When finally, tired and happy we returned home, it was already dinner time. All together we went to Goulette – a port town famous for its fish restaurants. It is also called Tunisian Sicily due to a strong Italian immigration in the end of the 19^th century. This was the first time we affronted the horrible reality of the smokers’ world. Being so used to the non-smoking policy of the European restaurants, I was simply not ready to suffocate in literally every place we tried to dine in. Naturally, it is impossible to understand whether the restaurant was good or bad, as behind the tobacco smoke, I could hardly taste anything at all.

The morning started with the food shopping at our first Maghreb market or souk. Even if it was a far cry from being old or particularly authentic, it was, once again, enough to blow our mind away with tastes, flavors, noise and everything that goes along in any market in the world. Except that here we could buy candied lemons, dates, the most deliciously smelling melons and aromatic sticks, as well as… tortles. Breakfast on the terrace with squeezed orange juice and this view – could it really be any better?

As soon as we woke up, we took a train to Tunis – the capital city of Tunisia. With its population 740 000, it’s also the biggest city of the country, whose true heart is beating in its old town – Medina. However, it was Sunday and we were told that Medina would be empty, so we changed our plan and decided to spend the day in the modern town of Tunis.

And that was the day when we thought our head would explode into tiny bits due to overload.

Up to the fifties, Tunisia used to be a French colony, and indeed – there are loads of traces of French impact all over the country, starting with the clearly visible Art Nouveau in more recent architecture, and ending with an amazing level of French spoken by the locals. We felt a curious déjà vu while walking in the streets that look so much like the streets of Marseille.

Our last full day in Tunisia had to start with trying a new sport – Stand-Up Paddle, so as soon as we woke up, we went straight to Sidi Bou Said’s port.

I will spare you from the details about the rise and fall (literally) of our relationship with the SUP board, but if you ever want to try it yourself, you are absolutely welcome. Probably you’ll be the lucky one to find my sunglasses drawn in the waters of the Mediterranean sea.

Meanwhile, the harbor of Sidi Bou Said is a tiny and beautiful place where your camera will have an opportunity to catch some everyday life shots. And it was only the first of many surprises of Sidi Bou Said, which turned out to be a little marvelous town with a truly Mediterranean spirit. White houses with blue doors, its streets, buildings and roofs – a true visual pleasure. No wonder it has been so popular with tourists for decades, especially with French bohemia at the times when Tunisia was still under French domination. Make sure to pass by every street of Sidi Bou Said, to visit some of the Dars (houses or manors) with a compulsory stop to admire the sea disappearing in the horizon.

Before leaving Tunisia, we had just enough time to buy some tasty souvenirs and pack our bags. You will probably laugh, but the mood before leaving could be best described as tragic. Even though we had enough impressions to digest for weeks, we wanted more of Tunisia and several months after this trip, that craving didn’t wash away. So, yet again, we face a dilemma – should we come back and spend more time in Tunisia or should we switch to something new? I guess it’s an eternal question for most of us.

In order to get from La Marsa to Tunis, we used trains. It’s cheaper and more local than the taxi, although taxis are also very common not only for tourists, but for Tunisians too. It might look a bit chaotic and not obvious, but you quickly get used to jumping in the middle of the road and waving for a taxi with a green light. In Tunis we also used the metro, even if it was, in fact, a simple tramway. Very budget-friendly, but we had to wait for ages before it finally arrived, so we are not sure about the quality of the connections. Probably, to travel outside Tunis, a car would be useful, but we wouldn’t dare to drive ourselves. A matter of practice, I suppose. At the end of the trip we were crossing the streets without any respect to the safety rules just like the locals.

We speak not a single word of Arabic, however, during 5 days in the Tunis area we didn’t need it at all, as everybody spoke perfect French. This is another farewell “gift” from the times of French colonization, but it was helpful as hell. We were directly addressed in French wherever we went and had zero troubles with communication. On the contrary, English doesn’t seem that common.

From Tunis to La Marsa

Tunisia is a very budget-friendly destination. However, if you go to the restaurants for the expats, the price won’t differ much from any other restaurant in Western Europe. Otherwise, the average taxi ride costs around 5 Dt within Marsa-Tunis area, 9 Dt – to get to the airport, a cup of mint tea – 3 Dt and an average meal around 30 Dt per person. We also ended up with a silver bracelet for 300 Dt, but we have a nasty feeling that we could split this sum in four if we cared for bargaining. Always have some cash with you, as we had to deal with a constant trouble of broken ATM machines.

We were never particularly fond of Maghreb cuisine, but in Tunisia it was a never-ending feast of delicious couscous, fish, lemon confit, mint tea with pine nuts, briks with all possible fillings and, naturally, a lot of pastry! We are flexitarians, but we could easily avoid meat and still be perfectly happy with our meals. To distinguish good quality food from the bad one, having common sense will largely suffice.