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African Tales: Tunisia

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We were on our way to Carthage, a true dream for any architect or anyone who appreciates the Romans as much as me. After a timid conversation – what’s your name? Are you married?– the taxi driver and me started engaging in a deeper conversation.

Meanwhile I felt grateful to my French professor whose teachings have proved more useful than I had ever imagined.

“I was once married to a European, you see? but it didn’t work and we divorced. I now have a wife that waits for me at home and I am very content”. I’m unsure if you are able to divorce in their culture but I didn’t ask him not to be impolite. “I have two sons and a daughter and I hope all of them go to university in the future”.The more I travel the more I realize how similar all of us are. Our aspirations, fears and the strange idea of what happiness is.“Do you think tourism has decreased due to the recent terrorist attacks?” after an hour together, we started a more serious conversation as I couldn’t help being extremely curious about his opinion as a local. “Tourism has decreased mademoiselle. But people don’t understand that we are not all like that. I am an honest worker and pay my taxes at the end of every month. I know what they tell about us on TV, but it’s wrong. We are kind people, you see?”.

Carthage is remarkably beautiful. There’s nothing left but ruins of its grand Roman past – but it’s enough.

We visited Bizerte on our last day, the northern most African city. There’s a strange kind of collective minibus in which the traveler needs to bargain his seat. I hate to bargain, but I like to be treated as an equal there where I happen to be. So I start bargaining, and with a bit of chuckling I achieve a good price for being three (girls).

One of the best moments of this Tunisian trip happened on our way back, when our fellow minibus colleagues shared with us their bag of dates (the equivalent of a bag of chips in my world I imagined). It was fun and exciting.

After some days we learnt to ignore the police with machine guns, sand bags protecting certain areas and barbed wire. We enjoyed getting lost in Tunis’ thousand streets around the souks instead.

Tunisian doors are stunning. I must have bought 30 postcards of doors but I just sent two and think only one arrived to its destination. The rest, I greedily kept to myself.

Until next time Tunisia!

Check these and other amazing spots of Tunisia on the map below or download Tunisia Architecture Guide (PDF):

24 thoughts on “African Tales: Tunisia”

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  3. Me ha gustado mucho este nuevo tipo de entrada, la verdad 🙂

    por cierto, acabo de ser consciente de que siempre comento en español en tu blog en inglés, pero bueno..eso es lo bueno de ser ciudadano del mundo, que poco importa – espero. si prefieres lo puedo hacer en inglés.

    el mundo romano siempre siempre me ha apasionado, algo más que nos une 😉

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    • Me alegro que te haya gustado el cambio de tono. Tengo un documento donde escribo acerca de la gente que me cruzo y las historias que me cuentan pero nunca lo había publicado. Este post ha salido solo la verdad, me lo pedía el cuerpo. La conversación con mi querido taxista fue muy muy extensa. Aunque no lo cuente también me dijo que con mi edad (27) debería estar ya casada hahaha. La situación en Túnez era bastante bastante complicada, no sé ni cómo conseguí convencer a mis amigas de que fuéramos para allá 😛

      Este blog es un sitio para el diálogo, da igual en qué idioma me escribas. Me han comentado en inglés, italiano, francés y hasta alemán. El alemán lo tengo muy olvidado así que me alegra que de vez en cuando algún lector me fuerce a recuperar el idioma. Escríbeme en español porque cada día lo hablo peor 😀

      Los romanos han dejado tanta huella por Europa (y África) que siempre es un gusto ir descubriéndolos en sus múltiples formas.

      ¿Has visitado ya este increíble país?

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      • Yo creo que no soy la única más que encantada de leer esas historias que están a la espera de ser publicadas 😉

        A Túnez me quedé con las ganas de ir el año pasado. Íbamos a ir en noviembre y en el momento de coger los vuelos, subieron una barbaridad de precio, así que nos fuimos al Südtirol – otra maravilla, diferente pero genial.

        A ver si lo consigo pronto, me estuve leyendo la página del ministerio de exterior y al final “es peligroso” ir a cualquier lugar – cuando viaje a Myanmar a mi familia casi le da un palpito al saber que había aún toque de queda en ciudades ja ja ja

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    • Thanks Susanne! South Africa is dangerous but it’s such an interesting country! I have never been and look forward to visit it too. Do you plan to go in their summer? (European winter)

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  8. Hi there ! I am happy that you enjoyed your time in Tunisia. I very much liked the pictures you took and the post. Maybe it will help bring more travelers. 😉 🙂

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  9. Pingback: The Free Architecture Guide of Tunisia (PDF) | Virginia Duran Blog

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