Tunisia was kind of a let down after Portugal (we had not originally planned to go to Gibraltar and Portugal. But they were very close to Morocco and we had time to fill in), In Tunisia we had to reacquaint ourselves with bad food, unsafe tap water, calls to prayers, etc.
We were supposed to fly from Lisbon to Tunis and arrive around 1 PM. But a new passport control system at our layover in Frankfurt caused us (and hundreds of other people) to miss our connection. We were rebooked on a flight that didn’t depart until 9:50 PM. That meant 11 hours in the Lufthansa business lounge. Needless to say we did a lot of planning on our tablets. By the time we got into Tunisia, it was around 1 AM. We didn’t get to our hotel until 2 AM. Our taxi was only able to get within a half mile of our hotel. And the cobblestone streets we walked on to get to our hotel at 1:40 in the morning? They were packed with over a thousand young people celebrating Ramadan. They were singing, banging drums, blowing horns and revving motorcycles. They kept it going until 2:30 AM (early Sunday morning).
Tunisia boasts that they are the most liberal Muslim country and we saw why. The rest of the time we were in Tunis they were partying until 10:30 PM. We spent four nights in Tunis and toured ancient Roman ruins. After Tunis, we went on to Sousse. Some of Sousse is oceanfront and more of a resort area. We spent four nights in Sousse. A one-day tour of the area included the El Djem colosseum. This is the third largest Roman colosseum in the world and the one that is the most original. It was the most interesting sight in Tunisia. Another part of our tour was walking through a Souk. While we’ve walked through many of these markets in other countries, this one set a new level for being crowded. At one point, where the alleys opened up into an intersection that was about 50′ by 50′. It was packed with about a thousand people. Half trying to go one way and the other half trying to go the opposite direction. A fight broke out only four feet away from us. We managed to get another four feet further away and slowly work our way out of there. But it was definitely unnerving.
Our hotel in Sousse was an Iberostar Select which was quite nice. They had good live entertainment every night. Amenities included minigolf. Granted, it was the first minigolf course we’ve seen where the greens were concrete. Kate usually wins, but for once I managed to tie her.