Monday, April 14, 2008 – SFAX

We left Djerba early and headed for the ferry terminal. You can access Djerba via a causeway (which we used the day before) or via a ferry. It was nice to be on the water after so many days driving through the desert.

Views from the ferry:









We drove from Djerba to Gabes, where we stopped for 30 minutes to visit the spice market. The spice hawkers were very aggressive and most of us left the market in a few minutes. Outside of the market Mom and I met up with Tamara, who had discovered a carpentry shop while holding the toilet door closed for her mother. She led us back there and a man who spoke German described the type of furniture they created, the type of wood they used, and where the wood came from. It was lovely to smell the wood chips and rest in the cool of the shop.

Views from the spice market:







After Gabes we drove north and stopped for lunch at a roadside café. We had salad, pommes frites, and grilled lamb. Unfortunately the lamb was mostly bone and was raw in some places. We still cleaned our plates, because we knew it would be hours before dinner.

Our next stop was the hotel in Sfax. It’s located in the heart of downtown, unlike the other hotels where we’ve stayed, which are located in “zones touristiques” that are typically several kilometers away from town so that the tourists are protected from themselves. A few people on the tour went out and explored the Medina. You can guess from the number of posts today that I stayed inside and blogged. I am an unashamed nerd.

Sunday, April 13, 2008 – DJERBA

Our hotel in Tatouine was beautiful on the outside and disappointing on the inside. In particular, the food was the worst we’ve encountered. The “highlight” of dinner was half-raw BBQ chicken. Everyone took a piece and everyone left it on their plates. Breakfast was leftover desserts from the night before.

The restaurant at Tatouine:



From Tatouine we drove to Djerba, an island on the Mediterranean. Our first stop was a pottery store. It reminded me of the pottery store that we stopped at in Trinidad, Cuba. It was a family business and the art of pottery had been passed down from generation to generation. I bought three pieces of pottery for myself and one for my potter friend Michael.

Views from the pottery shop:







Our next stop was the marketplace in Houmt Souk, the capital of Djerba. Mohamed took us to a reputable silver and gold store. Unfortunately nothing appealed to Mom or I, so we didn’t buy anything. We had lunch in Houmt Souk and then Mohamed unleashed us on the market – unsupervised! – for an hour.

Mom bought some small kilim from a vendor who spoke terrific German and was an expert salesman. I bought a supposedly silver bracelet from a jeweler who was very intent on copping a feel. Mom got harassed by a vendor who wanted to sell her a 5 dinar package of dates for 50 dinar. He literally followed her down the street for 30 feet until Mohamed told him to leave her alone.

From the souk we traveled by bus to a Jewish temple, the largest on Djerba. Apparently a lot of Jewish people moved here because of strife in other countries, but the majority left Djerba for France or Israel in the 1950s. They made us go through a security check, including scanning our bags, before granting us access to the temple. After I passed through the metal detector the guards were motioning me and saying things in French that I didn’t understand. One finally made it clear that he wanted to look in my purse. He searched it and pulled out my Swiss army knife, which I’d forgotten was in my purse. He agreed to hold it until I returned from the temple.

Inside the temple there were four men reading the Torah. It was beautiful. We covered our heads and took off our shoes as asked, and I told Mom to put some coins into the collection box. When we stepped into the next room, however, a man indicated that we had to pay additional money. I balked and pointed to the collection box, and the man responded with a barrage of Arabic that I didn’t understand but I could clearly interpret his body language. I refused to enter and walked away.

I heard later that he was quite upset that I left and that he yelled at me for a while as I walked away. I was really just interested in leaving. I didn’t object to paying entrance, but I did object to being insulted. A few women followed me and walked back to the guard post. The rest of our group returned shortly afterwards, and they said it was hardly worth the visit or the entry fee because no one explained the significance of the temple or the architecture.

From there we drove to our hotel. It’s the first time that Mohamed or Sharif have stayed at this hotel so we got lost and had to ask for directions. We finally found the hotel and checked in. We did some laundry, I checked my email, and then we went for dinner. Another day done in Tunisia.

Saturday, April 12, 2008 – TATOUINE

We left Douz early. Our first stop was the side of the road in the mountains. Our bus had broken down again. Sharif replaced the broken belt and we were on our way again. Our next stop was the “troglodyte” village of Matmata. They call it a troglodyte village because the houses are carved into the rocks and look quite primitive. They’re not primitive at all, as we discovered when we stopped at a house near the roadside. We were invited inside, offered bread and mint tea, and encouraged to look around.

Views from the troglodyte home:







There was a room for the family’s goats near the entrance. Inside there was a store room, kitchen, two bedrooms, and a work room that contained hand tools and a loom. On the walls and ceilings you could see tool marks from the adze used to carve out the rooms. It was really impressive and ingenious.

We stopped for lunch in Matmata. We ate at the Hotel Side Driss, which is a troglodyte hotel with rooms carved into the mountain. Apparently some parts of Star Wars I was filmed at the hotel, but none of us could recall any scene featuring the hotel.

