Tunisia: Star Wars, the Desert and the Oasis

Going to Tunisia wasn’t a last minute decision but I still had to figure out where to stay: Djerba, Tunis or Hammamet. I really wanted to enjoy the beach, the sun, to go to the desert and, of course, to visit Star Wars sets so I decided to go to Hammamet Sud and I'm happy to tell you that this was a delightful decision!

Before giving you any more details just keep in mind that the sun rises at 5h and the sunset is at 19h30 so they are used to wake up really early in the morning and to go to bed early as well. Also, all their cities are really safe owing to the fact that there are policemen at each corner after the Tunis attack on 2015.

Now I’m going to give you some tips for you to organize your trip the best way you can because for me, now that I’ve been there, I can tell you it wasn’t as easy and linear as I thought.

Interesting Facts

After talking to some tunisians I’ve discovered some interesting facts about Tunisia which I wanted you to know.

90% of the tunisian population lives near the sea and most of it lives on the northern part of Tunisia because of the desert and the weather. During summer, the average temperature in the north is 15ºC minimum and 35ºC maximum and in the south, since most of it is desert, the thermometer reaches 50ºC in the shadow, being this the main reason why most of the people doesn’t live on the southern parts of the country. However, during winter you can have temperatures like -5/-10ºC in the south so the temperature tend to be a bit extreme in this area.

If you are interested on the desert part of the country be aware that the people wake up at 3h and they start working on the Oasis (yes, they are real!) at 4h until 8h because at that time it’s already 40ºC.

Tunisia lives from agriculture, fish, olive oil, dates, oranges and wine exportation and it’s not forbidden to drink alcohol here. However, they are used to drink wine (it’s nothing like the wine they give you at the hotel but some good wine they export to other countries), beer and date and fig liquors because other drinks like whiskey are taxed 400% of their original price so it’s really expensive for the population to drink this kind of drinks (actually the date and fid liquors are extremely cheap - 1L cost approximately 3 dinars - and you just need one cup to be completely drunk because of it’s alcohol percentage so it’s easy to be drunk without spending lots of money!).

Tunisia's minimum wage is approximately 170€ and an average wage is 300€ so everything is really cheap for them: on the highway, they pay 1€ for each 150km; 6 cents for a baguette, 10 cents for a kilogram of potatoes, tomato or fruit; 30 cents for a kilogram of sardines and most of their clothes are second-handed so they can buy an entire outfit for 5 dinars (approximately 1,50€). However, cars are imported so they pay 25% more than in Europe.

About their homes, most of them haven’t their second floor painted or even finished because they start building them when the couple’s first son is born and they have time until he marries and lives there. Also, if they paint their home they'll have to pay taxes so without painting them they are avoiding paying more taxes than they need.

To finish all the interesting facts (you’re not here to hear this much about history) camel meat is aphrodisiac so keep that in mind if you want to try it out!

Currency

Tunisia uses the Tunisian Dinar as currency and right now 1€ is the equivalent of 3 dinar (they write 3,000 dinar for you not to be confused like I was). Bringing Tunisian dinars to Tunisia or taking them out of the country is completely illegal. There are two ways of changing the money: or either you change from euro to dinar at the airport or you change them at your hotel but you must ALWAYS ask for the receipt! I suggest you changing the money bit by bit because everything is really cheap and if you bring dinar back to the airport it is a bit complicated to change the money back to euros if you have more than 100 dinars because for amounts bigger than this they charge you a lot and then they have a low currency rate so just change the money as you spend it and if needed just bring coins with you (keep in mind all the time that bank notes are illegal to bring back to your countries).

Paperwork to fill

When you’re still at the airplane, the staff gives you some paperwork to fill for you to present at the border control desk at the airport. There, they keep one part of it and you have to keep with you the “Non-Resident” Visitor’s Card for the whole staying since this is your ID in Tunisia. The best thing for you to do is to keep your passport at the hotel’s safe box or inside your locked luggage and to bring this card with you when you go to some trip outside the hotel if you want.

