Greetings from Gabes, Tunisia

Following a buffet breakfast at the Hotel Olivier Palace in Sfax, we strolled the quite empty medina of Sfax (considered to be one of the best preserved in all of Tunisia). Apparently the Sfax medina is closed on Mondays so we got an odd sense of the place — absent the usual crowds, hawking, and goods for sale. Still we managed to chat with a few folks (broken French and broken English), including one guy who I photographed and who gave me his Facebook page so we can be “friends” and so that I can post the photo I took and tag him. Sfax is a lot like other “second cities” especially those in less developed countries. A bit dusty and worn, the remnants of some great spaces and boulevards, and the confusion of new stuff that’s been constructed in the last century. But as before, people were very friendly, helpful, and eager to know where we come from.

A few wonderful moments that defy explanation, like the cell phone stand in the centuries-old medina in Sfax playing (actually blasting) Bob Marley music… or the many stalls selling torn blue jeans… or the women wearing blue jeans under their long robes with chadors. I’ve been tempted to buy one of those long robes with the pointy collars and have it altered to be knee-length… Mike thinks it would look like I’m in the KKK… but the robes are all black or brown.  Mike’s been using his flip cam (last year’s birthday present), making little films… but he looks like a CIA spy carrying this small device close to the chest without moving…

We got on the road at about noon (after I attempted to print a few documents at the reception desk, but the printer died after the first 6 pages; will need to try to print in Gabes) and then we headed south to Gabes.

The road was good; traffic moderate (except in cities); we’re getting the lay of the land with regard to driving (although Mike has been doing most of the driving). Our little Renault definitely has some tire problems and we’re pretty certain that within the next day or so we’ll need to change at least one tire. (There is a spare in the trunk!)

It’s pretty clear that this area was originally under water. Now it’s flat, scrubby brush, and lined periodically with very small complexes of stands selling assorted goods, including food.  About an hour into the drive, we decided to stop for “lunch” at one of the roadside stands that we are now quite comfortable with. Seemed as if they were making some kind of kabobs on a barbecue. Sat at one of the plastic covered tables and ordered the chicken and also a cous cous. Chicken turned out to be an entire bird (tasty, just too much food) and the cous cous was definitely a meal unto itself. Ate as much as we could, and headed back out to the road.

As we approached Gabes, the geography changed.. you could sense we were heading toward the beach and the Mediterranean. Temperature also rose about 8 degrees. Along the way to Gabes many roadside stands appeared selling dates, baskets, ceramics, and fruit. We attempted to find Hotel Chems where we had a “reservation.”  Several wrong turns and people helping with directions… and we arrived at the rather large (several hundred rooms?) hotel, situated on the beach, but without any direct access to the water (seems as if you need to go out the front of the hotel, down the road then head to the beach… but cannot go directly from the hotel for “security reasons.”

From what we can tell, we might be the only guests here — or maybe one of just a handful. Hard to know. Decided to stroll the town a bit…. and then to relax in our room (actually I have work with me, so I focused on that)

One of the guidebooks suggested a restaurant in town called L’Oasis..but we asked at the desk about wine and learned that the Oasis was wine-free… but that there was a restaurant down the street from Oasis with same kind of food but has wine.. (They must think we are alcoholics)… so at around 8:20 we ventured out of our “compound” with some guard opening the gates (frankly we are not at all worried about those wandering the streets; more concerned about those lingering in the bar in the hotel all day. Anyway, we ventured into town (first time we’ve driven in the dark in Tunisia) and of course could not find the place, based on the directions the hotel gave us…. Stopped some people who initially thought we wanted the Oasis Hotel (which we knew we didn’t want because that is right next door to our hotel).. but then someone seemed to know where it would be .. so we turned around, headed in that direction and found L’Oasis (no wine) and the place a few doors down the street — Mazar where they had wine. We opted for the latter.. winos that we are.  Looked OK… only one other person having dinner (he was having some kind of spaghetti). Reviewed the menu and decided on a lamb brochette and a cous cous.. But they were “out” of both of those items.

Turned out they had only four items (although the menu was pages long)… Sort of like when we traveled in Russia many years ago where they gave you a 10 page menu but said “Beef Stroganoff”.. meaning that was all they actually had.. So the waiter at Mazar told us he had a filet, dorade, and guess what — “beef stroganoff!”… I opted for the dorade; Mike opted for the filet.. He kept asking for “rare”… I knew this was a pipe dream.. About 20 minutes later.. out came well done filet.. and a very nice dorade.. We had Tunisian wine..

