• Home
  • About Bo
  • Travels with Bo
    • Winchester, Normandy, Paris
    • Ireland 2018
    • Scottish to the Kilt
    • Colorful Barbados
    • Greetings from a Cold Climate
    • Scotland 2017
    • Polynesian Odyssey
    • From Stalin to Santorini
    • London Snaps
    • Quick Takes
    • Texas Treks
    • Summer in Scandinavia
    • Tunisia
    • Smaklig Måltid
    • Lake Vättern
    • Spring is coming to New York City
    • Stockholm Revisited
    • Take the 6 Train
  • Article Excerpts
  • Print Portfolio
  • Children's Books
  • Nonfiction Minutes
  • My Apps
  • Bo's Best Bets
  • Miscellaneous
    • Our Bedroom Window
    • My Life as an AD
    • The Turkish Scene
    • Snippets from Spain
    • England Revisited
    • First Stop: Tanzania
    • Shooting Vodka in Norway
    • A Swedish Primer
    • Color Clash
  • Contact Bo
Bo Zaunders Writer/Photographer
Connect!
TUNISIA

In late December, record-setting snowfalls and freezing temperatures
 caused flight cancellations throughout Europe.
At Charles de Gaulle airport we found that our connecting flight to Tunis
had been canceled. Would we make it, or, since all Paris hotels were fully  booked,
have to bed down for the night in the ice-cold terminal?
Miraculously we made it - an hour past midnight, after waiting in a line for five hours.

 At 3:45AM, Christmas Day, we checked in at Hotel Sidi Bou Said, 12 miles from Tunis.
All we wanted to do was to hit the sack.

Picture
What a difference a day makes.
A short flight to Tozeur,a city in the southwestern part of the country,
and we were on a desert road, heading for Tamerza.

Picture






Ahead rose the purple haze

of the Atlas Mountains.

Picture
As we began a zigzag climb to our hotel, the sun set in a blast of colors.
Picture
Picture
Picture
The Tamerza Palace Hotel, our home  for the next two days, proved utterly luxurious,
and reflective of the rich Berber tradition of the area.

  


Large windows
overlooked the ruins of
an old settlement,
   abandoned in 1969,
after heavy
   rainfalls destroyed the
   brick buildings.


Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
As Roxie luxuriated in the spa, I was content just taking pictures.

Picture
Introducing harissa, a hot Tunisian condiment,
made of crushed peppers, garlic and spices.
Referred to as "Tunisian ketchup," it came with bread, green olives,
and the most delectable tuna I've ever eaten.



Omg Jemel
Picture
This is the setting for the "Star Wars" movies, and now a popular tourist attraction.
Picture
Picture
Picture

Nefta & Tozeur

Picture
At Dar Hi Hotel in Nefta, the harissa arrived in the "Hand of Fatima."

Picture
Picture
 Dar Hi is the creation of the French designer Mitali Crasset and has been described as an eco-retreat and a "sand citadel dedicated to well-being.

Picture
Next stop: the Palm Beach Hotel, where we were introduced to "brik,"
a thin triangular pastry, containing an egg, a chopped onion and tuna.
Delicious, but hard to eat, as the egg tended to fall out and make a mess.


Picture
Picture
Like Tamerza, the Palm Beach was a high-end hotel,
with a distinctive exterior and a lobby lush with greenery.


Dates, dates & more dates
Picture
Dates are big in Tozeur, an oasis with hundreds of thousands of palm trees.
Picture
First we visited Horchani, a date factory...
Picture
Picture
Picture
then Eden Palm, a newly opened date museum,
where we watched a guy climb a palm tree, drank tea, and savored some of the
150 kinds of dates for which the area is famous.

Picture
And then there was Dar Cherait, another luxury hotel and, for us, a good place to eat.

Tozeur's Oasis Festival

I had expected some colorful pageantry with wild horse and camel races;
Instead we witnessed a lyrical interpretation of a poem by
Abu Kacim Chabbi, Tunisia's national poet.

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Fires were lit. Teenage girls, all in black, lay down on the sand, subjugated, yet defiant.
Picture
Much of the action involved the Tunisian flag, carried triumphantly by hand, or from galloping horses across the desert stage.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Sidi Bou Said
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
A very pretty place, reminding me a little of the Greek island of Santorini.
Not least because of it being so obviously a great tourist attraction.

Kairoan
Picture
World famous for its Great Mosque - by many regarded as the fourth holiest site in Islam (after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem) - Kairouan also featured a sociable old market place.

Hammamet
Picture
A very elegant seaside resort - has been called the Tunisian Saint Tropez.

Picture
Picture
Picture
At the National Museum of Carthage we gazed at the skeleton of a man
who lived about
2,500 years ago, and was restored by a world-renown specialist
in hominid reconstruction.

Picture
Picture
We also explored the medina (old town)...
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
and watched our travel companion, Globetrotter Jon Haggins, videotaping,
and our guide Wadya giving him the thumbs up.


Picture
This door led to Dar El Jeld, a converted 18th century Bourgeois residence
turned fashionable restaurant...

Picture
featuring a central courtyard and elaborate Moorish furnishings,
and offering traditional Tunisian food, such as lamb stew,
prawn kebabs and, not least, a variety of fresh seafood.

The Bardo

Picture
The Bardo Museum, famous for rooms full of enormous colorful mosaics
from ancient  Roman times.

Picture
Picture
Antiquity coming to life: 
a wagon pulled by tigers and Venus crowned by a centaur woman.


New  Year's Party

2010 was about to turn into 2011.
Back at Hotel Soid Bou Said, we all dressed up for the New Year's Party.
Picture
Wine flowed, an orchestra played  high-decibel Arabic  music, and a belly-dancer began
twisting and turning from table to table.

Picture
Picture
As the magic hour approached, many of the guests stood up, clapping and singing,
and, at the stroke of twelve, everyone hugged and kissed and shouted,

"Bonne Année!  Bonne Année!!!!!"



NOTE: At this point we had no idea of the pending political upheaval.
There were moments when our Tunisians friends  seemed strangely preoccupied.
 But no one said anything.
All in all it was a great trip, and we hope that Tunisia will continue
to be a fabulous place to visit.


Main  Menu

Home
About Bo
Travels With Bo
Article Excerpts
Print Portfolio
Children's Books
My First App
Bo's Best Bets
Miscellaneous





Contact/Support

Contact Bo



© COPYRIGHT Bo Zaunders
2000-2024
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.