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Archery, and the bus that never came!
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Breakfast was an amazing selection of food, and Paul Eric helped himself with great relish! I didn't do so badly myself, but you had to pay extra for orange juice. (Thumbs down for that!)
Archery was on the programme at 10.30, and since we had both done it before and enjoyed it, we decided to participate. I found it fun, but that was only because of the international group of funny people who enjoyed a good joke. The Tunisian activity leader amazed me by switching quickly between Italian, French, German and English! Wow! I wasn't very good at it this time, for some reason and when he called out the points at the end, he just thanked me for participating, which made everyone laugh! Here is a picture of Paul Eric doing archery last summer at Butlins.
Our plan was to visit the fort at Houmt Souk and then go to the weekly Libyan market just nearby. We were told that the bus left outside at 12pm, and we wanted to take it to save the taxi fare. We waited, and waited.......and waited. When a minivan left the hotel, we stopped it and asked about the bus, "Don't worry," the driver said, " She come, maybe half hour late, maybe one hour, but she come." Well, well, we sat down again at the bus stop and were encouraged when a Tunisian boy also sat with us. A bus drew up and he got on. When I asked, I was told that the bus was going to Midoun, not Houmt Souk and that we should stand on the other side of the road. I later thought this was strange - surely the bus would continue from Midoun to Houmt Souk?! Anyway, we had not seen a bus drive in the opposite direction either, so we started to queue on the other side. A man came and stood in queue, but he didn't seem to have any more details of the bus. Apparently it came when it came. We had already been there for well over an hour and decided enough was enough - a cab it was after all!
The driver took us as requested to Borj el-Kebir, just outside town on the coast, where we enjoyed walking around the ramparts. I
t is also sometimes called Borj Ghazi Mustapha. The Romans had the first stronghold here, but it was the king of Sicily, Roger de Lluria who in 1289 built the first fortress. In 1560, the Spanish who had taken over the fort, were driven back by Ottoman forces. Hundreds or thousands of Spanish skulls were kept on display in the tower for over 200 years. Most of the fort was rebuilt by the Ottomans.
It was a conveniant short walk along the road with the Libyan market back into the centre of Houmt Souk. Unfortunately, I don't seem to be very good at timing these markets - they always start early and finish early in comparison with my timing! It was packing up, but happily, the taxi-driver had told us that they had exactly the same market in Midoun on Fridays. All was not lost therefore. We also passed the "Mosque of the Turks" on our way into town, with its destinctive round minaret, another relic of the Ottomans.
It was a pleasant walk through the pretty medina, and we were now more relaxed about simply ignoring all the shopping offers, without feeling we were being rude. We bought a cheap main course at the Italian restaurant, La Caprice, and afterwards headed for the internet place, where there was great café downstairs. We ordered dessert - huge crêpes with chocolate for Paul Eric, and honey and almonds for me, along with Turkish coffee and mint tea! Wow, it was good, and so reasonable at just 8 dinars altogether. It was such a pretty little place, we will have to go back one day and try out the other items on the menu!
Then came our second bus-experience of the day. We easily found the bus station, and got the right information. We queued with lots and lots of people. When the bus arrived, people just piled on as fast as they could, and there were no seats left within minutes. Apart from that, the bus was totally crammed. No, forget that lark, I thought, we'll take a taxi! And a taxi it was! Our taxi-driver had to stop at a shop, and next to it was a supermarket. Thinking it would be nice not to have to get up and go down for breakfast, I stocked up on bread, apricot jam, juice, cheese and yoghurt. There was a fridge in our room so that was no problem.
When we returned, we relaxed in our room with a cool American film. (I actually got involved in it for once!) It was so good we nearly missed our dinner, and we went running down just before they closed at 9.30pm. They were a bit sceptical - thought we had eaten twice, but then they understood that we hadn't and allowed us ice-cream and red wine. We had a quick look at the International Cabaret before bed, which was mildly entertaining.
Where I stayed:
Hotel Mouradi Djerba Menzel
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| 8. | Archery, and the bus that never came! - Djerba, Tunisia Feb 14, 2008 (  3 ) |
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