitely an interesting place to stay.
We went shopping in the Medina and experienced some high-pressure selling. We could tell they were used to a steady stream of European tourists. Things were priced accordingly, and they didn't really take `no' for an answer. The hard sell wore on us after a while - but what drove us out more than anything was our visit to a mosaic seller. He had nice stuff, and we hadn't seen mosaics elsewhere. We were tempted, until he pulled out a photo album showing them being made by young children. I kid you not. He proudly informed us that children make excellent workers because of their small hands. We'd had enough, and we wandered around the town and walked to the port.
The fishing port is a short walk from town. There are thousands of terracotta pots littered about (they look like ancient Greek amphora). They are used by local octopus fisherman in a traditional technique called gargoulette. The pots are tied together and sunk to the ocean floor. They make great hiding places, so the octopus crawl in, and are lifted to the surface. We bought one from a fisherman for $1. (we're not sure it was actually his, but our karma was intact). Now that's a souvenir with a good price.
Next, we hired a taxi for a few hours ($20) and headed out to Erriadh. It used to be a Jewish settlement, but now is mainly Muslim. This is the site of the most important synagogue, El-Ghriba (the Stranger). Security is pretty high, as there was a bombing here a few years ago. The inside was unlike any synagogue we'd ever seen - and a great break from all the austere Mosques! We visited an olive oil factory on our way back to town.
Matmata:
The next day, we headed to Matmata. To get there, we decided to take a shared taxi (louage) - in this case, it was a bit of a miscalculation. On our way in to Djerba, we had crossed on a causeway to the island. However, it didn't make sense to go this way when heading towards Matmata, so we had to take the ferry. Unfortunately, the ferries don't run very often, despite how popular a route it is. We ended up waiting close to two hours before we finally got on a ferry. Turns out, the government-run buses that we could have taken have priority boarding on the boats - and we actually saw several of the buses go ahead of us.
Arriving in Matmata, we stayed at the hotel which was also the main reason we were there - the Sidi Driss Hotel. This was the hotel seen in the first Star Wars Movie. The interior shots of the Mos Esley (Mos Eisley) Cantina were filmed here, as well as several other scenes. The hotel isn't very expensive, and consists of several underground cave rooms. The traditional homes in the area are actually built into the ground like this, because of the desert extremes of temperature. Most rooms are set up in a sharing arrangement and have quite a few beds in them - we got one of the only ones with only two single beds. The only thing in the cave was a bed (with no bedding, as such). There was no lock on the door, although if you had your own you could lock it. To get to the restroom, we had to cross a few courtyards to get to some very claustrophobic stalls. The whole restroom / shower situation was pretty much a disaster, with water leaking everywhere, nowhere clean to put things when you take a shower, etc. It was definitely a no-shower evening for us. We would have been more excited to stay in a cave room had we not done so a year and a half earlier, in absolute comfort, in Capadoccia, Turkey (en-suite restroom with shower), for the same price. All that being said, however, we still got to stay at the Star Wars Hotel. And we got our obligatory pictures with the parts of the place that are decorated with Star Wars movie set items.
Besides wandering around the hotel, we had a walk out of the town to get a view of the pretty surrounding landscape. There really isn't that much else to do, except to spend money perpetuating a growing industry of locals pimping out tours of their `authentic troglodytic living' homes.
Douz:
Our next stop was Douz. In about 2002, they built a new road directly between Douz and Matmata. Until then, it had been necessary to loop back up to Gabes, and go through Kebili. What used to be a 3 hour journey - more depending on the louage connections- now takes about one hour. The only catch is that there are no public buses or regular louages running between the two cities. The only way is to organize a private taxi, which costs about $60. We found a few people to split it with (this probably won't be a problem, as the backpacker route frequently heads from Matmata to Douz).
