Way back during week two we road tripped all over southern-ish Tunisia. I have been procrastinating putting photos up because I have so many. But, it’s about time, since I only have a few more weeks left here (mixed feelings about that…I’m excited to come back but I’ll miss my host family a lot; I mesh with them really well).
During the week we hit the cities of El-Jem, Maharès, Gabès, Jerba, Matmata, Douz, and a few others. Here are some maps of Tunisia to give you a better idea of where I was:
El-Jem is probably most well known for the Roman amphitheatre there (built, like most Roman ruins in Tunisia, on top of ancient Punic ruins). I saw a baby camel there, and at a museum I found a mosaic triforce.
Pigeons flying away as the call-to-prayer sounded
Here are some sculptures on a not-very-good-looking beach in Maharès. Apparently the green algae that you can see by the water is harvested. Unfortunately I do not remember what for.
In Gabès we stopped at an oasis where there were date palms, pomegranates (the best I’ve ever had), and grapes. I got to climb a date palm there but I look stupid in every picture taken of me while trying, so I don’t feel like posting one. We also saw many industrial sites (and thus, industrial waste) on the outskirts of Gabès, but those photos are for another post about trash!
Jerba (Djerba) is Africa’s largest island (we got there by ferry, the kind where you drive your car on!) It is one of the only places in Tunisia where the Berber language is still spoken and there are sizable minorities of both Jews and Catholics. Finally, it is supposedly the island where Odysseus was stranded during his voyage of the Mediterranean. I liked the hotel we stayed at. There was a birdcage there, and I felt a little sorry for the captive birds, but I have to admit that it was beautiful. I’d like to have one filled with plants. We visited a local potter and he demonstrated some of the techniques he uses. Djerba is also where we visited the synagogue with the cats (from the earlier post of me with cats).
Wish scrolls in the synagogue and a very old, phlegmy man reciting things in Hebrew.
Matmata is most famous for two things: the troglodyte dwellings (large pits dug in the ground, around the perimeter of which caves are created to serve as rooms), also, the “home” of Luke Skywalker was filmed here.
This last picture features a Marabout, a tomb for a revered saint. I think they seem tranquil.
In Douz we rode camels and had a mini-picnic on the boarder of the Sahara desert.
Camels are the nicest.
Finally, here are some random pictures from along the way.
What is a confort toilet? I dared not learn.
An Eiffel Tower of Desert/Sand roses – the colloquial name given to rosette formations of the minerals gypsum and barite with poikilotopic sand inclusions (Wikipedia).
A slightly wilted bouquet of Jasmine flowers. These bouquets (called Machmoums) are sold on the street everywhere and they smell wonderful. They come with the flowers un-blossomed and bound by string, and you clip it to watch it slowly expand as the flowers themselves bloom.
So much stuff.
Bus skeleton.
natalie far away 