Made it back to the hotel.. and now some television (I think they have another Tommy Lee Jones flick on tonight)… no CNN.. and then we are off early tomorrow to head to the troglodyte houses of Matmata (I think similar to the cave houses in Capodokya and also the underground cave houses in Guadix…) and then we head on to Medenine…

More tomorrow.

Fern

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.

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

Hi All –

Happy Hanukkah from the Medina in Tunis:

Began our day leisurely — after checking emails, doing some work, trying to figure out what we would do today, and analyzing the weather (jacket, no jacket, etc.). Weather is actually great for travel..Probably about 50-65 degrees, but it always poses the dilemma of wear/carry a jacket and then when it’s too warm for the jacket you need to find a way to carry it (made difficult when you are lugging large cameras and multiple lenses.

First the practical info.. as you can tell, Internet connection has been fairly good (at least at our hotel); PDAs are another story.. Both my iPhone and my Blackberry work only intermittently; phone seems fine, but email is sporadic (some would say this should make for a more relaxing day; for me it means constantly checking to see if I’m in a zone that is enabling connection or not).

We wound up being the only guests at the hotel breakfast… other than the American we overheard yesterday. So we struck up a conversation; he was leaving for Algeria after breakfast. Turns out he’s (or so he says) a chemist (we suspect he’s a Harvard grad, said he went to school in Cambridge — no details, and we didn’t press the issue). But he left the high tech science world a few years ago (I suspect he’s mid-40s) to join a former classmate who had left McKinsey and moved to London (as he did as well) to start a company that sets up kiosks at colleges and office buildings where they make smoothies.. using up to 50(?) different fruit combinations. From the (successful?) smoothie business they have moved onto molecular gastronomy (a term I heard a lot on a recent trip to Paris, having eaten at Pierre Gagnaire’s restaurant) — an approach to the physical and chemical transformations of ingredients that occur while cooking .  Sounds pretty effete to me. Anyway, his 15-person company is apparently dealing with “flavors.”… OK, so now we are totally convinced that he’s with the CIA, especially because of things he referred to when we started to talk about travel experiences– things that occurred before his time, which we think he would be unlikely to know (related to the Soviet KGB, Gary Powers, etc.). But he’s off to Algeria today, so we won’t learn any more.

We then took off to roam Tunis once again… this time headed away from the Medina and into the Ville Nouveau (really not very new — mostly 19th Century — but newer than the Medina which dates back to the 12th Century. Prior to approaching the gates that lead out of the medina into the new city, we strolled through wonderful and tiny courtyards in an area that was once the center of Jewish life in Tunis which and then became derelict, and is now being rejuvenated (Tunis yuppie.com). We walked through some small manufacturing shops (employing about three people each in very very small spaces). I photographed in a few of them; one trio was making the leather strips that go onto running shoes. They seemed proud of the work and anxious to have me photograph them with some finished shoe models (a la Nike).

I’m convinced that everyone in Tunisia smokes, and they do it constantly. I’m also convinced that most men don’t work. The streets (especially in the new part of the city) are packed with people — mostly men — sitting at cafes and sipping espresso for hours. Women always seem to be coming and going from some place, not sitting around having espresso. And the women, as noted in an earlier email, are dressed in a very wide variety of outfits ranging from totally western (the majority) to western with head scarf, to more traditional with head scarf to those with jihabs, and occasionally a woman with chador. We haven’t seen any burka-clad women. Men all mention that in the 1950s polygamy was outlawed and now men (who used to have multiple wives living under one roof — each having their own bedroom, hence the creation of very large houses and palaces with all those bedrooms for the women) have only one wife; they also tell you that women are equal to men “under Tunisian law.” Anyway, today I spied a young woman with a fairly traditional outfit — long black robe — and she had a shocking pink long sweater on top of the long black robe, and sported shocking pink headgear and a shocking pink purse.

Stopped for some crepes (the largest crepes you’ve ever seen) on Rue de Paris. Two crepes, an extremely large bottle of fizzy water, and two mint teas… about $5… and you can sit as long as you’d like (which we didn’t).