During negotiations, the louage driver warned us that there was an international festival going on in Douz. We had heard this line before, usually as a preface to getting us to stay at the cabdriver's cousin's hotel room, which was claimed to be the only room left in town. Except, well, we got there, and this time it turned out to be the truth. Most people make reservations for the International Festival of the Sahara 6 months in advance - and here we were showing up for the Opening Ceremonies without a reservation and without a clue. We found a payphone - every hotel was full, from the $5 ultra-budget sleep-on-the-roof options to the $250 luxury hotels in the zone touristique. One of the last hotels told us that instead of calling around, we might have more luck in person. Our last hope was hotel El Medina (on rue el Hanine), where again, we were turned down. However, when we expressed our disappointment at having to leave to another city, the lady told us "One minute please!" When she came back, she showed us the kitchen staff's room, which we happily took! No hot showers, no locks, no heat (and it was so cold that we could actually see our breath in the bedroom as we slept!). We saw later that the kitchen staff was sleeping on the floor next door - we hope they got a cut of our $40!
The downtown area itself was not that exciting- just a few kitschy souvenir shops in an open square. We headed down to the Place du Festival, an area outside of town, for the opening ceremonies. There is no admission fee. We should have gotten there earlier than we did as the stands were already absolutely packed. We saw camel races, horse showmanship, and presentation of all the different countries involved in the Sahara Festival. A hound chased a poor bunny rabbit around the field. One of the camels broke away and tried to break for the desert, but a horse rider finally reined it in. All in all, it was a pretty amazing display, and lasted two hours. After the show, we were able to go on to the field and get some amazing photos from right next to the performers as the sun set. (although our photos paled in comparison to the French guy we met who was passing himself off as a journalist, so he could get on the field itself!)
There are also some sand dunes in Douz, and it seems that every camel (regardless of its health) had been pulled in to meet the festival demands. We passed on the camel treks. If you want impressive Saharan dunes (like you saw in Lawrence of Arabia), we would suggest heading to Morocco instead.
There were many more events and competitions in the next few days of the Festival, but we decided to move on.
The next day, we headed north again. We weren't sure how far we were going to make it. We took a louage through the Chott El-Jerid. This is a huge salt lake, and on a sunny day there are some amazing optical effects, as the lake is miraged and takes on the exact color of the sky, making it look like the edge of the lake by the road is actually the edge of the earth.
We arrived in Tozeur, but didn't see much reason to stay after reading our guidebook. We changed fairly smoothly to a taxi heading to Metalaoui. Then we changed to a bus going to Gafsa. (Turns out we should have taken the more expensive louage. The bus was incredibly slow and packed).
Gafsa:
In retrospect, we should have pushed on past Gafsa, but we don't like traveling in the dark. The bus didn't end up being a good choice over the louage - even if we had to wait for the louage. The bus was packed, and wasn't comfortable. We stopped in many small towns. Arriving in Gafsa as the sun was setting, we found our three star Hotel Maamoun (the highest rated hotel in town). In a word, it was awful. The carpeted hallways looked like they hadn't been vacuumed in years and were strewn with garbage - like something out of a bad movie about living in the projects. The first room we were offered actually had what looked like blood smeared on the wall. The second room was marginally better. We were tired, and since it was supposed to be the nicest hotel in town, we chalked it up to experience and slept with our clothes on. We walked around looking for a restaurant that was better than the hotel's restaurant but without success.
Sufetula (Sbeitla)
We were up early the next morning, very motivated to get going. We took a few louages (with great connections) and a few hours later we were in Sufetula (Sbeitla). The only reason to visit this city is the impressive ruins just outside town. The Louage dropped us off right next to the site. We dumped our backpacks in the visitor's info center and headed in. The whole site is tree-less, so it must get pretty hot during the summer. The temples at the center of the site are the centerpiece. Apart from that, there are some nice mosaics, baths, and a fully reconstructed amphitheater.
Kairouan:
From there, it was about a half hour walk to the louage station. We were told that there were no more Louages headed only to Kairouan, our next stop, as the louages only run in the morning. We ended up paying the fare to go all the way to Sousse (well past Kairouan), and they dropped us off on the outskirts of Kairouan where we got a local cab in to the old city. We had originally intended to stay at the 5 star Hotel de la Kasbah, thinking that we would treat ourselves after the previous night's accommodation. But unfortunately, the price we had thought it was, $70 US, ended up being per person. So we headed through the medina, and ended up staying in Tunisia Hotel. It was actually a nice hotel, well located, with hot showers (in the morning). Kairouan is the religious center of Tunisia. We visited the not very impressive Great Mosque (Sidi Okba Mosque), although, as always, non-Muslims are not allowed inside. The town is full of pretty blue-wash painted buildings. There is one main route through the medina, with a few offshoots, but it's impossible to get lost. There was some horrible sounding tourist trap of a blindfolded camel pulling water out of the ground (Bir Barouta) but we passed. I can't really remember that much more about the city, which is not a very good sign for it's worthiness as a stop along the trail.