It is ok if you loose it for one simple reason: if that happens, you can fill a new one before passing again the border control when you’re taking the plane back to your home country because they have lots of papers for you to fill before getting on the line to the desks.

What to see in Hammamet

While you're staying in Hammamet you’re not confined to the beaches because you can go to two Medinas: the old medina which is 10km away from the hotel where I stayed and it costs 10 dinars to reach it by taxi, and the new medina, just near Cartage Land (an amusement park in Hammamet), which is interesting to visit during the night because of all its lights.

Carthage Land

About this amusement park, the entry price varies with the parts of the park you want to visit but if you want to see them all without visiting the children part (Carthageland, King Kong, Medina Discovery, Aladdin Park and Cinema 5D) it costs you 40 dinar (approximately 12€ euros). Then, if you want to visit the Aqualand, you’ll have to pay 25 dinar more (7,56€). There are two combined tickets but you would be confined only to Aqualand plus Carthage Land or Aqualand plus King Kong.

So if you want to check all the park you need to pay 65 dinar in total (19,62€) which I think is a bit expensive for them so after talking to some locals they told me this was park was made thinking about the tourists and that’s why it costs that much. I read that the park is really interesting and that the children loved it but I actually didn’t go there. Nevertheless if you want to go to an amusement park while you’re here on your vacations you should give it a try.

Where to go for a run or just for a walk

If you’re in the mood of going for a walk or for a run you should go for the road near the beach. It’s a really nice place with lots of palms and you can get a nice photo there if that’s what you desire. There’s also a marina on the northern end of it and there’s lots of shops and a shopping mall near to it but I didn’t find that place interesting to visit. However I think it would be good for you to see it with your own eyes as I always tell you!

Shopping

The first thing you need to know is that in most of the shops you need to bargain the prices and most of the times they ask the tourist 100% more of the real price of the product so I recommend you to go to Joy’s or Costa Mall firstly because these are shops with fixed price (for real) and then, if you want to bargain with them, you should go to their shops and bargain all the prices. However, most of the shops have a sign saying fixed prices but that’s not true so don’t be tricked by them!

Bargaining or not to bargain: that’s the question

If you don’t know how to bargain just keep in mind that you need to ask for the lowest price you think the product is worth and if they don’t accept it start leaving the store and never low your price because they’ll go after you with a new proposal.

Assuming that you’re like me and you don’t like to bargain, just keep going to Joy’s and Costa Mall like I told you because they have everything: from clothes to every day products, from souvenirs to really beautiful bone China and the prices are really low. For you to understand it better, I bought almost everything there and afterwards I went to the Tunis Bazaar and they asked for higher prices there, even after bargaining for the lowest price that were being sold on those stores.

Tunis Bazaar

The Tunis Bazaar has lots of variety and it’s good if you’re seeking for hookah, typical clothes, chechia (the national hat of Tunisia), perfume essence, some jewelry, bridal trousseau and their tea and coffee sets (they are handmade but they are a bit overpriced) because you can’t get that quality on the other stores but apart from that it would be better for you to buy stuff on the fixed priced stores.

Nabeul

If you want to go shopping and none of the shops in Hammamet meet your expectations you can go to the weekly market in Nabeul on Friday just by taking a taxi from Hammamet, which will cost you approximately 20 dinars since it’s 20km away from this part of the city.

The Hotel

Before deciding where to stay keep in mind that you’re going to Africa so the hotel stars are not exactly the same as in Europe. Bearing this in mind, you have to choose which type of accommodation you want to include: if only bed and breakfast, half board, full board or all inclusive. When you choose the city you want to stay, check the hotel comments on Tripadvisor, booking and on other blogs because sometimes what people tend to say about the hotels are not accurate with what you truly get there (specially on the one I stayed because most of the comments were made a long time ago). Also, you need to check if only one week is enough for you to visit other places outside the hotel or if two or three weeks would be a better option.

