Tunisia

Hello again. So I spent a week in Morocco last year, but this was only my second visit to Africa.

First, I started by visiting a friend in Tunisia. I mentioned Morocco, and that was to visit the same friend, who is now in an intensive summer program, learning Arabic. Tunisia may not be a favorite vacation spot for Americans, but it is incredibly popular with Europeans. It has excellent beaches and a very developed tourism infrastructure. Of course, that means that getting there is most often part of a chartered tour package, so traveling independently as I did can often be more expensive. I had planned to do a couple of weeks there, traveling with my friend, but the Arabic program is so intense there was only a short weekend break, so we ended up staying nearby and I switched my plans to go to South Africa instead. More on that soon.

We spent a day in Tunis, which was rather attractive. The medina was very laid-back, the ice cream along the main boulevard was quite nice. Very much a desert city, but with some nice rolling hills surrounding the city. There is the obligatory incomprehensible nationalist monument in the center of town.

But the grand mosque is elegant and the old market area that surrounds it was bustling.

And as you see throughout Tunisia, the brightly-colored, decorated doors provide a stark burst of color.

Our one-day excursion was to the resort town of Sousse, in the south. It has an excellent medina, including an old fort that sparkled in the mid-day sun. Parts were rather tacky, geared more to the waves of Eastern European tourists that frolic on its beaches.

But it was a nice getaway from Tunis, on the overcrowded Tunisian rails. And we did find a very nice, quiet plaza in the walled city center.