Time for Tunisia

Enjoying Sidi Bou Said

It was time for a break from the red city, so we headed for our North African neighbor, Tunisia, the country of white and blue. We left behind the dust of Marrakech and found cool Mediterranean blues waiting for us on our arrival in Tunis. 

The vacation gods were smiling on us as we breezed through customs, were handed a free SIM card for our phones, and found a kind lady with a rental car waiting for us just outside the airport.  The hoops that we have gotten used to jumping through when traveling around Morocco, seemed to have vanished into thin air. We sighed and smiled a little at the prospect of finding a relaxed vibe on this adventure. 

After a few minor bumps (like not having a map, having to wait through a small skirmish at the telecom booth to load data onto our phone, and discovering that the door handle in the car was hanging from a thread), we pointed the car in the direction of Sidi Bou Said.  An artists' hub in the north of Tunis with a blue and white bohemian vibe, Sidi Bou overlooks a perfect blue Mediterranean Sea. It’s white buildings glimmer in the sun. We immediately embraced the laid-back spirit of the town. We reclined in a tea room/shisha lounge for lunch before setting out to explore the quaint streets and venture down the steep path to the marina. The views, sunshine, and hot oily donuts we found on the street made for a perfect start to our vacation.

Waffles, bananas, and socks

From Sidi Bou we had every intention of heading to Carthage to tour the ruins. We were right there after all, and it seemed like sacrilege to not make the effort. Alas, our 3:00 a.m. departure from Marrakech was catching up with us. After a few wrong turns, the discovery that the ruins are spread out among various sites, and an overall apathy on the part of all, we decided to skip the historical tour and head for our hotel on the beach.  We found our way to the highway and watched the Tunisian countryside speed by as we headed south to Mahdia.

Poppies!

The red and pink towns of Morocco with their angular mosques had given way to small white villages with ornate, rounded minarets (often decorated with tile) pointing to the sky. Olive trees still dominated the landscape. It was flat as far as our eyes could see. There were fewer donkeys but lots and lots of sheep. Camels munched grass by the road (and sadly their necks and heads hung from hooks in the butcher shops too). It all felt familiar yet different at the same time.

Mahdia turned out to be a small seaside community with a strip of tourist hotels in different states of repair and disrepair. We enjoyed beautiful views from our room of a sparkling (but glacial) pool. The ocean waves lapped at the beach, but the water was too cold for swimming. We bundled up and enjoyed the sun and occasionally stripped down to bathing suits for a few minutes just to remind our pasty skin what the sun felt like. Our limbs very rarely see the light of day in Morocco, so we took advantage of the more relaxed attitude toward visible flesh at the hotel.

Mahdia Moments

Ooooh! This is what I need!

Mahdia's medina was quiet and residential. We explored the shoreline, spied on fishermen, and climbed on rocks. Twice we ventured out to see a little slice of Tunisia. The Roman Amphitheatre at El Djem was a highlight. Second in size only to the Roman Colosseum, the Amphitheatre is well-preserved, and it was completely empty the day we visited (which may have had something to do with the pouring rain).  We staged our own imaginary gladiator games among the ruins. 

Kairouan, a city known as a center for Islamic scholarship, was on my list of places to visit. Kairouan's Great Mosque is considered to be one of the most important monuments of Islamic civilization. Making seven pilgrimages to this mosque is said to be the equivalent of making one pilgrimage to Mecca. However, since we cannot go inside of mosques, Kairouan's highlight for me was a visit to Bir Barouta, where an unlucky camel spends his days attached to a pulley system that runs a water wheel - drawing holy water from a well below that, according to legend, is connected by an underground channel to the Zemzem spring in Mecca.

The magic camel

The Mosque of Three Doors

Fresh air, dirt roads (occasionally lost), ocean breeze, too many games of hotel pool, bright red poppies carpeting olive orchards, and blue and white buildings will be my memories of Tunisia. A break from the constant hum of Marrakech was most welcome. When we returned to Marrakech late at night, I prepared myself to shift back into Moroccan mode. Then, we found ourselves whisked from the airport back to our apartment by a friendly taxi driver without the slightest squabble over the fare, and I smiled. The vacation gods were still smiling on us and transitioning us back gently. We were home.