TUNISIA December 24, 2011: Americans in Tunisia — Day 5 (No carpet)

Merry Merry

Began our next stage adventure today as we trudged along the cobbled streets of the Tunis medina wheeling our bags uphill to the Kasbah area to find a taxi to take us to the airport to pick up the rental car.  A bit exhausting. Cars can’t really get inside the medina; streets are too narrow — so the only way to get a taxi is to get to the square in front of the Kasbah (about a 10-minute walk without bags)… Made it! Got into taxi and headed to the airport (fare for the 20 minute ride was 15D (about $9).. although we had “negotiated” a fare of 35D ($20) when we went in the opposite direction! Then the fun began.

First the taxi driver didn’t understand that we needed to go to the rental car place so we circled the airport a few times. Finally, we thought it best to get out of the taxi, go inside the airport and then follow signs for rental car on foot (with bags)… Naturally the Tunis Airport (like a lot of foreign airports) requires you to go through a screening device as you enter the building… so up with the bags and through the x rays… down with the bags and off we go… But no signs for rental cars.  We went to an Information Desk where no English was spoken.. but in French we were told that EuropCar no longer existed at the airport… Undeterred, we trekked downstairs realizing that “arrivals” was downstairs and people seeking rental cars would likely be “arriving”…There we easily spotted the little Europcar office and the guy was definitely waiting for us. Knew us by name! Mike filled out lots of papers — as I went back upstairs to the pharmacy I spied as we entered the airport. Stocked up on lozenges, a throat spray, tissues, and some pills the pharmacist recommended (3 each day for two days…and then I will be fine — or so this is what I think he and I discussed in French). As it turns out the “pills” are little fizzy things that come in a small tube… You put them in water and they fizz up… and you drink it (alka seltzer like. only they are tiny pellets).

We’re sporting a mid size Renault — gold color — quite beat up, with 50,000 miles on the odometer; cigarette holes in seats; windows haven’t been washed in a while; tires seem not to be too balanced.. but our bags fit in the trunk (a plus, since then we can stop along the way and not worry about being too exposed) and it goes. The car had absolutely no gas in it when we started out and they told us to bring it back without gas! So the first task was finding a gas station (We quickly spotted OiLibya and asked to “fill it up”… but somehow we only got 3/4 of a tank). We set out to find the road to Sfax.

The drive from Tunis to Sfax was fine. We went slower than most cars and stayed in the right lane most of the time — soaking up the scenery of millions of olive trees and occasional small towns. We made a decision to veer off the route and head to Monastir (birthplace and burial location of ex-president Habib Bourguiba — although that didn’t really play into our decision). Monastir is on the coast and a bit south of Sousse. We decided to go there because it appeared on the map to be a small coastal town and we thought we could get a nice fish lunch by the sea… and we were right. As it turns out Monastir is some kind of new resort area (although fairly deserted this time of year). Several hotels and lots of restaurants (most not open in winter) and scores of yachts and huge sailboats from all over Europe (one even sporting a Florida location??)..  We walked the water’s edge looking for a restaurant called Le Chandelier which we eventually found (signage not very good here in Tunis) but it was closed.. so we wound up at what looked like a questionable place called Le Capitan which turned out to be fairly good and the woman who owned the place treated us like a member of the family.

Started with the requisite “brik” — which this time was filled with an assortment of fish and the soft boiled egg oozing inside of the pastry-like covering. And we had some kind of fish cooked “the Tunisian way.”  Then we headed on our way (backtracking a bit) to the road to Sfax.  Sfax is Tunisia’s second largest city and a major commercial center — home to what some say is the best medina in all of Tunisia (I’ll let you know tomorrow after we explore it) and a large mosque.

Finding the Hotel Olivier Palace was not quite so easy… Signs in Sfax are predominantly in Arabic (definitely no English spoken, and French far less obvious than in other places — many street signs are only in Arabic, as are building signs). Anyway, after several wrong turns, we stopped to ask a guy who was replacing a back up light on his truck…He hopped in the truck and led us through traffic to the area we needed to get to… but then somehow we got a little lost again.. and stopped someone else, and finally we stopped at a hotel that had a doorman to ask where the Olivier Palace was.. and you guessed it — We were there – doorman and all!

The Olivier architecture and interiors are a bit over-cooked, but the room is large and comfortable… and has television! (including two stations with movies that are in English!!)  This is really a stopping off point as tomorrow we head to Gabes.. but we’ll spend the morning walking around the medina, possibly visiting the mosque, and getting a bit more of a flavor for Sfax.

We ventured out of the hotel (after Mike finished watching “The Fugitive”) for dinner… a bit complicated in that we didn’t have a map of the town and neither did the hotel. We had read about a restaurant called Le Petite Navire, but when we asked about directions the front desk recommended another restaurant called Le Serene which he said was the same distance from the hotel (both walkable) but better. He then explained the route which seemed fairly simple… but somehow we went that way and couldn’t find a restaurant… came back to the hotel for more directions.. ventured out again and missed it a second time… But finally after asking some people en route, we realized we needed to cross the railroad tracks and walk near the water’s edge along the port (with big shipping containers)… a bit dark and spooky… but we finally came upon Le Serene… a local hang out.. mostly men (including one guy who might have been an imam)…. .. extremely fresh fish (really just caught) and you can go up to the counter and pick your own fish (which we did).. Cooked simply – grilled – and served with a salsa-like garnish and lemons. Quite simple, quite good…. and again no wine. (We forgot to ask at the hotel… beforehand)

All in all, things are going well. The Tunisians are incredibly helpful; you can ask anyone for directions and they will go out of their way to try to be of assistance. The country (at least what we’ve seen thus far) is welcoming, stable, proud, and productive. There’s been little to no begging and we haven’t seen more than a handful of people sleeping on the streets. Some of our walks (day and night) have taken us into some pretty seedy parts and we’ve also felt safe even as we’ve walked in desolate areas…

Take care –

Merry merry

Fern