Once again i am on the travelling band-wagon and have arrived at my first destination. An extremely late flight arrived in Monastir,Tunisia, around 1.30 am. It's a very small airport and is a package holiday destination. It has to be the end of summer as the plane unloads more senior couples and groups of old women looking for a late bit of sun and who had surrounded me on the flight nattering tripe and passing around boiled sweets.
As the package tours pile onto their bus transfers i am left with the reality of doing things on the cheap. It's 4 hours until the trains begin and i have little choice than to wait it out on the platform. One thing can be said for the Tunisian railways and that is that they are punctual.
My first city is Sousse. Dating back hundreds of years it is home to an UNESCO World Heritage Medina and the Boujaffar Beach resort. Inside the towering stone walls of the Medina the town is alive with a bustle that I have only experienced in Marrakech. Berber silver, woven garments, traditional pottery and tagines line the stools and street sellers shops and even the slightest glance at the goods for sale will earn you a full sales pitch which is often flattery and compares you to famous white actors and musicians. Tom Cruise is the funniest so far.
The food is very traditional, cous-cous with meat and vegetables is common place, delicious and very cheap. Boujaffar Beach is a European tourist trap and although the beach is stunning it is crammed with sunburnt white folk trying to squeeze in a bit of colour before the winter chill sets in. Still, at 30 degrees in late September who can blame them...fortunately i am not lobster pink yet and don't fit into the cliche.
The next few days i shall be based in Sousse and will day trip to El-Jem, Kairoun and Mahdia (where this entry is being written). I shall then head south towards Jerba, an sland off the south east coast and explore the regions of the Star Wars filming locations of Matmata and Tataouine...until then...
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