Saturday, October 01, 2005
Beaches and beyond
It is time for an update of our site so we catch the train to Tunis. It stops at every station there is but we easily reach town without having to worry where to go and where to park. Besides that the boys love trains. We immediately head for the Medina, an old living quarter full of stores, shops and small streets. Not easy to use the stroller, but we manage. Not that Rik is in the stroller, he is high up in the air, in the back carrier. But Bart has some adjustment problems so we rather push than talk him through town. There is plenty to see, we never like all the touristy items, but Bart loves them. Especially the 2 small turtles in a cage enjoying their salad. He can ask more questions than we can answer. But I prefer him being interested to being a drag, asking for sweets, something to drink, being lifted and carried etc.Thanks to the Lonely Planet we also find our way to quiet parts of the Medina, where life is still as it used to be. We have a look in a mausoleum where about a hundred tombs are on the floors. We nearly used one as a seat, which would be very impolite, but the workers have thrown their jackets right on top of some.
For the first time in our lives we enjoy a French Fries bum with egg and spicy vegetables. Not bad and luckily the boys sleep during our lunch break… In the slowest internet connection I have known so far I manage to update our site. It’s not easy when the keyboard has a different lay out and everything is in French (Arabic would have made things impossible though!)
We leave the Bardo museum for a next time (?) and continue to Bizerte. After 2 nights in a hotel it is great to be back camping. There is a large playing ground, not quite safe to Dutch standards, but Rik and Bart have great fun. Bart is the king, Rik the prince and on top of the slide is their castle. They do not need to go anywhere else, but we do. We need to do some shopping in the village. Soon we see the donkeys carrying all kinds of goods and people, women covered in white only showing their faces, men lounging in front of a café, fruit stalls and a real cows head shows exactly where the butcher is. The one stop shopping is not done over here, so we buy fruit in one stall, bread in another, sausages at the butchers, pasta, yogurt and biscuits at a grocery and fresh vegetables at another stall. It is not easy to find nice vegetables when all you see is peppers and dusty tomatoes. But like everywhere else in the world there are carrots for sale.
After the shopping we go swimming and even use the snorkeling gear to explore a small piece of corral with some nice fish. Bart happily splashes around on the new beach shoes his grandma bought him for the trip. Rik prefers to play with his toys in the sand. Without getting sun burned we return to the campground, only a 5 minutes walk away. How lucky we are only to find they are burning thrash that gives a terrible smoke and smell around the place. Well, one can’t have it all.
Lake Ichkeul is the next stop. It is a large lake that hosts thousands of migrating birds every year. Unfortunately we arrive too early in the season and there are only a few birds to be seen. Even through the binoculars we can hardly find one. But the track shows traces of the buffalo that live here too and that is also interesting. Bart creates whole theories of where they went and which way they left the road. It’s fun to join him in his explorations.
We continue on a very bad road that is under construction while it is hot. It’s windy and the average speed is 45 km/hour so it consumes more time than expected to get to our next spot. In Tabarka, a coastal town we are surprised by a fort situated high on a hill. We find a parking place right next to the beach and enjoy a cool breeze and the splendid view while the boys enjoy a drink and run around on the sand. We decide to continue for the last 30 km and luckily the road is all right. In Ain Draham the manager of a hostel informs us there is a campsite in the woods. How lucky again. It is not signposted, but after asking we find the spot. The caretaker welcomes us and supplies us with fresh eggs for the boys. During dinner 4 woodpeckers show up, such a nice surprise.
We come to Ain Draham to hike in the cork woods and start right from the campsite. Lovely views, studying beetles carrying dung, looking for the footprints of wild boars and deer make the hike a nice experience.
In town Hans decides to visit a barber for a Tunisian haircut. It’s a man only shop but they do not seem to mind that I wait with the kids for Hans to be finished. The funny thing is that the remaining hair is washed after the haircut! Rik needs a haircut too but after some time he wants to flee his wooden chair. So the singing bird is introduced right in front of him and that keeps him busy for a while. The only disadvantage for the hairdresser is that Bart is around too to watch the bird…No he does not want his hair cut. Only 5 Tunisian dinar lighter we leave the place, about 10 times less than in Holland and the result is the same!
From here we visit the Roman ruins of Bulla Regia. We do not expect much after Carthage, but easily spend 2 hours exploring the beautiful place. The theater is still in a good condition and we see 2 young Dutch actors on stage. Bart and Rik like to have our attention and here the acoustic is superb. Further on there are a few underground houses that we can enter. They are nice and cool in the heat of the day and contain some nice mosaic floors. What a clever idea to live underground. We roam around and have a great time before returning to our cork woods.
From Bulla Regia to Dougga is a small step in mankind as Dougga is also a Roman site, but it is a 2 hours drive. High on the hill there are a lot of remains from temples, baths, streets and the Forum building is still towering high above us. For the kids it is too much so I spend some time drawing with them and enjoying ice cream. In the meanwhile Hans runs around to absorb as much as possible. We have lunch near our campervan and wonder why most tourist buses arrive here in the heat of the day. I exchange some information with a French campervan owner who traveled in Tunisia too before we leave for El Kef. El Kef does not have a campsite but we find a nice spot next to the three star hotel Leklil. It’s not cheap with 20 TD per night but we have our own terrace, can use their bath and electricity and enjoy the view on the old town with the kasbah (fortress) right on the top. The boys definitely needed a bath and so did we. So they are splashing around while I try to keep the bathroom a bit decent. But we have fun and feel like being born again afterwards.
The kasbah is worth a visit and the caretaker shows us around. The views on the town and the valleys are nice. So are the small streets around it and the museum I visit by myself while the boys have their fruit in the campervan. The museum shows a lot of the clothing, jewellery, tools and even a tent from the Berbers that live in the area. It is very well displayed and I have a personal guide to inform me in his rapid French. After that it is time for me too to visit a hairdresser. The lady keeps on eye on her 2 children while cutting my hair. It would not be my choice to work like that, but she does a good job. She likes to straighten all my hair though and I always like some volume so as soon as I am out of sight I try to get that back. No change, she used a hairdryer and some fixing stuff so I suppose I need to wash it first, maybe a night’s sleep will do the right job.
# posted by Hans, Monique, Bart en Rik @ 8:38 am 
