Romantic Tunisia
As they say, “there would be no happiness, but misfortune helped” – we planned a vacation at sea at the end of July and the first half of August, it was supposed that this was a gift for our wedding anniversary, but for reasons beyond our control we had to postpone it to September. And did not fail, prolonged the summer, very high quality)
The ticket and the country were chosen spontaneously, with the speed of sound, almost from the airport) Tunisia was chosen on the basis of those considerations that it was not far to fly, the sea was warm, prices were low. End point – Hammamet, 8 days cost us 15,000, 4 star hotel, terrace with great views, all inclusive. And I can definitely say we were not mistaken with the choice.
This is the first trip to my vacation without children with my husband for the last 5 years, so luggage was minimal – two backpacks. You can get from the airport by taxi to the capital of Tunisia in 10 minutes and $ 2, of course, we heard that there are very reasonable prices, but that we did not expect so much. 120 rubles for a taxi, Karl! We didn’t invent a bicycle, before checking into our hotel in Hammamet we decided to take a walk around the capital of the country, and then went on the train further. By the way, who will decide how to take the train like us – one ticket is $ 4. The capital will be remembered for an endless pattern of cute glazed tiles. Remember such beautiful multi-colored tiles on most handouts? Now we know why they are there)) They are everywhere. And they decorate the cities of Tunisia very much.
Before this visit, neither I nor my husband had ever been to Africa. And, frankly, I still, even after visiting Africa itself, namely the Sahara desert, I think that we visited something European)) I don’t know that it is “storming” me, but specifically this country, once formerly colonial , for me it was preserved in my memory as something southern, French or Italian, with a slight Arabic accent. Neither the singing of the muezzins in mosques, nor the delicious oriental sweets, nor the bright, oriental generous bazaar affected.
The hotel has a spacious room, a large bathroom, two swimming pools, the reception is English-speaking (we personally worried a bit, assuming that the locals understand French, and we both don’t know it).
Our all inclusiv in the hotel was grandiose, there wasn’t any local flavor in the dining room, rather European cuisine, with a slight Mediterranean slant, but it was insanely tasty, and the cost of the rest was ridiculous. But in small restaurants we were able to try some of the absolutely “local”, unfortunately, the names for my memory are too difficult to remember. A characteristic feature of the kitchen seemed to me the presence of a large number of spices, a love of dishes with a consistency of mashed potatoes and very tender meat in most second courses. Prices are deafeningly low, for dinner (from a million plates and plates) for two, we paid an average of 20 to 30 dollars.
From the cultural program visited the royal ruins. Walking along these ancient stones involuntarily you fall into a light stupor. The Phoenicians, in my view (erroneous, as it turned out) are wild nomadic tribes, and when you see the ruins of the majestic Coliseum literally, patterns break.
We did not plan a large number of excursions, I just wanted a lazy vacation and the sea. But they did not regret even once that they got up early in the morning (6 am) and went here. It was not so much the ancient stones themselves that managed to see, literally felt the look of centuries. You feel like an ant in space, trying to understand how these amazing people built the highest delicate interlacing of arches. Perhaps the perception of monuments of this kind has changed in principle, and it’s just that age affects it so much, but I want to think that this is still the influence of the magic of the Colosseum in El Jem.
The second heroic outing for our week of rest was a trip to the Sahara (or across the Sahara?). The scale of the sandy elements is, of course, enormous, but either I was too spoiled or not disposed to feats – the trip did not impress me “wow”. Yes, and my husband did not particularly like it. The only thing that brightened up this crazy undertaking was swimming in the oasis waterfall and dinner with the Bedouins)
By the way, the main disadvantage of both of us, without saying a word, determined the need to ride a camel. I don’t know, maybe it was just so unlucky for me, but it seemed extremely uncomfortable to ride this animal. Although in one of my past trips I climbed Demerdge on a horse and did not feel any discomfort.
But the landscapes, as you see, are of crazy beauty, especially pleased with the picture taken by our guide, where we are weaving on camels against the sunset. Straight storyboard “Elusive Avengers”)
Do I recommend visiting this country and has this holiday made us want to come back here again? Definitely yes. There is something to see, where to take a walk, enjoy nature and centuries-old history, and when we kindly remind our toad that it is all indecently cheap – the toad is eager for vacation, languidly twitching its paws))) So children go to Africa for a walk, be sure go!
