Tunis

Tunis Cruise Port

Leaving Tunis

Kasbah Square in Tunis

Remains of the Antonine Baths (Roman) in Tunis

This morning we had to meet in the Nautica lounge early at 7:45 am. That meant an extra early start for us, but already the Nautica lounge was full of people. We had ordered breakfast in our stateroom as usual – a Spanish omelette this time (with peppers, not potatoes as I expected) and with 2 small sausages. It was delicious. I had showered already; unusually, they had forgotten JD’s hot water for his tea. I had had very little sleep the night before, so I was pretty tired and anxious.  We had sailed into Tunis that morning, after putting our watches back one hour. It was already quite hot on our balcony, and I was glad I’d brought my muslin top on this trip. It wasn’t a beautiful port as some are, but we are very excited to be in North Africa, at the site of ancient Carthage. As we left the ship our passports were checked, and a New Zealand passport was given the thumbs up.

Our tour guide was very informative. We used no radio transmitters to hear him, which was nice. Although there were other tourist groups, we stayed together, mostly. Tunis seemed quite a prosperous city, and Tunisia (formerly French) quite a modern and free-thinking society, where it was up to an individual to make decisions about keeping one’s head covered, for example, said our retired professor.  Despite that, we saw many women with their heads covered.

There is actually very little left of ancient Carthage. The Romans destroyed most of it, but there are a few Roman remains, including an aqueduct.

The capital city seemed quite modern with a lot of low-rise apartment buildings with very little, if any, landscaping.  There were lots of trees.

Our guide took us first to a children’s cemetery. It was thought that child sacrifice had been carried out, but it seemed that many of the dead infants had been miscarried.

There weren’t many opportunities to take photographs.

Then after looking at a former Punic navy compound  on an island he took us to a Roman baths site. Although this was in ruins it was really interesting, with several columns with Corinthian decorative tops.  It was very dusty and all the buildings had flat rooves, because it never snows here.

We had a toilet stop here – there was a man mopping the wet floor (now why was it wet?); the 4 cubicles had Western style toilets with seats and very good toilet paper, but I don’t think you were meant to put toilet paper in the toilet. It had a modern flush, and you could wash your hands with squeegee soap.

Then the bus took us to the Kasbah Square and we walked to the Medina or souk. He gave us careful warnings about fake goods, and offered to help us negotiate prices.  There were modern government buildings and then we entered the souk, which had very uneven flooring. There were lots of people there. We were in a part that had many jewellery stores, but of course you couldn’t just browse without being hassled. It reminded me of the jewellery for sale in Dubai – very clunky, and not my style at all.

And then came the carpet demonstration. I remembered that JD ‘s sister and her husband had regretted not buying a carpet on one of their trips abroad. We were in some handcraft collective, where we all went upstairs and sat down while they showed us carpets. These were mostly really large, and I doubt that even cruise passengers would buy large carpets (they probably have them already!). We were served some kind of sticky cake in filo pastry with perhaps a honey and date filling, and then wee glasses of sweet black tea. I felt it would have been very impolite to refuse this hospitality.

Well, silly old me, I had my eye on a much smaller carpet, a blue and white one which I admired. The price was not exorbitant, so after haggling a bit, we purchased the carpet and it was wrapped. Two other couples were considering buying large carpets, but did not go ahead. The person wrapping the carpet expected a large tip!

Then we went through more places so we could see intricate Arabic design. The floors were cool marble and it was dark.  I was worried about getting back to our cruise ship in time, for it was to leave for Catania early in the afternoon, but it did not go without us.

When we returned we all wanted lunch, and it was hard to find a free table. But we did, and shared another Steinlager beer and a lovely mixture of lemonade and sparkling water. I had sliced ham, and made filled rolls with ham, cheese and lettuce with dressing .  The best desserts were already gone – it was a bit of a scrum as many people wanted to eat lunch and lunch was finishing.

Then we went to have a rest. Later JD did some washing; our washing from three days ago was returned, washed and ironed! 

The sea was rougher than it had been. We went to the GDR for dinner and had a watermelon starter, “roast” pork with mashed potatoes, apples and sauce: actually it was pork loin steaks but was quite nice; I also ordered ratatouille, but it didn’t taste so good. JD had a glass of Chardonnay too, which we shared.

For dessert we both had raspberry souffle with raspberry sauce, and coffee ice cream. I was surprised to find that the souffle was a hot one, not a cold one. It was very nice!

Then we went to bed, after putting out our breakfast order. Tomorrow we don’t get in to Catania till 11 am, so our tour of Syracuse starts later than usual. We are also booked to eat dinner at the Polo Grill at 6:30 pm, so I hope we get back in time for that.

Nga mihi nui