For me it was a bit difficult to choose the hotel because the prices tend to be so different but the comments tend to be so similar so I jumped ahead and booked the El Mouradi Hammamet with all inclusive for two weeks. I wanted to check some places a bit far away from the hotel so I needed a bit more time.

Hotel El Mouradi Hammamet

I can tell you right now lots of things about this hotel so let’s start with the animation team: this team is the soul of the hotel and it is the best one that I had ever seen in my life! They were unstoppable and they kept having new activities every single minute. From archery game to aqua gym, from step aerobic to darts, from zumba to boccia, it’s unbelievable! They also had a different show every single night for both kids and the grown up, separately. And the music is really good! Besides this, they speak in Arabic, English, French, Italian, German, Russian and so many more languages that I couldn’t believe I was hearing it from boys and girls on their 20’s! Apart from that, all the staff from the reception, the restaurant and the swimming pool were also really nice and the hotel manager was really helpful at all times.

However, there are some things that you should know: their air conditioner starts working only on the 16th of June, which is really difficult to manage with the 30ºC outside. Fortunately, due to so many complaints from all the heat inside the rooms, the hotel got the air conditioner working on the 13th of June.

The room

This hotel was a really nice surprise for me. It’s reception, lobby and the common spaces were all renewed and really clean. The three people room was enormous (we actually had space for 4 people and we had a small living room and a huge balcony) and apart from the decoration and the bad illumination, which I guess it’s from a typical Tunisian bedroom, it was really clean every single day.

Hotel Accommodations

This hotel has other different accommodations included on the all inclusive such as an inside swimming pool with heated water, which is really nice if the weather is not nice to be in the outside swimming pool, a gymnasium, a tennis court, a small football court, a kids club and a congress room.

There are other accommodations like the spa where you can have lots of different packages of massages and other skin treatments (they even have packages for 5 or 6 days if you want to have a massage every single day!), some games at the lobby in which you pay 1 dinar for each game such as arcades (a super Bubble Bobble and a Super Mario one), two pool tables, a table football and another game which I don’t know the name but you can check on the pictures. You can also play table tennis and I think you just have to ask the animation team for playing it.

If you just want to relax and read a book but you just forgot all your books at home you can just get a book from the small shelf they have near the pool tables and you can sit down at one of the many couches they have at the lobby and enjoy reading it there.

Eating time

About the food, the buffet restaurant “Nesrine” is opened for breakfast from 5h to 10h, for lunch from 12h30 to 14h and for dinner from 18h30 to 21h and it has lots of food variety at all meals (and lots of different desserts, pancakes and omelets also!). In the meantime, while this restaurant is not opened, you can get something to eat at the “Coffee Shop”: from 10h to 11h30 you can have continental breakfast, from 15h to 18h you can have pizza, sandwiches or chips and 3 times per week you can have dinner there from 19h to 22h (on Mondays is the Tunisian dinner; on Wednesdays the International dinner and on Fridays the Italian dinner). You can grab any kind of drink from the "Iris" Bar Salon from 10h to midnight or at the bar standing in the middle of the pool and you can get a Turkish coffee or a mint tea from 15h to 23h at "El Ons" Mourish Coffee.

About the Tunisian Dinner

I wanted to tell you about this incredible and typical Tunisian meal but, actually, I don’t know some of their names but I made some research and talked to some Tunisians and I’ll try my best.

To start we had a Tunisian Salad. Afterwards we had soup and Brik. By the time we thought we were going to get the dessert we've been served couscous with lamb and just after this one we got the dessert. About this one I can just tell you that it had something with almond but unfortunately nobody could tell me its name.

About the International Dinner

This is a dinner with a mixture of different tastes. We started with a tomato, cheese and lettuce salad and afterwards we had a delicious soup (I don’t know what it had but it was so good). Afterwards we tasted a really delicious tajine. The main dish was a really tasteful golden fish with carrots and potatoes and to dessert we had an amazing chocolate cake that is still in my dreams!

