TUNISIA 2011: Americans in Tunisia — Day 4 (No carpet)

Greetings on Christmas Eve in Tunisia (where nary a sign of the holiday has surfaced, whatsoever)…

Last night’s dinner at Essaraya was good.. not nearly as good as the one at Dar El Jeld (where we’ve decided to eat a second time tomorrow night … our last night in Tunis). The funny part though, was getting to Essaraya. The hotel we’re in, Dar el Medina, is quite charming and the staff is very attentive. They are constantly concerned that we are walking everywhere all alone, even at night. Always suggesting they can take us or we can get a taxi (not really that simple when you’re inside the medina)… Anyway, when they made the reservation for us at Essayara (which we found in a guidebook), they said that it was close but complicated to find. We assured them we’d be fine, even thought it would be dark. So, when we were ready to leave for dinner, they told us that we should walk to the front of the mosque (about 10 minute walk from the hotel) and that we would be met there by someone from the restaurant, since the restaurant thought it would be difficult to find.. lots of turns and little narrow paths – some without names. The restaurant said we’d be met by a man wearing “traditional clothing.”

As we approached the mosque, in the darkness we spied a man wearing one of the starwars-like long robes …. carrying a large glass cube lantern with a lit candle inside…. we nearly cracked up.. It was like meeting Father Time in person. Got to the restaurant safe and sound. Started with one of those tagines again— the souffle-like frittata — this time with egg and pistachio (quite good); followed by a cous cous with tongue (which was very tasty); followed by a lamb entree (with raisins and prunes and apricots, which was a lot like a Moroccan tagine)…Biggest problem with the dinner was — No Wine!  Have to remember to ask when we make reservations whether or not wine is served. A large number of restaurants (where the owners are Muslim) do not serve wine.

Walked back to Dar el Medina — with Father Time leading the way for the first few minutes, until we convinced him we were fine on our own.

Spent most of today (December 24) trying to stay out of the rain and nurse my lingering cough and congestion. Thought I was over it before we left the states, but about the time we arrived in Tunisia it sort of reappeared.. no laryngitis, no fever; just rotten cough and drippy nose.. not being helped by travel or climate or the pervasive cigarette smoke or somewhat musty conditions everywhere.  Sought out a pharmacie today but they are all closed on Saturdays and Sundays (??)

Anyway, we took a leisurely stroll through the neighborhoods again, stumbling onto all sorts of interesting workshops and life situations. Found two guys who make boats (real ones, not toy size).. building them in a tiny two-room workshop that is just big enough to hold the boat (the boat is big enough for about 6 people fishing) and for them to walk around it as they work. To get the boat out of the workshop they need to turn it on its side and then somehow figure out all the maneuvers to get it partially into the street and back up and twist it and go forward and back many times since the distance from the door of their workshop to the wall of the building across the way is not as long as the boat… at least that is what we can figure out. Struck up very long conversation in my non-French with the boat builders who were incredibly friendly and very anxious to talk with us.. So they are avid fishermen.. and they have caught one giant fish that was 50 kilos… And he gets his hooks from Germany where the steel is better and the hooks are larger than what you can get in Tunisia (very important information)… We also heard the story of the “fish that got away”… the one that was 90 kilos… but the story was interesting since the guy lost half of his finger.. the fish bit it off.. They had to get him to shore and to a taxi to a hospital and then a very good professor of medicine at the university/ a surgeon/ operated… It’s true, and he is missing one part of a finger.  A very sweet guy… with many grandchildren — all of whom we saw pictures of on his cell phone. In the same teeny workshop he also seems to find room to produce some furniture which I think is the bread and butter work and the boat building is the passion.

Stumbled on some other worker groups… making parts of shoes (three guys in a tiny “factory” — again with just enough room for each to have a table, with piles of shoes around).. and other goods for sale. Again, everyone smoking as they work.

Everyone has been extremely friendly and helpful.. except for the street hawkers. We now say we don’t speak English.. and when they press for where we are from, we say we are from Finlandia.. which works pretty well since no one here can speak Finnish… But today when we said we were from Finland (and only spoke a little English), the guy who was trying to sell us sunglasses (in the rain — guess you sell whatever you’ve got) told us that his sister lived in Finland… We nearly died laughing at how clever he was… So we then asked (in English– after saying a few words in Finnish that were totally irrelevant) where in Finland his sister lived and he said “the capital.”… So now we’ve run into hawkers who have sisters in Texas, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Helsinki!!

Given the rain, we decided to head back to the hotel for a few hours to get some work done, and to try to pack up logically, as we start our real trek through Tunisia tomorrow morning. Not looking forward to the car rental process and getting organized with the car and driving… But it’s all part of the experience.

At about 8pm we headed to our new favorite restaurant Dar El Jeld…which did not disappoint..

We started with a platter of mixed hors’douvries including three different “briks” and several salads (including squid)… Then we had a lamb dish with raisins and apricots, and a sea bass plate steamed and served with steamed tomatoes and other veggies.. And we had wine! We’re convinced that Dar el Jeld is definitely the best restaurant in Tunisia and well worth the price (although the Tunisians think it is expensive)… It’s also the only place that understands lighting so it’s got a great atmosphere. Most other restaurants are really brightly lit.

Walked back to Dar el Medina… and we’re about to pack and get ready for tomorrow’s experiences.. Should be interesting.

Best to all of you.. Thanks for the notes.. I’m enjoying getting them.