We’ve been in Tunis now for a few days and are soaking in the sights, sounds, and smells. Our accommodation is in a 19th century stone mansion, and our room has its very own courtyard! The calls to worship in the mosques fill the air around us as do the scents of the souq in the Medina where we are staying. We keep saying that words and pictures can’t capture the experience, but we try anyway.
The language here is French and Arabic and we speak and understand neither. So, we make do as best we can and have a few laughs along the way. The other night we were struggling to communicate with the waiter at dinner when David’s eyes lightened as he understood a French word. Then he said, to my amazement, that he took French in high school! We laughed heartily, and I laughed even more when he shared later in the evening that he also studied it in college! French is definitely not one of his strong suits!
The souq here is huge and amazing. It is a labyrinth that winds around and around, and we easily get lost. There are seven mosques within, and people are moving through it like ants. The shop owners approach you mercilessly especially if you look like a tourist. To blend in more, I wear a scarf (habib) on my head, and this seems to keep them away a bit.
Tunis is safe so we don’t worry about moving around the city. We are staying very near the place where the Arab Spring uprising started, and the area is filled with all ages walking, talking, and moving through the day. The area around the Prime Minister’s office and some other plazas are protected by barbed wire, military police stand around, and there are some tanks as well, but all is quiet, and there is a vibrant sense of freedom in the air.
We’ve been enjoying delicious food since arriving here, and last night’s dinner was the best. We dined at Dar El Jled, a top end restaurant in another beautiful old mansion. See photos below. The dishes kept coming, and we kept eating surrounded by candlelight in an opulent setting. Tunisian salads of many types came first, followed by a lamb and couscous entrée, and fish soup. In this mostly Muslim country, alcohol is not regularly consumed, but I managed to have a vodka martini and wine. Too stuffed to eat any more, we succumbed to the waiter’s offer of a pistachio and chocolate pudding dessert. It was truly a magnificent meal and experience. Twelve hours after this gastronomic experience, David still is burping and taking Tums.
Today, we have resolved to eat lightly as we prepare to take the TGM (public transport train) to visit Carthage and Sidi Bou Said along the coast. With only a few more days before our journey home, we continue to seek more adventure in this fascinating country.
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