Smooth Landing into Tunis
Trip Start
Dec 06, 2008
1
Trip End
Dec 15, 2008
Kairouan,
Tunisia
Monday, December 8, 2008
Turkey is behind Singapore by 6 hours. Tunisia, on the other hand, is 7 hours behind Singapore!!
The Tunis Carthage Aeroport withstood time the very well, as it looked very much like it had not changed in the last 20 years...
Our guide is called Ahmed and the driver is Mohamed. Both are very common muslim names for males.
They took us to "Le Phenix De Carthage" Restaurant for lunch first before embarking on our tour for the day. The starter was some steamed egg, and we had turkey for the main course (which was a bit saltish), then we also had chocolute mousse for dessert (which was like eating chocolate whipped cream!).
I guess we were not very used to the food because it tasted too saltish, oily & sweet! Especially when this tour consisted of quite a lot of senior citizens, and they had been accustomed to homecooked food in Singapore, so they are bound to make some noises!
After lunch, we went to Sidi Bou Said, which was a very pretty & artistic area in Tunis. We were supposed to visit the Carthage but due to the public holiday "Hari Raya Haji", which was considered a very 'holy' occasion where they made sacrifices to the God, we had to change the itinerary a bit.
The blue doors against the white-washed walls were a pretty sight in Sidi Bou Said. It is named after Sidi Bou Saïd, a 13th-century Sufi holy man (1156-1231), who settled here on the return journey from his pilgrimage to Mecca. From then on, the village (known at the time as Jabal el-Menar) became a centre of Sufism, and attracted pilgrims from all over the country.
The Café des Nattes is the village's hot spot and was the favourite haunt of the 1920s avant-garde artists who came here. It remains highly popular to this day and a traditional glass of mint tea with pine kernels can still be enjoyed.
There were also many art galleries in Sidi Bou Said. I loved the little alleys behind these houses! I managed to get a shot of a pretty cat sitting on the walls of one of these houses in the little alley next to Cafe des Nattes.
Tunisians like to hang bird cages at the archway! And they really put in a lot of effort to decorate the doors as there were hardly any 2 similar designs!!!
We witnessed beautiful sunset at Sidi Bou Said...
The hotel we are staying in is Kasbah Hotel. The interior is super "POSH" and spacious!!!
