Tabarka and Mahdia Pics

I *finally* was able to upload some photos. They are of towns Tabarka and Mahdia. One pic is R. looking out the window of one hotel room - the view is all sea - like we were on a ship. Every morning we'd open the window to see what the fishermen were up to. Off to Souse next. Then rapidly to Tozeur in the south-west.

Tabarka

Looking at the hills of Tabarka on a damp day

Another view of the hills

Laundry and dishes

A pic of the fish by the waiter's friend

Arabic Coke and beer

A Mosque at dusk. With SL flash and some motion blur. Took several tries to get this look.

The sea was angry, my friend

Mahdia

R. looks from our window at our 1st hotel room in Mahdia (Hotel Al Jazira) out at the sea

Rooftops of the medina (old town) from Hotel Al Jazira

Palm tree and facade of museum in Mahdia in the evening. We never got inside.

Roman Coliseum in Le Jem. Apparently the 3rd largest and last built.

A traffic sign displayed outside a driving school. Whatever it means its probably bad.

Cold Africa

It was somewhat cold and rainy on the North coast so we have decided to go South sooner than planned. I mean, what Canadian wants cold during a winter holiday! Back in Tunis now and will head South on the first train tomorrow. Might be no Internet access there - yikes.

Tabarka

Feb 22-23
We purchased our bus tickets to Tabarka in French without much problem. The man at the ticket booth said the bus will have “Tabarka” on the front. It did – just one problem: it was in Arabic. Not much of a setback – we just asked around. The little old man selling breadsticks was kind enough to confirm we the right bus and open the luggage bay doors for us. The 3.5 hour trip took us through some Swiss-looking mountainous territory. Until arrival, I thanked the driver, he kissed R. on the cheek and firmly shook my hand.

This is a small and pretty town on the coast near the border with Algeria. You can see a silly moment that occurred at dinner.

The waiter brought a plate of garnished raw fish to our table to show what was available. I asked if I could take a photo of him and the fish, intending to take before (raw) and after (cooked) pictures. But he had other plans; we were asked to pose and the camera was handed to another fellow who took that pic totally missing the fish and most of the people. (I blurred our faces.)

Tunis 3 and area

Feb 21
A day trip to Sidi Bou Said. Finally saw some other tourists – they arrived by the bus load. A very cute town but lots of hawkers. Most of these tourists seem to staying in Hammet (the resort area). We found the café with the amazing view and had Turkish coffees. We traveled by commuter train which, as you can see in the pics, got a bit crowded at times. Also visited the museum at Carthage. Home of approximately a zillion civilizations.

Sidi Bou Said deserves its reputation as pretty

Crowded Train

Crowded Train

Carthage

Tunis 2

Feb 20
Visited the old city (Medina) as one must do. Required or not it’s still pretty darn neat. Narrow pedestrian-only lanes lined with shops. At one point we got out of the shopping area (but still in the old city) and children begin to say “Bonjour Madam” to C. as they passed which was nice. In the afternoon, while walking on Ave. Liberty it began to rain so we slipped into a Tea Salon we noticed. It had a terrific ambiance. Insanely smoky but that’s normal around here. We ordered the Tea with pine nuts floating in it – not bad at all.

And a few more Tunis Pics

In the medina (old town) of Tunis

V-shaped building in Tunis

Where the trolley crosses Liberty Ave in Tunis

A mosque in Tunis

Sign for a café taken from the second floor of the cafe and altered

Tunis

Feb 19
My first time to Africa. I guess I have to mention that I’ve now visited all (non-snow covered) continents. Haven’t done much here yet.
Managed to snap some Tunis Pics.

Hotel Africa on main street of Tunis -- er pointing out that we are in Africa

A busy Tunis cafe viewed from the busy second floor

Main street of Tunis in the evening

Our hotel in Tunis with our room noted

Ferry Good

Feb18-19
No time for sitting around… we jumped on the Ferry to Tunisia. OK, we didn’t quite jump - there was quite a lot of waiting in the terminal. Around 1.5 hours after it was scheduled to leave people laden down with huge bags of goods were shuffling through the gate so we decided to join them. It took some bumping and waiting to reach the front of the queue at which point we were told this was the line for the ferry to Algiers! After some more waiting we finally got on our ferry. Our cabins were very nice – bunks and showers. It was big fun being on the ferry – lots of shops, restaurants and bars. The coast of Marseille was
extremely picturesque. The trip was about 28 hours. Getting off the ferry was equally as crazy as getting on but that’s another story.

Mirrors and stairs inside ferry

Looking out from Marseille's new harbour from ferry

Leaving Marseille's harbour into the sun

The pilot leaves the ferry after guiding us from Marseille

Feet

Looking back at suburbs of Marseille

Reflecting on the trip

First view of Tunis

Marseille

Feb15-18
Stereotypes. Sometimes they’re handy shortcuts and often they’re wrong. Unlike the stereotype, we found nearly all the fine French people we met to be very friendly. They listened patiently to our terrible French. One exception was the waiter in the sea-front restaurant. We figured he didn’t want to be surly but just figured he should be given the location. Speaking of food, I liked our dinner at the crape place the best. Besides being yummy it was also seemed trés French. We also went to Aix-en-Provence for a day. Supposedly the perfect town in the perfect province. Well, I guess it was OK.
Message to the people of France: your dog poop on the sidewalk not so nice.

Ou est le balustrade?:Part of the big church overlooking the city

Spiral:Part of the big church overlooking the city

Roofs:View from the big church

Mother, child and photographer:You can see my reflection. Again at the big church.

Looking down from the old city at a new highway

There are plenty of pleasure boats in the inner harbour

A photo can't be all bad if its got a reflection in water. The harbour.

A painting above stairs exiting a shopping centre

Rose colored church ceiling in Aix

Jesus standing on angels(?) in that church in Aix. Harsh lighting is deliberate.

Slightly crazy poster in Aix

Setting sun behind star on pedestal in Aix

Setting sun illuminates just some buildings in Marseille

Families strolling near the harbour as the sun sets in Marseille

Pas Problem

We made it! A ton of traveling: car to Toronto airport, plane to London, cleared customs, bus to another London airport, waited 6 hours, flew to Marseille, customs, taxi to hotel. We were in London Gatwick airport long enough to lose a jacket at a café, notice it was missing as we sat somewhere else, return to the café and ta-da find it in the lost and found. It seems many non-Europeans don’t land at Marseille. The customs officer asked us to wait while he left his station to retrieve his visa stamp. When he apologized for making us wait, “Pas Problem” was my reply in glorious Québécois. Time to sleep now.

The bubbles at Pearson Terminal 3

Man watching the bubbles

Killing time at Gatwick airport, London

Getting into a video game (Gatwick)