Hotel Sun Beach Palm Douz

I came to this hotel on my tour to the desert so it wasn’t my decision at all. All I can say is that I wouldn’t stay there one minute more than I had to. Why? Well, for lots of simple reasons. Firstly, the restaurant had no air conditioner and it’s completely insane the hotness inside of this place (I don’t even know if it is or not hotter than outside). Secondly, the Wi-Fi doesn’t work and there are cockroaches walking freely inside the hotel and the staff sees it and doesn’t care at all.

The bedrooms weren’t that clean but at least they had air conditioner so I was happy. I can’t tell you anything more about this hotel since I was there for a couple of hours but all this small details didn’t impress me at all.

Wi-Fi

Oh well, this is an important matter because we are not on Europe so we pay a lot in roaming. There are two options: or either we buy some SIM card (which is the best idea by far!) or you need a Wi-Fi connection. In Tunisia, I had been in two hotels and I can tell you it turns really difficult to have a really good internet connection (good enough to make a call but sometimes just good enough to send a simple message on WhatsApp or Messenger). Fortunately, at Hotel El Mouradi Hammamet it was possible to use the internet freely when it wasn’t rush hour (and I had internet at my room also, besides what everyone was telling on Tripadvisor). However, at Hotel Sun Beach Palm Douz that wasn’t possible at all.

Gastronomy

Tunisia have lots of different traditional plates which completely amazed me. After the food from the plane I was a bit afraid of starving here but I didn’t! There are some musts that you have to give it a try.

Tunisian Salad

It is a basic salad containing onion, cucumber, tomato, beans, potatoes, olives, tuna and eggs but it tastes really nice and fresh.

Mechoia Salad

This is a red and traditional salad that you will find it in most restaurants and coffee shops. It is made with grilled sweet red peppers, tomatoes and onions mixed with oil, lemon, tuna fish and hard-boiled eggs. By its ingredients you can guess it can be spicy so you should ask before you try it.

Soups

There are lots of different kinds of soups and their soups are incredibly amazing. All of them are so tasteful and delicious that makes it difficult for me to tell you just to try one so you should give a try to them all!

Brik

This is a pastry called Malsouka which is fried and stuffed with egg, parsley and tuna but you can find some of them with other fillings such as cheese, potato and shrimp. It’s shape varies slightly but usually it’s a triangle like a calzone. A high-quality brik seems to be multi-layered and dryer than the rest of them. There’s a technique to eat it: you take a couple of bites until you finally reach the egg and then you need to swallow it so you don’t spill the egg’s liquid. It is generally served as the second course during Ramadan which is the main reason behind its popularity.

Tajine

This is the Tunisian version of tortilla made with beaten eggs, grated cheese, meat and various vegetable fillings which is baked like a large cake. It is usually served as a large snack before meals but you can also buy it as a main dish.

Couscous

Probably you have heard or even tried it on you own country. Locals agree that Couscous is original from Morocco however it’s origin is uncertain and it is considered throughout the North African cuisines of Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania and Tunisia. About the Tunisian couscous, it is a Maghrebi dish and there are endless different ways to prepare it, varying with the different area of the country you’re in. It is usually served in a deep plate with a piece of meat or fish and with some vegetables on top but preferably including for meat lamb or chicken and for fish red snapper, grouper, sea bass and swordfish. Favoured vegetables include peppers, carrots, pumpkin and potatoes.

Harissa

This is a spicy paste made with chilli peppers and garlic which is served as condiment for salad, fish or meat. It is not as hot as you would think and the best way to try it is by mixing together with the other food, bringing a tasty combination.

Bambalouni (or Chichi as they called it at the hotel)

These are a really delicious dessert but prepare yourself for a sugar boost. They are the Tunisian version of American doughnuts. They are round shaped flour dough fried in oil and sprinkled with honey, sugar or other toppings. I strongly recommend you to eat them hot because they are even better that way!

