A big Jacuzzi

Mikko and Marianne (well, rather Marianne’s dad) have an ambitious plan; to build a proper Finnish sauna at their wonderful place near Nice. As part of that project, some strong men were needed to move a Jacuzzi from its old place in the garden, next to the in-progress sauna. So obviously (??), their thoughts went to Mikko’s strong and reliable Finnish friends.

And also hung over Finnish friends (too much of Ida’s calva – see previous blog entry…) Amazingly enough, I did get up in time, and would’ve been on time (11AM) if it hadn’t been for a couple of wrong turns in Nice (and that’s with Mikko’s address punched into the GPS – it really must be the calva I tell ya….). But in the end we were only about 15 minutes late, so still had time to join the party. With 8 of us to lift, the 400 kg Jacuzzi (it felt lighter…) was moved pretty much in no time – Pete didn’t even make it in time for the lifting… But he did, of course, make it in time for the beer, wine, and socca ;-) Boy, did we enjoy the food and drink – thankfully I had a light breakfast. Pizza, aperitif cake, socca, chorizo, as well as great wine and beer to wash it all down with. That’s the kind of "light lunch" I like! Rather generous compensation for 5 minutes’ worth of work, I should say ;-).

After this feast of gargantuan proportions, we decided to head down to Nice instead of going back home, since we were in the neighbourhood, so to speak. We decided to catch a movie, so headed down to Rialto. Since there were a couple of hours to kill before the start of the film, we decided to pop into the nearby Musée Masséna – a place we’d passed by several times but never actually visited. It’s a pretty interesting museum, and what’s best, also free. The museum is housed in an old Nicois mansion built at the end of the 19th century, which was inhabited by an aristocratic family, the Massenas. The bottom floor was a reconstruction of what the mansion would’ve been like about a century ago – with period furniture and all that. This kind of museum isn’t always my cup of tea, but this one was well executed (compared to for example the castle in Monaco, where you’d have thought they’d have the money to do a proper job).



The top floors of the building housed a local history museum – which was actually very interesting. I found especially the history from the start of the 20th century onwards pretty fascinating, which describes how Nice (and the rest of the Cote d’Azur) started changing into the tourist spot it is today. I also liked the old photos from the city – they show (as these types of photos often do) that all development definitely is not good… (a lot of the recent urban development on the Riviera is not particularly “aesthetically pleasing” – the words “concrete hell” spring to mind…). All in all, we spent a very interesting afternoon at the museum.

We then headed back to Rialto to watch Gran Torino – the latest work from Mr. Clint Eastwood. We both enjoyed it – although the story is a pretty standard one, and certainly doesn’t lack clichés. It’s your typical (??) story of “old bitter, bigoted war veteran meets young immigrant standup lad, sees the errors of his ways, saves the kid from a nasty gangs trying to recruit him, and (almost) everybody lives happily ever after”. But Clint just handles the story with a very assured hand, turns out another great performance, and doesn’t wallow too deeply in the clichés/sentimentality - so the film just works. And I loved the ending (a true Clint Eastwood ending, with a twist – although again it didn’t exactly come as a big surprise).

After the cinema we met up with Maikki and Jarkko, who we had agreed to meet up for dinner. After a walk around the old town (taking in the main sights, such as Cours Saleya, the cathedral etc.), we ended up having a nice meal in le Gesu (a nice place to try local specialities). It was good to catch up with them properly, finally (hadn't really had a proper chat with them during the last two rather hectic nights). I really loved listening to their anecdotes about their life in China (where they spent a couple of years working). It will be good to see them next summer, on their wedding day, this time in Finland!

That time of the year again...

That time of the year again, that day which used to bring such joy, and these days just reminds me of the fact that I ain’t no spring chicken no more… Tuesday was the big day – so of course a meal was called for. Unfortunately Mathilde was indisposed at work until quite late, so it fell upon my shoulders to prepare the meal. I decided to honour our recent trip to Tunisia, and prepare a Tajine. So I sneaked out of the office 4 on the dot, and went down to Casino to do the necessary grocery shopping – turns out a fair amount of stuff is needed for a proper Tajine.

