Tunisia Vol. III

Day 5: Left Douz very early once again, about 5 am, and it was very cold, so I didn't sleep much on the bus. We stopped at a cafe about 2 hours later, and looked at a map of Tunisia painted on the wall. This is the point at which we realized that we had traveled to all the inhabitable parts of the country in about one week. Crazy. We got to Kairouan, the Holy City of Islam, a few hours later. Here, we visited the mosque, the mausoleum, and the Musee de Bardo, all of which will very, very beautiful. The Musee de Bardo was my favorite because of the elaborate tilework and painted walls. For lunch, we had frittatas and cous cous. From Kairouan, we went to Hammamet, a coastal town that resembled an abandoned Las Vegas, huge empty hotels everywhere. Apparently it's a popular summer tourist destination for Spanish, French and German people. It was a very windy day, but we tried going to the beach anyway. After a lot of haggling, Riley and I bought fezes. Fezs? Fezi? I don't know. We bought wine for 3 dinar (about 1.5 euro) at the grocery store, and had a little gathering in our hotel room. We invited Maria, our professor. She happily answered all our questions about Italian politics and Tunisia, until the third time the front desk called to tell us that we were being too loud.

Day 6: Got to sleep in until 7 am today! We got back on the bus, headed for Tunis once again. We stopped at the ruins of Carthage, which happen to be right next to the President's house. You aren't allowed to take pictures of the President's house, and there are little tents scattered around the area under which stand guards with sniper rifles. His face is all over the country in the form of very photoshopped pictures that make him look much younger than his 77 years. The ruins of Carthage weren't as big or as complete as Pompeii. Then we went to the Acropolis of Tunis, where stillborn babies were sacrificed. Our next stop was the North Africa American Cemetery, full of white marble crosses and very much resembling Arlington. It was strange to see a big American flag again. After the cemetery, we went to the very picturesque hilltop town of Sidi Bou Said, with lots of white buildings and blue doors. Later that afternoon, Caroline, Momoko, and I took a taxi to the souk for 2 dinar. But shortly after we got there, it began getting dark and the metal gates came crashing down over the shops. We got out of there quickly, but it was over an hour before we got a taxi to stop for us. Meanwhile, it began to hail, thick chunks of ice, and we tried to take cover under a tree. After the hail stopped, the weather turned to a regular lightning storm accompanied by lots of rain. One taxi stopped, and we ran towards it but the driver hopped out, took the sign of the roof, and drove away. When we finally got a taxi, Momo slammed the door after her, and the driver freaked out. He had his hands on his head and was speaking angrily in Arabic. We sat there soaked and petrified, hoping he wouldn't make us get out. After a few minutes, he started driving. Caroline asked "La bez?" (How are you?) and he gave the typical response in Arabic: "Hamdu lilah" (Praise be to Allah.) After this, everything was fine. It seems that people there really appreciate it when you make any attempts at using the language, not the case everywhere. The rest of the cab ride communication was difficult as he only spoke Arabic and French, but we did managed to find out that he has a brother who lives in Venice.
Day 7: Back to Rome, where it was pouring.