Ksar Djerid Tozeur

... was the shop of a Berber who had a pet desert fox, which he let me hold!

As soon as the group returns from the jeep trip we go to lunch, followed by a carriage ride through the lovely and peaceful palm gardens of Tozeur. At the midpoint of the ride, we stop for a walk among the palms while our guide explains the pollination process and a man climbs up one of the trees in his bare feet to demonstrate how ...

... accompanied by Berber youths. At one point I'm beckoned off my camel by a handsome man on a stallion and offered a ride on his horse. How could I resist?

We cross a huge salt lake on a causeway as the sun is setting, reaching our hotel in Tozeur. We’re very close to Algeria now, and looking forward to another day of desert and oasis adventures tomorrow.

... quinto piano...) e il carotone ha finalmente posato le ruote sull'asfalto tunisino alle 7 passate. Fidandoci delle indicazioni di un altro motociclista pratico della tunisia (forse un filo superficiale, ma pur sempre pratico... tunisi č brutta, e cartagine - CARTAGINE!! - sono 4 sassi) abbiamo deciso di passare la prima notte ad Hammamet, giusto il tempo di una cena cosė cosė e siamo crollati in un albergo bruttarello, ma talmente fronte mare che il rumore ...

The computers here are insanely slow and I'm not allowed to upload the pictures I've got! I 've written all the entries from the last one up till now, but alas, they're on a USB card too (used ethan's phone to type them out so that I wouldn't have to spend ages in an internet cafe). They're coming, don't worry. We're safe and everything's wonderful. I have lots of pictures and stories. We're off on our desert excursion tomorrow to the Grand ...

... ride. Walked the desert for 1.5 hrs, was still cool, best time of the day to do the camel ride. This was a major highlight of our trip. We got some good shots. After the ride, we left for the Tatouine to go see the berber villages in the cliff and the Ghorfas, went to Chenini, Douiret and Hsar El Soltane, Chenini was the best preserved and the most interesting. Got the berber guide to show us around, it was really worth the few dinars it ...

... we were hungry and ready to find somewhere for lunch. The Lonely Planet guide book led us down the road to a lovely little restaurant with a fountain, called Tozeurous. There were many customers, both Tunisian and French, and we ordered local dishes; salad mechouia ( a delicious blend of mushed peppers, onions and tomatoes) and briq to start with, then couscous and spaghetti. We laughed about how it would sound in English to say, " For my lunch I ate a brick!" But the ...

... always screaming. Once in Tozeur, we realized how great it was to be out of Tunis. The only way I can say it is that Tozeur had a great vibe-it felt a lot like Siem Reap in Cambodia. A big frontier town that caters well to tourists, but yet is small enough and located where you really feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. Because really...you are. Tozeur is far from Tunis and the cities on the coast, on the edge of the Saharan sand seas, and not far from Algeria ...

... watermelons. Piles the size of ute-loads are everywhere and which is not surprising considering how refreshing they are in the heat. And when you're looking for the butcher, just keep an eye out for the camel head hanging over the door. Very compelling. Finally, despite French influence the place is still lucky to have made it into the 20th ...

... there are the first signs of dates emerging at the moment. The must love the summer sunshine. Back in town and we wizzed past a number of giant decorative roundabout sculptures made of the distinctive and very small sand bricks that are the primary construction material in the area. More on that later but at least the roadways are pretty. A ...

... into the desert and see the Ong Jemal (the neck of the camel). It,s not bad, getting there is fun. We drove offroad through the desert on a rough track, stopped to see a herd of camels, then a quick stop to look at the rocks. Then he took us over some wicked steep drops and some huge dunes, you haven,t really offroaded until you do it in the Sahara, then perched us on top of another high dune and directly below us on a flat space of desert sat Mos Espa. We went down into the ...