Lunch shots:







Our next stop was the ancient central market in Medenine. The market is lined with ghorfas, or storage rooms. In the past each family in the surrounding had its own ghorfa, in which they stored grain and other products for consumption or sale. Families from throughout the region would meet once a week to exchange goods at the market. We learned that in recent history the ghorfas in Medenine were converted to hostel accommodation, which explained the electrical hook ups.

Views of the ghorfas in Medenine:





Next was Ksar Haddada, another ghorfa site that was converted to a hotel and then abandoned. According to the sign outside, they filmed Star Wars IV there in the late ‘90s. It did look like some of the places on “Tatouine”.

Views from Ksar Haddada:







Our final stop for the day was another troglodyte village, or perhaps a troglodyte city, called Chenini. The entire mountainside was covered with paths and doorways into houses carved into the stone. It was a wicked walk up the hillside but worth the effort to see the ancient houses up close.

Views from Chenini:

Friday, April 11, 2008 – DOUZ

This morning started with a quick trip down the highway to the train station where we boarded the “Red Lizard”, a 1920s passenger train that now transports tourists over a mountain pass for novelty and photo ops. It turns around at the Seldja phosphate mine.

Views from the "Red Lizard":







The most memorable part of the train trip was the rude French tourists. When we arrived most, if not all, of the seats were already taken. They refused to give up seats for people who were obviously old and unsteady. Our guide had to really yell at them to give up even a single seat. The worst part is that most of the French tourists were traveling as families, so the seats were occupied by bored teenagers who were either sleeping or playing their PSPs.

From the train station we started the drive south east toward the Sahara. We stopped mid-way through the Chott El Jerid salt lake to visit the “toilettes normales” (pit toilets) and do a bit of shopping. As I was holding the toilet door shut for Mom, I looked over toward the bus and saw broken pieces of belt flying out from the engine compartment. When Mom was finished using the toilets I went to our guide and driver to tell them about the broken belt.

Views from the road:







It was the air conditioning belt that broke, the same one that broke the day before and the day before that. Our driver Sharif replaced it with a spare belt but we could hear it slipping and grinding as we continued our drive across the salt lake.

We arrived at Douz around 5pm. It was extremely hot so everyone changed into bathing suits and headed down to the pool. There was a group of hairy guys smoking cigarettes and drinking beer at the shallow end of the pool. (Most of our group had congregated at the deep end.) Mom doesn’t like deep water so she and I worked our way through the group of guys and eased our way into the shallow end via the stairs.

We discovered that the shallow end was actually quite deep, so Mom opted to stay at that end of the pool by herself. I joined the other ladies at the other end of the pool. While I was there, one of the guys struck up a conversation with Mom. She learned that they were from all over Russia and eastern Europe and were on a off-road BMW motorcycle safari through Tunisia. They’d just crossed 130km of hard sand desert. One guy told Mom that they’d each drank 6 liters of water that day and none of them could pee. That shows you how hard the riding was and how hot it was that day.

The bikes and bike maintenance truck:





That night we had the opportunity to ride camels into the Sahara Desert at sunset. The tour company kitted us out in desert gear and then helped us mount the camels. I thought that our guides would also ride camels but they didn’t. Instead, they each led a pair of camels by hand.

Views from the camel ride:







We rode about 1.5km into the desert and then stopped to admire the “sunset”, which of course was completely obscured by the sand storm. Instead we took lots of photos of camels. Mom’s camel decided to roll over on his side and thrash back and forth in the sand. Another camel joined in. It was the most hilarious thing. Just before dark we all got back onto our camels for the ride home. The camels knew it was the end of the day and practically trotted back.

More camel pictures:





I know it was complete tourist kitsch but it was a heckuva lot of fun. I’d do it again, and preferably for a longer ride.

Thursday, April 10, 2008 – TOZEUR

We left the Pink Palace this morning at 8:00am. We drove south towards Tozeur. An hour and a bit into the journey our driver Sharif pulled the bus off to the side of the road where there were four (4) Toyota Land Cruisers waiting for us. We climbed in and sped off at speeds in excess of 130km/hr toward the Berber village of Chebika.

On the road to Chebika:



Chebika is an abandoned Berber village which only survives today as a tourist attraction. Still, it provided the opportunity for a wonderful walk through the mountain oasis and then for a sweaty and hot climb into the rocky hilltops above the village. The photos I took don’t do the view justice.

Views from Chebika:









From Chebika we drove to Tamerza. The highlight of Tamerza was the goats roaming all over the road. We pulled aside onto a viewpoint above the town to take photos. Unfortunately we were so far away from the ancient village that it was impossible to get a good shot.

On the road:



Our next stop was another mountain oasis village, Mides, which is located close to the Algerian border. We didn’t stop in the village but instead drove past it to a viewpoint. It was well worth the stop because Mides is located above a river canyon that is nearly 80m deep. The sight was almost spooky, given that we’d driven for nearly an hour across flat, flat desert.

Views from Mides:





Our final stop was the Grand Canyon, which is an oasis that actually has an 8m high waterfall. It was surrounded by the typical array of stalls selling everything from water to carpets. It was possible to walk down a path to the base of the waterfall, which we did. It was really pretty and you could feel the moisture in the air. On the way back up the path a man approached me with some lizards. I said they were nice and the next thing you know he put two on my shoulders. I asked Mom to take my photo. It’s pretty funny – my hair is an absolute mess, topped by lizards. Zexy.