The preparation went without any major incidents (I’m really getting the hang of this!), and the tajine was ready for degustation by the time Mathilde arrived. An apple cake was on the cards for desert. I must say I was rather pleased with my tajine – in my mind it was pretty close to a sans-faute (unfortunately it was a wee bit too spice for my darling). The apple cake turned out a bit different from what I expected – but it was still tasty. So all in all, a very successful soiree. And of course I got some nice pressies - the Guide Routard for the Cote d’Azur, and a voucher for a cooking session in Nice!

Thursday was pencilled in as the Turtiainen clan birthday dinner – strengthened by my cousin Maikki with her family (Jarkko and little Aapo). My folks had booked a table at a hotel-restaurant in Juan-Les-Pins for the occasion. It's what one could call a traditional restaurant - which in this case meant there was an old chap singing old French songs to an audience which had an average age of about 75 – it certainly made me feel young ;-). Aapo seemed to dig the music big time – he actually seems to be a little bit too musical for a Turtiainen. We spent a very nice evening together, as one normally does when there is food, wine and good company (as well as more nice pressies and a birthday cake)! Nice to catch up with Maikki and Jarkko as well – and to finally meet little Aapo of course (who’s going to turn one this summer, I believe).

Friday was the day of the Big Party at out flat – so I once again zoomed off at 4 from work – since there was rather a lot to prepare for the big night. So off we headed to Casino for another big grocery shopping session. The rest of the afternoon was spent frenetically preparing all the little bites and nibbles for the evening – including the pride and joy which I prepared based on a cooking book my brother Janne had given me: Parma mozzarella balls (er, balls of Mozarella wrapped in Parma ham – a lot tougher to prepare than it probably sounds, honest!).

The party itself was great fun – with the normal usual Finnish suspects present, along with Maikki & Jarkko, as well as a couple of French people, even! Well, considering the number of Finnish people involved, it was a pretty swinging event actually! Cinema entertainment was even provided upstairs for the younger guests. Things started off nice and slow with beer, wine and champagne – and accelerated with the introduction of some caipirinhas (which I prepared all by myself!). The proceedings finished with a couple of generous glasses of eau de vie – in fact we did a bit of a Pepsi challenge and tried both Marcelle’s (Francoise’s mum) and Ida’s (Mathilde’s grandma’s). Personally, I like both, but the victory by my reckoning goes to Ida’s calvados by a cat’s whisker. By the last glass, I don’t think anybody cared… (especially poor Ismael had other things on his mind – the poor lad had to go to work tomorrow).

Mind you – the rest of us gents had a Jacuzzi to carry the next day – more about that later….

The most beautiful village in France (?)

Our good friend Olivier was coming over to the Cote d’Azur for the weekend from Paris, as well as Philippe and Aniko all the way from Toulouse. So we decided to all meet up in Greolieres a.k.a. “the most beautiful village in France”. According to Olivier anyway (incidentally, Ollie comes from there – and it seems that half of Greolieres is owned by either his parents or his relatives). So, up we drove Friday evening through the Vallee du Loup, up to beautiful Greolieres.

We were very warmly welcomed, as always, by Olivier’s parents, in their lovely house. After a nice apero, and raised toasts to Olivier’s honour (the occasion was also his birthday, actually), we headed down the road to the “best pizzeria in the village” for a nice meal. We were again struck by the feel of community that seems to reign in Greolieres (Ollie and his parents seemed to know just about everybody in the restaurant) – it really seems to have kept its small village atmosphere in spite of our modern age… The meal was nice, just as last year (we celebrated Ollie’s birthday in the very same restaurant), and we all had a good time. Ollie’s globetrotting parents have just moved to Shanghai, so they kept us entertained with their stories – and Philippe naturally chipped in as well with their latest adventures in the southwest of France…

We went to bed relatively early, since we wanted to be up early in the morning to hit the ski slopes before the arrival of the crowds. After a quick breakfast up at Greolieres-les-Neiges (naturally at a bar owned by a friend of Ollie’s), and having rented our skis, off we set for the pistes. The conditions were perfect – there was still plenty of snow (the snowfall has been very generous this year…) and there was hardly a cloud in sight. And what’s better, the crowds we had been expecting didn’t show up.