The Beach at Hammamet Sud

When I arrived at Hammamet Sud I was dreaming on going to the beach as I always am. However, when I reached it, the beach had so many algae that is was completely impossible to reach the sea because they were everywhere: on the sand and inside the water. The hotel provides sun beds and umbrellas but at the time I arrived they were still arranging everything so there were only 20 umbrellas more or less for everyone and they were getting the bar ready for the guests. However, by the time my vacations were over (two weeks later) they were cleaning the beach and it was possible to go for a swim at the sea during the morning while the sea didn’t reach the algae which were still at the beach and hadn't been collected. I can tell you that the water is really good and the sand is really white and thin so I totally recommend if you don’t mind about the algae or if the beach is already cleaned.

There are two things I want you to be aware here: firstly, there are people coming along the beach with lots of things for you to take a look, with some fruits for you to try (and afterwards it's when they ask you for the price they want) and people coming with camels saying that you only need to pay 1 dinar to take a picture but after you went on top of the camel they beat the camel in order for it to start walking on the beach and then they ask you for 30 dinar per person. Sometimes they ask 1 dinar to take the picture and then they tell you to jump on top of it for you to pay more so just keep this details on your mind before doing anything at all. Secondly, be aware that on this part of the beach, near El Mouradi Hammamet, you can do parachute, use a jet ski and other activities but you can’t go further inside the sea because the parachute boat gets really near the shore and it becomes a bit dangerous for the people bathing there.

The Desert (2 days tour)

This was mine and my parents dream like so many other people's and the main reason why we wanted to go to Tunisia for two weeks so when our guide presented us with this opportunity we couldn’t say no.

The first thing you need to be prepared is, of course, for the desert hotness so I brought the pashminas that saved me in Morocco, although it wasn’t enough for me not to get an insolation.

The first piece of advice I can give you is to know how many people are going with you on this trip because that influences the size of the bus you’re going in: if you’re less than 17 people like we were they are going to put you on a really small and old bus that doesn’t speed up beyond 70km/h. You could think that this is just a small detail however it is really bad because you’ll drive for more than 1200km on those two days and you’ll be staying inside this bus for most of the time. Fortunately it had air conditioner so I just continue looking at this good side of it apart from the rest.

On this trip we had the opportunity to go to many different places which I am going to tell you right now.

First day tour: from El Jem to Douz

1. Amphitheater of El Jem

This amphitheater was built around 230 AD and is one of the best preserved Roman stone ruins in the world. It is the biggest in Africa and the second biggest in the world. It was built like others amphitheaters during the Roman Empire for spectator events although it is believed that it was used as a saltpeter manufacture in the end of the 18th century and in the 19th century. On the second half of the 19th century, the structure was used for shops, dwellings and as grain storage.

This place is incredibly beautiful, most of it is at one piece and there are not too many tourists so you can take beautiful pictures here. I totally recommend it!

2. Mahrès

We’ve just made a small stop here on a restaurant called Sidi Boussaïd. It was beautiful from the outside but I couldn't order anything to eat or even to go to the toilet because everything was too dirty. I just recommend this place to take some pictures on the outside and that's it.

3. Matmata

At Matmata there's a nice panoramic view on the top of a mountain near its Welcome Sign where you can take lots of pictures. There's just one thing you need to be aware of: there are lots of locals with camels, small foxes and falcons trying for you to take a picture or even holding the animals and afterwards they ask you money for it.

After passing through this point we went to have lunch at Hotel Sidi Idriss which actually was one of the places where Star Wars was filmed! When you're inside you actually feel the aura and it's like you're part of the set. It's a must see for sure!

While you're exiting Matmata there's still a place you must check: a Rustic Troglodyte House! And what is such a thing? Well, locals have lived in underground homes for centuries. These are cave houses that offer protection against the extreme temperatures of summer and winter in the arid desert. Fewer of these underground homes are now used because these few remaining families say they are attached to their homes and land or they see no way of moving.

