Tunisia

We arrived at the airport in Tunis on Aug. 18 to be greeted by our wonderful young friend, Asma, and whisked off to a very nice beach front resort hotel where we relaxed and recovered for a few days. The pool and beach were great and I had my first, and hopefully last, camel ride. It was much more scary and difficult than I ever imagined. I have a new respect for Lawrence of Arabia! Cannot imagine galloping across the desert on one of those huge creatures!

It was very hot so later in the day we went to Sidi Bou Said, a beautiful mountain village which overlooks the Gulf of Tunis. All the homes are beautiful white washed stucco with blue trim. It was such a lovely place we decided to stay for dinner of fish and lamb at a popular restaurant on the hillside overlooking the Gulf of Tunis and the Mediterranean Sea. A glorious evening.

The next day we left Tunis to take a 4 hour train ride to Sfax, Tunisia's second largest city, located on the East Coast of Tunisia. We were greeted there by Asma's sister, Dalilah and one of her brothers. The four of us, (me, Gus, Asma & Dalilah) then boarded a huge ferry with about 100 cars and many more people to sail to the beautiful Island of Kerkennah, (only a 1 hour trip on a beautiful evening)where Asma and her family have a beautiful new home, very large, all of stone, marble and tile overlooking the sea. It was great that Asma
& Delilah joined us and were incredible help to us all along the way. The four of us arrived at their home after dark but in a very short time Delilah had a beautiful dinner prepared for us. The sea breeze was lovely but the neighbor's dogs and roosters did their best to interrupt our dreams.

Unfortunately the next day both Gus and I ate some breakfast and almost immediately started signs of Montezuma's/Hannibal's Revenge. The good news is that we had some Cipro with us, bad news is I discovered I was allergic to that. Gus felt much better after a few days but I ended up at a local Doctor. He was very kind and knowledgable and gave me some new meds that did the trick. Our illness was most likely something from the water at the hotel or a Coke can that we shared at the train station.....even though I thought I wiped it thoroughly.

This heat was very intense( much greater than usual) so we had to stay inside during the heat of the day. We had a nice time at a nearby resort beach with our friend, Asma, and a lovely boat trip, also arranged by Asma, to inspect the local fish traps. Both nice evenings to cool off from the intense heat. We also were invited by the caretaker next door to observe her baking of a special Tunisian bread (tabuna) in her wood and coal fired outdoor oven. Delicious hot with olive oil.

Kerkennah a large Island covered with beautiful palm trees and lovely sea breezes, most of the time, and definitely abundant with nice people, especially with our wonderful hostesses, Asma & Delilah! A special thank you to both of them!

It irritates me that I cannot arrange my pics in an orderly grouping but can't seem to figure out how to do this so will just try to label them as best I can