The new section was buzzing.. and we walked to several different neighborhoods getting a sense of what everyday life is like. We stopped in at the “main market” (gran marche) where food seems plentiful, not overly expensive and where there is  huge variety of fresh fish, vegetables, fruits, and meet… as well as the indomitable assortment of sweets- cookies, cakes, candies – all dripping with syrup and sugar. On the street from vendors you can buy a whole bulb of fennel that gets cut in half and squeezed with fresh lemon and topped with a little dill…you eat it as you walk.

We’ve been watching the driving, as we prepare to leave Tunis on Sunday by car which we will pick up at the rental place and then head out of town. Driving… looks pretty chaotic.

As we re-approached the Medina late in the afternoon heading back to the hotel, some guy appeared to know us; said he worked at our hotel. Could be, but we weren’t sure.. Anyway, he told us that there was a Berber craft fair going on in some old palace (yet another one) which would close at 5 pm today. It was about 4. We had heard about this from some other guy on a street, but assumed it might be a come on.. Mike really wanted to go, so we followed the guy through crowds in the medina.. In the end it was a big come-on to buy a carpet (but we resisted). The good news is that the palace (four floors high) had a great roof top and we could get a good overview of the medina — something hard to come by. Proudly we walked away from the “Berber Craft Fair” without any purchases.

Headed back to our special section of the medina, which is famous for these great big wooden doors which are generally painted a Mediterranean blue, or lime green, or yellow-ochre. They all have door knockers. We learned that the door knockers have all kinds of significance.. some are hand-shaped and if there is one hand-shaped knocker on the door it means that one family with a woman in it lives there; two hands means that the mother-in-law lives there as well. Other door knockers are placed at different parts of the door — some very low for children to knock, some higher for men or for women… but the knockers make different sounds – so that those inside the house know if a male or female is visiting.. because they would bang with a different knocker!

Off to dinner — more in a while or tomorrow.

Fern

P.S. for those who have asked: Food is good (except last night’s dinner was bland and only fair). They use the term “tagine” a lot, but it’s not at all like Moroccan tagine. Their “tagine” is more like a frittata or a crepe; light, fluffy, made with eggs and cheese and other things like spinach. They also have a thing for tuna so you can find tuna prepared a million ways (including in their tagines and in the crepes on the street). Kebabs have been really good, as have all the cous cous dishes. We’ve also had a lot of stuffed eggplant which has also been good. Tonight we head to some trendy fish restaurant called Chez Slah; will let you know.

As-salam alaykum (Greetings! …. I think)

Woke up to the morning call to prayer (6 am)… hard to miss it as it streams from all the mosques (and there are many, especially in the Medina where we are staying)… Now, for those of you into land use planning, I’m questioning if there has been an EIR to assess noise pollution in the Medina??  Actually the call to prayer happens five times each day.

First time I heard it was in Istanbul about 20 years ago.. but it is always a bit jarring when you’ve not heard it for a while. You hear it at dawn, midday, middle of the afternoon, just after sunset, and at nightfall (about two hours after sunset). Historically, The person (man) appointed to call the followers to prayer climbed the minaret of the mosque and called in all directions”Hasten to prayer”… But nowadays a loud speaker carries the message in most cities.

Breakfast at the Dar el Medina is a bit eclectic, but carried us through most of the day… and at this moment, we are beginning to think about dinner.

We heard the first American English being spoken — today – by a guy traveling solo and staying at our hotel.. chatting with another solo guest (a Brit) at breakfast.. talking about their travels to Syria, Iran, and other destinations far too tricky even for us. Haven’t spoken with them, but naturally we think they are either academics or CIA agents.

Anyway, we didn’t hear any more English (and certainly not American English) the rest of the day.

One thing I forgot to mention about dinner last night.. they had a guy playing a Tunisian string instrument… I think it was an oud… but could be something else…. Anyway, he played Tunisian and other Arab songs the whole night.. but then as we were just one of two tables still eating… he played “America the Beautiful” (which we assume was for us, since he could hear us speaking American English… and his decision was obviously not by our request).. Just think he thought of it himself and thought it would be nice (I also think maybe this is the only song he knows that is American. Only one other couple remaining at the place. And they didn’t seem to notice.)

OK — back to today. We’ve been walking the Medina which is like finding a needle in a haystack..But glorious when you can experience it first hand.