Inside you can check their typical furniture, some daily objects, how they make flour, taste some typical bread the way they still eat it and try out some of their costumes. Before you leave you usually leave a tip to the family that is showing you their house.

4. Tamezret

This is a really nice village where we just stopped for some moments at a really nice guest house called Dar Ayed. Here you can just relax while you're having a drink and you can also take some panoramic pictures either to the village and to the desert.

5. Douz

This city has been called the "ultimate palm oasis" since there's over 500.000 palm trees in the area and it is the starting point for many desert treks by camel, motorcycle or jeep. Here was where I stayed for the night after going camel trekking. About this experience, we entered and walked through the desert for approximately 40 minutes with a small stop to take some pictures on the sand dunes.

Nevertheless we had been told that during this walk we were going to watch the sunset at the sand dunes and that we would be walking a lot through these dunes but actually this didn't happen. Thus I think it would be better for you to ask your guide for these details before starting the trekking to be sure that the people that own the camels stick to that plan. We had also been told that there would be a person taking some pictures during this trekking but that didn't happen. In fact, this photographer just took one picture to each person and one picture to the whole group before the trek started and they cost 5 dinar each so don't forget to bring your camera and your selfie sticks in order to get some memories of this trekking.

Second day tour: from Chott el Djerid to Cairuan

1. Chott el Djerid

The biggest salt pan in Tunisia and actually the biggest one of the Sahara Desert. Due to the high temperatures during the day and the low annual rainfall, water evaporates from the lake and you can see the salt and minerals at its surface. This place is beautiful and completely different from every single one that I’ve seen until now. I truly felt I was standing on top of some kind of weird phenomenon and I totally recommend it!

2. Chebika Oasis

Did you think oasis weren’t real and that they only existed on movies while people were really thirsty and walking at the desert hotness while they’re seeing some kind of mirage? I did but they are real and this one is breathtaking!!

Chebika village flourished for centuries near the water source that springs from this desert mountains but it was abandoned in 1969 due to heavy floods. In fact, this flood was so violent that 80% of the country surface was under the water after 38 days of non-stopping rainfall. It is estimated that 542 people died, 70.000 homes were destroyed and there was about 300.000 refugees.

Chebika Oasis is truly wonderful. It is a network of underground water lines that feed the wells and irrigate all the palm groves but here one of the water lines originates a small waterfall with a small blue lagoon which delighted me and everyone around. I truly recommend seeing it from your own eyes and bathing here.

3. Omg Jmal

After having an incredible bath in the blue lagoon at Chebika Oasis we went Jeep trekking throughout the desert until we reached Ong Jmal. This place is located near Tozeur (one of the hottest cities in Tunisia) in the middle of the sand dunes and here you can find...Star Wars Tatooine! When Lucasfilm finished recording the movie they left here the set and some clothes and objects which are still well preserved.

There are some locals trying to sell some stuff (as always) and others trying to get you to take pictures to a small fox (don’t forget what I told you at Matmata Sign because the same happens here, you pay for holding it and afterwards you pay even more to take a picture to the fox itself or while holding it).

Whilst you’re at this place you actually feel that you’ve been transported to Tatooine planet and you totally forget about reality. This is an incredible place to all Star Wars fans and not fans if you just think these homes are holding on for so long after all the sandstorms that happen so often at the desert (one was starting while we’re getting out of there actually). While you’re moving away, you can see lots of wild camels living their life on the large desert.

4. Kairouan

Before ending this 2 day tour to the desert there was still one place we must visit before heading back to the hotel: The Great Mosque of Kairouan! Its minaret dates from the early 9th century or at least its lower portion does. In addition to functioning as a place to call for prayer, the minaret identifies the mosque’s presence and location in the city while helping to define the city’s religious identity. It assumed the important function of representing the cosmopolitan and urbane Kairouan, one of the first cities organized under Muslim rule in North Africa. Even today, the Great Mosque of Kairouan reflects the time and place in which it was built.

