Karthago Le Palace La Marsa

... carved in stone by their grieving families.

We enjoy one more buffet dinner tonight at our hotel before visiting the sidewalk cafes one last time to enjoy watching the nighttime crowds on the main avenue in front of the hotel. One other client and I check out of the hotel at midnight tonight, and head to the airport to catch our Lufthansa flight back to Frankfurt, departing at 2:30am!

... then we leave for our Farewell Dinner at the Dar Bel Haj – another famous restaurant in the medina. It is fantastic to walk the twisting lanes of a medina that is bustling in the daytime and almost totally deserted at night.

The tour is now officially concluded. Two members leave tomorrow while the rest of us make an optional excursion to the Roman site called Dougga. Stay tuned!

... Medina of Kairouan.

We hit the road again, and make it to Tunis exactly at 7pm. We bid farewell to one of our traveling companions tonight who must leave tomorrow, then go to the Café de Paris to sit on the sidewalk and watch the people. It isn’t long before we are surrounded by gorgeous young men who are giving us the beautiful Tunisian eyes. It has been a long day, but one which I consider a complete success!

... lunch overlooking the bay of Tunis.

Our final stop is the Bardo Museum, which houses some of the most amazing mosaic works discovered throughout Tunisia as well as statuary and other art objects. After visiting the museum our guide walks through the medina of Tunis with us, showing us its many markets on our way back to the hotel. We dine at the hotel tonight, and prepare for an early start in the morning.

... the little grottos and mosaics that were dotted around the site. There was so much to see, so much to try and piece together, and so much to imagine. Yet we had not yet encountered the piece de ...

... past carefully ploughed fields of wheat, broad beans and barley. This area was the breadbasket of the Roman Nation. The annual Oil tax from this region was over 30 million litres a year to help Rome stay smooth and supple and well fed. Thats quite a lot really. (Another ...

... own. Easier said than done. As we walked out of the port we were confronted by taxi drivers who wanted to take us around for the day to the ruins of Carthage, into Tunis town and then back to the port. All of which we had planned to do by train all in 5 hours. Sounded easy but then we realised that the ruins were spread out and we probably wouldn't have made it to all of them ...

... Palace and had a wonderful talk with the head security guard about my impressions of Tunisia so far. So far, they are good. It's very clean and the people are very friendly. Of course, I haven't headed into the Medina yet, so we'll see how that goes. Internet is pretty hard to find. I've only found one place on the main street and I only found it because Lonely planet told me where it was. They have nice new ...

He Said: The day we flew to Malta we had a bit of extra time before our late afternoon flight so we opted to visit a blockbuster Tunis attraction, the Bardo Museum. I realize you probably have never heard of the place...neither had I until I saw it in the guidebook. The Bardo is probably the finest collection of ancient mosaics in the word, and they are all from archeological sites around Tunisia. Tunisia is where the ancient kingdom of Carthage ...

... the ultimate demolition team -time- took care of. Although I may have been disappointed with the ruins, Tunis itself is spectacular. Due impart to its recent history as a French colony it is considered the Paris of Africa. It is a majestic city bursting with charm elegance and cultural substance; in part a product of the highbred influences its history and geographical position has yielded. Before departing the comfort of Italy I had read in a guide book 'it is ...