We walked up and down the winding alleys (much like the Medina in Fez and others throughout Morocco) checking out all sorts of goods… Periodically we stopped for tea (always mint tea) .. or checked out a mosque or a madrasa (Islamic school).. Didn’t really buy anything.. but everyone had many great deals for me… which they offered in French first, then Italian, then Spanish, then whatever other language that they can say “Madam, I have something for you…”

Actually they make little wooden painted puppets here in Tunisia– they are quite cute… I think they are theatrical characters from Tunisian plays… but no big antique or anything; just handmade. I stopped at one shop and asked what price I could get if I bought three of them); He haggled a while and finally said 300 dinar (about $200).. I had seen a lot of these in other shops and they were going for about 45 dinar (or 26 dollars)… All are very similar. So I said it was “tres cher” and walked away.. The guy came running after me asking what I would pay…then he said he’d charge 100 dinar.. then 50 dinar.. and finally 30 dinar!… so a reduction of 90% in about 4 minutes! I didn’t buy them from him… Bought them a few stalls away for 30 dinar.. less haggling..That second guy said that if we were Americans he would not reduce the price. I had been using Spanish… Hate to use English in these parts..So for these little episodes I can do it in Spanish… (mostly because Tunisian Spanish is about my level.. since everyone really speaks French, not Spanish)..

OK.. a few more little tidbits.. As we walked around, we stumbled on a little green park area..surrounded by government buildings including the Department of Finance. Well it seems as if (from what we can discern) this little park was a bit of a campsite for an Occupy-type protest…so now this little park — all 30,000 sq ft of it!! — is completely surrounded by triple layers of razor wire… and there is a tank inside the “park” and armed police sitting there. Guess that once the government decides they don’t want anyone in the park.. they make sure it is an impossibility.

Tunisians like desserts and they like them sweeeeet… They sell all these sweet things on the street.. sticky sweet.. and people buy them like crazy.. They are so sticky I can’t see how you can even pick them up. And when you get your mint tea — which is served everywhere (and you never have to ask for mint tea… it sort of arrives).. it’s already loaded with sugar… After every meal, they push desserts that are huge and sweet. Thus far we are ignoring them… Actually, not very appealing.

We walked down some narrow streets — away from the center and stumbled on an area where there are craftsman of all sorts… in little spaces behind other buildings. I managed to squeeze in and smile a lot and got to photograph them at work… OSHA would not be happy. The guy who cuts wood all day with a rather old electric saw sits with a lit cigarette dangling from his mouth.. stopping work just long enough to light the next one.. sawdust everywhere. No eye guards.. no protective nuthin! Seemed content and happy to work. Guys loading trucks are often barefoot; construction gear is unheard of. Need I say more. (Ellen Widess: I can see a whole new career unfolding for you).

Along the way, some guys stopped me and said that I should visit this building they were standing in front of… it’s the mausoleum of government leaders from the era when Turkey ruled Tunisia. Too embarrassed to say “no” we ventured into these chambers within chambers of marble boxes… all inside tiled wall rooms. Interesting, but could have passed it up easily. In any case, we made the guard happy — probably the only visitor all day or maybe all month.

Dinner was fair.. at a converted palatial home in the Medina (they have lots of these palatial homes turned into other uses (mostly hotels and restaurants; some shops). Nothing like last night. So now we are, immediately, making a reservation to return to last night’s fantastic restaurant.. again.. on Saturday – our last night in Tunis.

Tisbah ala-kheir (Good Bye or maybe Good night)

More tomorrow

Fern

Greetings from Tunis

Day One

Left London rather unceremoniously but more complicated than ever imagined. Taxi from hotel to Victoria Station; Express Train to Gatwick Airport; train to terminal… and all seemed fine (except for the ungodly hour — taxi pick up at 5:30 am). But when we checked in to the British Airways flight, they asked for proof of a return flight out of Tunisia — which somehow we didn’t have. We had paperwork for hotels, for our United flight to California, etc, but no printed confirmation for the Alitalia flight from Tunis to London. This was apparently a problem, as British Air needs to be sure (I assume the Tunisian Government is the one who needs to be certain) that we are not immigrating to Tunisia! After many rounds of discussion (Thank goodness in English!) and showing that we have a ticket from London to SFO (and it would be difficult to make that flight if we didn’t leave Tunisia!) and having the confirmation number for the Tunis – London flight, they let us move along through security. But that meant not having time to have any breakfast…

We made it to the plane… We were among a handful of non-Arabs on the flight.