We were only allowed to walk a bit on the surroundings and I’m a bit sad we couldn’t enter (like most of he mosques). However, I’ll just stick with the thought that at least I saw one of the most important places in North Africa for Muslims.

Tunis, Carthage and Sidi Bou Saïd (1 day tour)

This tour main purpose was to enjoy our last day of vacation while we were visiting the capital, getting to check a bit of the ancient Carthaginian civilization and also to visit the village that the Tunisians call the “Santorini of Tunisia” because of the extensive use of blue and white.

1. Tunis

As you all know, Tunis is the capital of Tunisia and we had the opportunity to check the side of the medina which is usually not visited by tourists.

We started our tour at the Kasbah Square and then we went inside the medina by passing through the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Afterwards, we entered Zaouïa of Sidi Ben Arous, a 16th century mausoleum where Sidi Ben Arous once lived (on the 13th century). This man was known for his sympathy for the poor, the strangers and the animals. Now, his family lives from what other people give them (food and money among other things) and they give what’s left to the poor people. It was amazing for me to watch a typical medina house from the inside.

Kasbah Square

Ministry of Religious Affairs

Zaouïa of Sidi Ben Arous

Zaouïa of Sidi Ben Arous

Shortly after we had some free time to walk and buy some things at the Tunis Bazaar until we reached Victoria Square. Here you can find Bab El Bhar, a gate which marks the separation between the Medina of Tunis and the European city.

Before leaving Tunis you should walk along the avenue behind the gate until you reach the “I love Tunis” sign, the Cathedral of St Vincent de Paul and the Municipal Theatre of Tunis which have a beautiful architecture (we didn’t have time to check it from the inside).

Cathedral of St Vincent de Paul

Municipal Theatre of Tunis

2. Carthage

According to legends it was founded by the Phoenician Queen Elissa around 813 BC although it actually rose following Alexander the Great destruction of Tyre in 332 BC. At that time, the Tyrians who were able to escape fled to Carthage with whatever they could get. Since many whom Alexander spared were rich enough to buy their lives, these refugees landed here with considerable means and established Carthage as the new centre of Phoenician trade. From a small town on the coast, the city grew in size and grandeur. Carthage was the richest city in the Mediterranean in less than one hundred years: the aristocrats lived in palaces and the less affluent lived in modest but attractive homes.

There’s an interesting fact about this city: excavations at Carthage began in 1921 and from 1923 it was reported finds of a large quantity of urns containing a mixture of animal and children's bones. In fact, it was identified a 4th century BC stela found in Carthage as depicting a child sacrifice.

After having all this historical facts in my mind, I really wanted to check on the archaeological findings here. However, most of the ancient city lies beneath the new one and it is now a residential suburb of the city of Tunis.

3. Sidi Bou Saïd

Sidi Bou Saïd is a blue and white village that had been developed under Ottoman rule in the 18th century around the tomb of the eponymous saint which lived here on the 12th/13th century. I had really big expectations for this place because every single Tunisian said this was just like Santorini. In fact, I was stunned by all the different colors that you can find at all the doors, windows and its mixture with the flowers and plants and you can take amazing pictures here. However, you can’t find the blue domes magic and essence that you find in Santorini so I just keep thinking of it as the white and colorful village of Tunisia.

Taking a taxi

Whenever you enter a taxi it gets cheaper if you ask to be taxed by the tabled price because Tunisian taxi drivers tend to upper the prices so much that you’ll end up paying the price doubled or tripled than a Tunisian person pays for the same route.

Traffic in Tunisia

If you’re thinking about renting a car I should just warn you to do it if you’re a really crazy driver. Tunisian traffic is random. People drive on the side of the road, they don’t stop at roundabouts, they don’t know the meaning of a crosswalk or of the solid white lines, they park wherever they want and they drive while talking on their phones and without the seat belt on. After talking to locals, I had been told that there’s lots and lots of accidents every single year and that people just tend to do whatever they want after having their license, prevailing the law of the cleverest and fastest one.

