While looking for flights from Cairo to Casablanca I noticed that Tunisair was one of the cheaper options. The trip would include a 20 hour stopover Tunesia. Since I had never been to this country before, I only thought that sounded interesting.
The good thing about the long layover was that my bike would stay in the airport. I therefore only had a small backpack to bring as I got out of the airport and looked for a taxi to downtown Tunis. Even though I’m not often taking taxis, 6 years of travelling have taught me a trick or two. I therefore asked my taxi driver to remove a newspaper he had laying next to the gear stick, and sure enough, hidden there was the taximeter showing a much lower fare than what the driver was asking. Haha, caught in the act.
The next morning I started the day with a breakfast at the courtyard of my beautiful (and very cheap) youth hostel in the old medina. How I love this North African architecture – and there will be more of it to come over in Morocco.
I then met up with Majdi, a young radio amateur from Tunis, who had generously offered to show me a bit of his city before I had to go back to the airport. We started with a tour of the old medina. Wow, talk about a photogenic place.
We then drove out to neighborhood of Sidi Bou Said for lunch and a walk around the narrow streets with the white buildings overlooking the Mediterranean. Looking out over the ocean I felt I could almost see Europe.
I felt right at home in this typical Mediterranean neighborhood and I can’t wait to be spending some more time in similar places in Morocco and Spain. The good old Mediterranean will indeed be my home for the next month and a half which I’m all very excited about.
Much too soon it was time to head back to the airport and wait for my flight to Casablanca. Thanks for the great welcome to Tunisia, Majdi. Can’t wait to come back to explore more.
Beautiful, awesome country!!!
Picture postcards!