Flight was uneventful, until landing — when about half the plane stood up while we were taxiing. We had experienced this before — in India — but not at this scale. Flight attendants were yelling, but it didn’t seem to matter. People were getting their bags and walking down the aisle well before we reached the gate. Imagine doing that at SFO.. I think they would surround the plane with police.

Customs was smooth; they didn’t seem to care if we had a return flight or not… and other than the fact that police had some kind of sub-machine gun kind of weapon at the airport, all was well and friendly. Naturally the search for a taxi was interesting with lots of hawking guys trying to be our “official greeter” and get tipped for walking us to the taxi station — which we ignored. But as we got into a taxi it was obvious there was some negotiation going on as to the driver tipping at least one of these guys.. Took about 30 minutes to get to the hotel, which is charming and right inside the Medina — the 1,000 year-old section of the city.  Small, delightful, and impossible to get to by car (taxi left us off at the entrance to the Medina and then we were on our own.  After walking with our bags for a few minutes, we saw two women who were most friendly and spoke English!  They didn’t know where the “Dar El Medina” was, so they immediately used cell phones and called to get directions.. We were told to just wait where we were and someone from the Dar would come to get us.. which they did. Good thinking because rolling the bags on the centuries-old cobblestone narrow paths and figuring out where to turn and when to go straight would not have been possible. Actually the Dar was quite close but needed to make a few important direction decisions at each “intersection.”

After checking in and settling in the room, we walked to the “souk” area which is just a few turns down the street… mingled in the crowded alleys with everyone trying to get the gringo’s attention… trying out every language from English to French to Spanish to Italian to Polish (“Look at this”  “I know you will like this” — in dozens of languages..)  Began the photography ritual… Unlike the medinas in Morocco..this one abuts the “ville nouveau” from the 19th century… so I strolled out of the Medina for a while (it’s connected by a great square where lots of people are walking and having coffee, talking, and just hanging out). Strolled for a few hours and then returned to the hotel where we crashed for about 90 minutes and now we are up and ready to head to a supposedly very “luxurious” restaurant.. to celebrate Mike’s birthday… More on that later.

First impressions of Tunis:

Cell phones are everywhere!

Fewer burkas than in Morocco (but maybe that’s because we’re not yet in rural areas?) Only a handful of guys in the Star Wars garb Not a single sign of Santa or Christmas; no fake snow; no tinsel (very calming and delightful).. In Morocco we saw lots of chintzy Xmas decorations.. Not here, very very little Western tourism… Hotel receptionist said foreign travel was picking up since the election.. but no real sign of it so far.

Looks more Mediterranean than Morocco did… buildings all pastels.. mostly white and beige and accents in blue.. quite charming; lots of palm trees.

OK.. just returned from tres cher dinner (as everyone told us when they recommended Dar El Jeld for Mike’s birthday dinner…Space quite wonderful — tile on tile on tile… interior courtyards.. no westerners; I assume all the diners were wealthy Tunisians… Not much English. .. we are struggling with French, since menus are so difficult to follow..

Anyway, we survived quite well..

The restaurant had wine, which was good since many of the better restaurants do not have any alcohol.

Appetizer was some kind of tagine, but not at all like Moroccan ones..It had egg and lamb and vegetables all rolled up with some thin crust and I suppose cooked in a tagine.. then we had couscous with giant stuffed squid.. followed by what we would call tagine(?) of sweet lamb with apricots, raisins, dates,  and leeks.. But they didn’t call it a tagine and it wasn’t served in a tagine. Dessert was some kind of cream smothered in cardamon powder.. They called it “black pine”… and of course the obligatory mint tea which is always refreshing and a great topper for the meal…

Oh– Tres cher by Tunisian standards, but about 50% of London standards for non-tres cher eatery… and about 30% of the cost of the super-upscale Paris eateries… so financially Tunisia is a good choice.

Walked back from the restaurant to the hotel .. taking a “short cut” amid construction and lots of cats (all of whom seem fearful of humans..thank goodness!)

OK.. off to bed.. Adventures ahead tomorrow.

Big plan is NOT to buy a carpet.. we’ll see. That was my plan in Turkey two years ago and Mike (not me) was totally succumbed and we wound up with a carpet and a long story.

Fern

PS — As you can see – wireless connection quite successful.. which is making me happy as well as office and clients. So, tomorrow.. a little souk-seeking… the grand mosque.. a little work… some great food…and we’ll see what unfolds.