Views from the Grand Canyon:





The Land Cruisers dropped us off at our hotel in Tozeur, the El Mouradi. It’s probably the most modern hotel we’ve stayed in so far. It’s also the first hotel with a decent swimming pool. The others have been small, closed, or dirty. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to go for a swim.

Half of the people on the tour opted to go out tonight for a “traditional Berber dinner”. They had lunch at the hotel and then took the afternoon off. Those of us who opted to stay home tonight went out for lunch in the town. Our driver, Sharif, drove us into town and found a nice restaurant for us. He was supposed to join us after he turned the bus around and parked it. Strangely, he never showed up. We thought that perhaps he’d been too embarrassed to eat with us.

The lunch was terrific. Most of the ladies opted for salads because the dinners here are heavy on meat and light on vegetables. I really wanted to try camel meat, so I ordered Couscous Berber, which is couscous with a skewer of roasted camel. It was delicious and I cut up a few pieces so that everyone could try a piece. They all agreed that it tasted better and was more tender than most of the meats we’ve eaten so far. (For some reason, the hotel chefs are terrifically skilled at overcooking everything. Even the chicken is tough.)

Mohamed showed up near the end of lunch to tell us that Sharif did not return because the bus broke down and he had to fix it. We wanted to take him some food but Mohamed said that the bus was too far away. He told us we had to take a taxi back to town.

Outside, Mohamed started walking up the street with the intent of hailing a cab. I noticed a line of horse-drawn cabs. I asked if anyone else would like to take a horse-drawn cab back to the hotel. Mohamed was unimpressed (it’s more expensive than a cab, and doesn’t have air conditioning) but relented and we climbed into two different cabs.

I took some great movies of the ride back to the hotel. It was one of the highlights for the day, at least from my perspective. I love everything about low-tech, close to the ground travel.

Back at the hotel we discovered that we’d locked ourselves out of our room. When I left I pushed the button in on the door handle, which is what we would do at home to auto-lock the door. Here, it doesn’t just auto-lock the door, it completely immobilizes it. We had to wait several minutes for the staff to wrangle it open with a master key.

Once we gained entrance to our room, Mom did some laundry and I changed into my swimsuit and headed down to the pool. It was absolutely brilliant. Unfortunately, there was a sandstorm blowing in so I kept getting sand in my eyes, nose, and mouth. There’s something completely wrong about swimming in a clear blue pool and eating sand.

I came back to the room after about an hour and did some more laundry. I hung it outside and it was dry within an hour. It was also covered in sand. Heh. So, that’s it for now. We’ll have dinner at the hotel and an early night. Tomorrow we leave for Douz, which is where we ride the camels into the Sahara at sunset. Yay!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008 – GAFSA

Today was one helluva busy day.

We left the hotel at 8am. Our first stop was the Barber’s Mosque, which you would think would have some association with barbers but does not. It got its name because an apostle of Mohamed who is buried at Kairouan carried three hairs from the beard of Mohamed on his journey to spread the word of Islam. Go figure.

Views from the Barber's Mosque:







The mosque was simple but also very beautiful. We were not allowed to go into the mosque but were allowed to enjoy the courtyards outside of the mosque. The architecture was very simple and you could see the rooms in which the mujahedeen (students of Islam) used to stay.

From there we went to the Grand Mosque. We managed to sneak in before hoardes of French arrived. We could look into the prayer room of the mosque, which was absolutely beautiful in its simplicity. Afterwards Mohamed explained the history of Islam and how it spread through North Africa. We had a chance to take pictures and then boarded the bus again, this time bound for the medina.

Views from the Grand Mosque:



Mohamed guided us through the medina and it was nice to have someone there to look over us and to shoo away anyone who wanted to take advantage of our poor confused tourist selves. The highlight was the water wheel, which is powered by a camel.

Views from the medina:





Today the camel walks around in circles to please tourists but in the past the camel played an important role providing water for the people who lived in the city or did business in the medina.

Our next stop was a shop that sold authentic Kairouan carpets. I wasn’t planning to buy a carpet but a kilim caught my eye. I tried to use my credit card to buy it isn’t working for some reason. I had to put the purchase through on another woman’s card and then pay her back in cash.

Making Kairouan carpets:



After the spending spree at the carpet store we drove to Sbeitla, another town that played an important pre-B.C. role in the history of Tunisia. This time it was founded by the Greeks. They thought they’d be safe from the Romans to the north but didn’t realize that they would be in danger from the Arabs to the south. The town was overthrown in one battle with the Arabs, who sacked it and then promptly headed home.

Views from Sbeitla:







After Sbeitla we had a long drive to Gafsa. There isn’t much of note in Gafsa. It’s very desolate. We’re staying in a completely kitschy hotel called the Jagurtha Palace, and it’s every bit as pink and gold as you’d imagine.

Tomorrow we’re heading out on a 4x4 ride to an oasis, then driving to a city further south called Tozeur. More coming soon…