Spring Break! Yeah! Kelly had a much deserved break in the semester and I was able to take some holiday time around Easter so we search for cheap flights and found…Tunisia? Where the heck is Tunisia? ( A small Arabic country on the northern tip of Africa, )
We had a night layover in London which gave us a chance to have a nice dinner in Soho and walk around the city centre. It was pouring buckets but we had a nice walk around anyway. Saw the usual: Soho, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Parliament Buildings, London Eye, The Thames. We got soaked but it killed time and shortened out sleep in Gatwick Airport.

When we arrived in Tunis we soon realized that our bags hadn’t. This was Kelly’s first French workout as the baggage people spoke little (read: no) English. We found that to be the case all over the country (except the creeps in the souks, later on that): everyone speaks Arabic, 65% speak French and 1.2% speak English. Thank goodness for Kelly’s French immersion as my French skills are tres petite.
So our bags were lost. We had planned to head south to camp so this threw a wrench in our plan (not to mention the lack of deodorant, warm-weather clothes, road map and clean undies). Visa told us they’d cover us to buy what we needed but the fashion districts in Tunisia are very few (read: none).

We decided to head to a village north of Tunis for the night, Sidi Bou Said (City Boo S-eye-eed), we found a place to get some clothes, toiletries and a nice place to stay for the night. The village is beautiful, spectacular whitewashed architecture overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. We had a delicious couscous dinner (which would become a pattern), some wine (which wouldn’t become a pattern), and walked around the village.

The doors of Tunisia.

The rooftops in the Medina of Tunis.

The next day we checked the airport for out bags, no luck. We arranged to have our bags forwarded to a small airport in the south when they arrived and pressed on with our plan. C’est la vie.

El Jem. One of the best preserved Roman coliseums in the world, also the site where they filmed the movie Gladiator. This place was crazy, you could go anywhere from the upper stands, the arena, to the slave and animal quarters directly under the arena. It was pretty eerie walking along the dark corridors, imagining listening to and feeling the vibrations of the 40,000 spectators screaming for blood above your head.
They were filming a movie in town, which lead to some pretty funny photos.

Then on to Matmata and the pit-dwelling locals. The people have carved their homes in to the earth and many continue to live this way. We stayed in a “hotel” that had been converted from one of these dwellings.

Sunrise

Some of you may recognize the architecture from the movie Star Wars. This was where Luke Skywalker grew up and the famous scenes of him, before joining the Rebellion, were filmed here.

The Force was stong with Kelly.

Before continuing on we stopped at a weekly market. The children giggled and followed us around. While the adults were warm to us foreigners it was evident not many tourists pass through. All of the arranged tours are self sufficient and head straight to the desert without stopping anywhere. It was nice to have our own car to stop at these little spots and explore.
Still no bags…

But we forged on to Ksar Ghilane, an oasis settlement/camp/shanty/ on eastern side of the Sahara Desert. To reach it you needed to drive 100km south into the desert, crossing sand drifts and passing the odd Land Cruise convoy. Our little compact car wasn’t intimidated though; she ploughed through the sand with ease. We were planning on camping here but found a decent place where we could stay in Bedouin style tents. There was a natural spring that you could swim in which was pretty surreal and we organized a camel trek into the desert. The weather was hot but you’d get the occasional sandstorm so the scarves were necessary. Nevertheless, we ended up with sand in every orifice, which would remain (and increase) for the rest of the trip.

We took camels into the desert to explore a Roman outpost. One must have had to screw up pretty badly to get stationed out here.

Obligatory feet in the sand photo.

The oasis.

Camel saddle.

We had planned to spend a few days here but without our bags we weren’t as self-sufficient as we hoped for. As they were supposed to arrive in Tozeur that day (still another 300km away), we thought we should collect our things (or deal with the mess if they hadn’t arrived).
En route we stopped at a few more towns to see the markets, dunes, and camels. When we got to the airport it was a ghost town. Only a few planes arrive each week from Tunis, Lybia, or Algeria but the people at the airport were extremely friendly and our bags were there (YEAH).

Goat heads. Instead of neon or posting menus, Tunisians display the dead goat.

On to the little mountain town Nefta near the Algerian border. We found a spot to camp in the oasis in a families yard. The family was great, they cooked us dinner, visited with us (in very broken French), and learned how to play cribbage. Great night.

Waterfall near the oasis.

This is the old town of ____ 500m away from the Algerian border. We went for a nice hike but weren’t too comfortable being so close to the border as a few weeks previous an Austrian couple were kidnapped by Algerian Al Qaeda members in the south of Tunisia. Beautiful canyons and landscape. They filmed the English Patient here.

The Roman ruins at Dougga.

After dinner in Le Kef we were trying to find these hot springs out in the country to camp near. We had read that their were some Roman baths about 30km out of town but couldn’t find any signs, the road was rugged and it was getting late. Concerned we were lost, we stopped someone and asked in broken Arabic if we were on the right road. He confirmed that we needed to continue down the road and we’d find it.

When we arrived at a dead end, we saw the ruins and a young man came out of a “farmhouse” near the baths. Luckily he spoke French so we could ask him about camping in the area. He said it was too late for us to set up camp and we should stay with him and his family in the house. Well the house was one room with a mattress on the floor and two single cots, doubling as couches. His parents welcomed us in as were pleased to have us. They brought out food for us (pasta with a lamb knuckle sticking out of it) and insisted we eat and try a desert they had made for a recent holiday (pine cones boiled with sugar). After dinner they told us we could bath and we didn’t have to separate into the men’s and women’s baths as there was no one around so late.

So we got to enjoy 1900 year old original Roman baths to ourselves! UNREAL! The place was amazing and the experience was unforgettable.

After soaking ourselves silly the woman, who had kicked her husband God-knows-where, showed me to one of the cots (her son on the other) and Kelly was to share the mattress with her. We brought our sleeping bags but the woman would have none of it, Kelly and her shared blankets. The woman fussed over us all night, reaching up to dry my hair with my scarf, tucking Kelly in any time she stirred. I don’t think Kelly slept a wink with all the attention.

The next morning we got up, had another bath (separately, with the locals, another crazy experience), and our hosts took great pleasure dressing us up in their local garb. Me with wool coat and rifle, Kelly with scarves and make up.

Watching for Algerian raiders.

An idealic spot to sit and drink 25cent lattes.

Making the children laugh.

We lived on fresh fruit and couscous the whole time.

Then on to Kairouen, the third holiest city of Islam. This place was famous for its medina, Great Mosque, and its carpets. We bought a carpet, got hassled by vendors, walked around in the evening until the whistles at Kelly and the attention became annoying then returned to our hotel. *Often (read: all the time) there are no women out and all the men sit around drinking coffee. Off the tourist track, we attracted a lot of attention, much of it positive but the odd time negative.*

Sunset from the rooftops of the medina.

The courtyard of the Great Mosque.

Fabric Man. We bought some great hand cloths from him.

Finally to Sousse.

We thought, for our final night, we’d check out Sousse back on the Med coast hoping to get some sun and beach time. As it was overcast, we headed back to the medina and the souks. My irritation level with the pestering was growing and we were now in a tourist town with very aggressive vendors. Kelly, often one to push my limits, insisted we needed to find a particular gift and so the hassling continued. One of the vendors (who I turned down a few times) didn’t appreciate my snappy, smart ass dismissal of his offer to buy some shitty plastic shoes. He told me he’d kill me. We got to leave the market after that.

The morning that we were leaving was sunny and beautiful…of course. We enjoyed dinking lattes by the sea until the last possible moment before we had to head to the airport.

Amazing trip.