An uncertain but promising start

Tunisia in december: too cold for the beach, too hot for a coat. The tourist touts have almost disappeared; the crapsellers have had their share. Touristcrazy Tunisia is cautiously slowing down from the hectic summer season. A good moment to visit this lovely country.

It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. Me and my friend were sitting in a bar, drinking a beer, and chanced upon a free week in december. Plans became reality, and at december 7th we (including a 3rd friend by now) found ourselves in the coastal town of Sousse (or Susah).

We had booked a pre-arranged trip, which was the first time we did so. I was a bit worried that such a trip might damage the freedom I experience on travels, but we visited all the places I wanted to see and we were granted enough time at every sight, so everything turned out just fine.

The first morning was free, and we set out to explore Sousse. Sousse is quite a big town, but it is made almost entirely of resorts and hotels. Not very interesting. It does have a very nice medina. A medina is a cross between a city center, a bazar and an old muslim walled city from the middle ages. Quite often a medina is all of those things. They are one of the highlights of North Africa and can be found in the center of almost every mayor North African city. The medina revolves around a central mosque and has 4 or more gates in its walls, which used to close at sundown.

We entered the medina and immediately a man approached us, asking if we recognised him. He claimed to be the cook of our hotel, which was an obvious lie. But we let him guide us through the medina, and we quickly left when he tried to pull us into a jewellery shop. Later on, another medina-dweller pulled a scam on us, but hey, it is to be expected in such a touristloving town. Too bad though that everybody knows how to speak Dutch.

Also, it turned out that the next day would be the Festival of Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha)! People were sharpening their knives everywhere and sheep were kept close for the sacrifice tomorrow.

Later that day we went to what must have been the most horrible place in Tunisia: Port El Kantoui. This is a seaport for the superrich, where they can stall their luxurious boats. There are dozens of giftshops, including one with 400+ square meters of gifts, a few mock-pirate ships and there's absolutely nothing to do.