Tunis, Tunisia - October 24
I was up early because I had a tour that met at 8:15. On my previous excursion we ate very lunch late and I was starving so I made a point of getting something to eat for breakfast. I settled on a bagel and it did the trick.
Our tour finally got started just after nine. There were five buses for "The Best of Tunisia" and we stayed together. We had a police escort which was explained to us as a way to get us through traffic faster (did not have to stop at lights, had the right-of-way at traffic circles, etc.).
As we rode from the port at La Goulette into the city center, our guide Hoda stressed how women and men were equal in Tunisia - were paid the same, had equal educational opportunities, 50% of doctors were women, 40% of judges, etc. I wonder if she did this because of all the news lately about the inequality in some Muslim countries.
The word Tunis means "the key" and 2 million of the 12 million in the country live here. We had a quick drive through the new city before heading to the medina (the old part), which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where we took a walking tour and visited the souk in the area. The medina is full of a maze-like warren of small walking streets (mostly, a number of motorbikes zoomed through as we were walking).
As common in souks in this area, there were dozens of small jewelry stores (how do they all stay in business?) as well as rug shops, local crafts, clothing, shoes, some food, souvenirs, and many other things. We had about 15 minutes to shop and I bought a magnet. It was a dollar and the very first thing I have purchased!
We were late leaving the medina for lunch because one of the buses (remember we had to travel together) had three people who had mobility issues and it took them a long time to get back to the bus. When we were all ready, we headed to lunch (which was very good) in a local restaurant on the road to Carthage.
We visited two sites in Carthage (which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site). First, a short history lesson. Carthage was settled by the Phoenicians and was an important city-state in the first millenium BC and had control of a number of areas in the Mediterranean, including Malta, present day Algeria, and Sicily. Carthage and Rome fought three wars, called the Punic Wars. Likely, the only Carthagenian you might have heard of is Hannibal, who took elephants over the Alps and beat Rome in the Second Punic War. Carthage was defeated in the Third Punic War by Rome, Carthage was burned, the people enslaved, and it became part of the Roman Empire. OK, lesson over and back to today.
Our first visit was to an archaeological site showing how the Romans had built their city over the previous one. The second visit was to the remains of the massive Roman baths. We walked past an area which was a Punic necropolis as well as some sarcophagi from human sacrifices (they would throw the person into a fire and put the ashes into the sarcophagus). The Roman Baths were the largest built in Africa and had one side for women and one for men. We had time to wander through the remains.
The final visit was to the pretty town of Sidi Bou Siad. It is known for its white buildings with blue trim. We had about 45 minutes on our own.
We returned to the ship late (all aboard was 5pm) but since it was a HAL tour they waited for us. There was a sail-away party by the Sea View Pool which was not much. There was music played by one of the entertainment people and some of the female staff were leading some line dancing. I stayed only to watch us leave the port. It seemed like the main reason for the party was to sell the drink of the day.
After dinner, I went to see the singers and dancers perform "Encore" which had music from movies and musicals and was quite good.
There is a sea day tomorrow and we lose an hour again.
Smooth sailing until next time.
When I have uploaded pictures I can resize how they look on the page. I usually use "Large". Let me know if you like the "Extra Large" setting (as I did on the last picture of the sail-away) for the pictures where I have combined two or four photos.
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