I felt completely unsafe on their roads and inside their small buses so I wouldn’t try to drive one on my own so but it’s your choice, as always.

Tourism taxes

Every single person that is staying in Hammamet needs to pay a tax at the moment of your check-out at the hotel!

• If you’re staying on a 2 stars hotel you have to pay 1 Tunisian dinar per person per night.

• If you’re staying on a 3 stars hotel you need to pay 2 Tunisian dinar per person per night.

• If you’re staying on a 4 or 5 stars hotel you have to pay 3 Tunisian dinar per person per night.

The Airport

This was the messiest airport I have ever been! You lose lot’s of time at the check-in line, even if you (like me) did the check-in online, everyone is getting ahead on every single queue and the security doesn’t care about anything. People even pass through the disable line without any question!

Furthermore you have to wait for ages to pass the border control and then you have to be really quick taking all your liquids, medicines, electronic devices and shoes at the security control and by the time you reach the duty free shop you had already lost at least one hour.

When you reach the gate there’s just two people checking the passports and the boarding passes and they don’t really care if you’re bringing two, three or four hand luggage and three shopping bags so fell free to bring them if you’ve done lots of shopping and you don’t have any kilogram left out of the 23kg of your luggage.

Tunisair planes

Tunisair is one of the few airplane companies that flies to Tunisia directly from Portugal. I had never tried it before but after this trip I don’t want to repeat it. During the flight the air conditioner didn't work, only when the airplane was already landing (what’s the problem about air conditioners on this trip?) and for an almost 3 hours flight (2h35min) it’s too much to handle. Furthermore, the plane is a bit dirty (when I got from Milan to Tunis my seat and its table were too dirty to even say it was cleaned that morning, it was disgusting), all the seats have a tv which doesn’t work at anytime and the planes are too old (they balanced too much during turbulence, sometimes I thought I was going to die in it).

I think the best thing about this flight was the comfort of the chair and the duty free shop on board (some things are even cheaper than at Tunis airport). I would think twice while I was booking a new flight, now that I had taken two flights from this air company.

General Advice About My Experience in Tunisia

If there’s some advice I can give you besides all that I told you before is that you should visit Tunisia during Ramadan because it is when the hotels are not that crowded (it gets impossible to stay at the swimming pool or even at the beach afterwards without waking up at 5h to put some towels on the sun beds).

In addition, I was extremely disgusted by the lack of hygiene in general but more specifically at local Tunisian toilets and also the way the richer people from Tunisia, Algeria and Libya used to eat at the hotel. Sometimes I even had the sensation that the hotel was being evacuated and some catastrophe was about to happen because of all the food the people left on the table.

Also the men just sat down at the table waiting for their wife's and daughters to serve them, women tend to get ahead on the queues and men (in general, there are exceptions everywhere) don't have manners while talking to some foreign woman like me (they think they are the ones that are intelligent and the owners of the truth) but I guess this is their cultural way of living.

Nevertheless, I felt extremely uncomfortable on the streets and even just walking inside the hotel because all men would approach me, they were too touchy and asked me to go for a drink or to go somewhere for a walk. Once at a store, one of them even asked my parents my price for him to buy me because he thought I was 16 to 18 years old (even worse!) and wouldn’t leave us until he got what he wanted so this was pretty bad.

To sum, I think you should visit Tunisia, stay there for two weeks if you want to relax a bit and to go on the two trips (if you can, of course). It is safe to walk down the streets and I think you should get your own opinion by seeing it from your own eyes because you can have a totally different experience than the one I had.

Apart from all the down sides, I am one of those people who loves looking at the bright side of everything so this was a nice experience and if you'd ask me: "Would you go there if you knew all of this before?" Oh, I would answer: "Oh yes, I would!".

Safe flights ❤

Written by: Kiawa