Sousse:
In the morning we made our way by louage to Sousse. It's a pretty frequent route. The louage station there is huge - a cavernous warehouse. Outside, we grabbed a cab to take us to the old city. We suspect it was a bit of a circuitous route, but we got there. We stayed in the beautiful Hotel Medina, just inside the walls of the medina. This was the nicest hotel we stayed - it was very recently redone and modern. The only hiccup was that the radiator was leaking on the floor. But given our experiences in other hotels, the radiator is hardly worth a mention! Off-peak, the rate was very reasonable.
I really enjoyed Sousse's medina. It's pretty big, it's got a good atmosphere with a nice mix of stuff for the locals, and stuff for the tourists. We visited a few shops selling locally made handicrafts / modern art (nice stuff). We explored some side streets that went up a big hill with a nice view over the ocean (with cafe's where you can stop and get a view). There were some "fixed-price" tourist shops, with absolutely ZERO hassle and almost every souvenir we'd seen elsewhere. Prices were perhaps a little higher then could be haggled, but for us, being able to take our time looking at everything was worth that extra price.
We stopped at a great Italian Pizza place, way down the far end of Rue el-Maar (or was it Rue el-Hajira by then). (my wife is vegetarian, and that proved quite challenging in Tunisia - pizza was always welcome). We got some exceptionally tasty baked goods at a local price (we had been gouged with tourist prices elsewhere). We tried some olives (you can only pass so many olive trees on the road before developing a serious craving!).
Tunis, Part Deux:
The next day, we headed north back up to Tunis. We took a train - there are lots of them from Sousse, and it dropped us right downtown next to our hotel, the Hotel Maison Doree (same place we stayed in on our arrival). We were in Tunis for New Year's, although we didn't end up doing anything too exciting. We ended up going out for a fantastic meal at Restaurant La Mamma, (complete with a guitar player singing and playing a very halting `This land is your land' - I bet Woody Guthrie had no idea he was big in Tunisia). We celebrated New Year's by taking a hot shower.
The next day we headed to the Bardo Mosaic Museum. We went by taxi (LRT is possible, but it wasn't worth it, since the taxi is only $3 and much faster). The Bardo is the premier museum for mosaics in the world. It's a huge museum (3 floors) and every available square inch is occupied by a Roman mosaic. The building itself is quite a sight too - it occupies the former Bardo Palace. We spent about 2 hours here before we were all `mosaiced' out. There's a little souvenir shop that sells mosaic reproductions, but the prices were about triple what we had seen further south in the medinas (of course, maybe these aren't made by children!).
It was a beautiful day so we finished up our trip by going to Sidi Bou Said. This is a tourist town at the end of the TGM line - an easy 30 minute ride by train from Tunis. It features beautiful white buildings with blue doors (somewhat reminiscent of Greek island architecture).
There were lots of souvenirs at very unreasonable prices. We ate lunch at a cafe overlooking the bay of Tunis. We walked away from town and got a beautiful view of the port and beach below. It was certainly a pleasant way to spend a sunny afternoon, and a nice end to our trip.
In the morning, we had the hotel call a cab for us (big mistake - the price doubles - we almost couldn't afford the fare with our remaining Dinars!). Upon arriving, the Departures Information Board told us our flight was cancelled. I won't bore you with the details, but chaos ensued. The Air France workers in Tunis could not have possibly done a worse job dealing with the cancellation. We almost saw a fistfight break out between a Tunisian and an American passenger. In Air France's defense however, when we arrived in Nice (we had been rerouted), we had an employee dedicated to sorting out the mess Tunis had caused, and getting us to Paris as soon as possible.
Thanks for reading - and this epinion is not complete without your comments!
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Epinions.com ID:
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Member: Ian Sewell
Location: Santa Rosa
Reviews written: 57
Trusted by: 19 members
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