We had time to try out pretty much all of the slopes at the station – including the 2 black slopes, which were great fun. Things started looking a bit worse in the afternoon, as the clouds swept in - so we had a couple of runs with a visibility of about 10 meters – which made things a bit interesting. But the clouds quickly passed over, and the blue skies were back. So all in all, we had a great day of skiing, then. My only gripe with Greolieres is perhaps that they could invest in some proper ski lifts, my bum felt pretty sore after a day of “tire-fesses”….

We headed back to the village a bit before 4 – wanting to beat the traffic back to Cagnes. So after some tearful farewells and heartfelt thanks to Olivier’s parents for our great stay, we headed back to Cagnes with Philippe and Aniko. Our original plan to head down to Nice or Antibes “to paint the town red” was dismissed, as we realised we were completely nackered after our day of skiing (just ain’t got the same amount of energy these days as a few years back, when we could party no problem after a proper day of skiing…). So we decided to just grab a meal in Haut-de-Cagnes instead. So after a quick tour of the old town, we headed to our favourite haunt, where we were served by our favourite waiter, Pierre Parker, a.k.a. the medieval spiderman. The service was great, as always, with tasty food to match. After the meal, we headed back for a session of Buzz: the Hollywood Quiz; which I won, after a very closely-matched final round against Mathilde. Thankfully we decided (or according to Philippe, me ;-) to play the Hollywood quiz instead of the music quiz….

The next day, we had a rendezvous with Olivier for lunch in Valbonne. So after a leisurely breakfast, we drove down to there – a bit early to have a bit of time to visit the village. Valbonne is a typically picturesque Provencal village, located just a couple of kilometres from Sophia-Antipolis, the high-tech community where Mathilde works. It does come across as a bit more tidy and “orderly” than your average village, though, as the streets of Valbonne criss-cross each others in a regular grid-pattern (which is normally difficult to achieve since the villages tend to be built on hilltops). After a quick exploration of the village, we ended up lunching outside on the main square. After a nice and typically drawn-out session, it was time to say bye-bye again, as Philippe and Aniko headed back to Toulouse, and Ollie rushed off back to Greolieres (he had a flight to Paris to catch later on…).

So that was that for this weekend – a big thanks to Ollie and his parents for their hospitality again

Rainy roman ruins

We were quite happy to be back in Tunis after our short tour around the country. Sort of felt like being back home, the old Hotel Maison Doree. In the evenging, we decided to head to La Goulette. I quite fancied seeing La Goulette, having seen the file Vie a La Goulette a couple of years ago – a nice story which highlights the cosmopolitan character La Goulette used to have – just a few decades ago, Muslims, Jews and Christians (mostly French and Italians) lived peacefully side-by-side. That is no longer the case, though (when the father of modern Tunisia, Habib Bourguiba, confiscated all foreigners’ property).

So anyway, one TGM trip later, we arrived. La Goulette is the old port of Tunis, and is famed for its fish restaurants – so the idea was to have dinner after a short walk around town. Given that it was dark, and the rain was pouring down, we decided to skip the tour (there isn’t much to see apart from an old Ottoman fort, anyway, apparently), and have dinner straight away. We were quite surprised to find the restaurant very busy – until we realised we were sharing the dining hall with a merry bunch of Japanese tourists. Oh well, the dinner was delicious, we both had fish, naturally.

Our trip was nearing its end, but we still had an excursion planned for Friday – to Dougga. Dougga is a well-preserved Roman site, located about 150 kilometres west of Tunis. We again decided to use the well-proven louage service – to the nearby town of Téboursouk. Since Téboursouk is a rather small town, we had to wait a bit longer than usual this time, but we got there in the end. From there, Dougga was a short taxi ride away.

Well, Dougga certainly impressed us, we were both pretty much awestruck by the place. The site is dramatic, perched as it is on a hilltop, surrounded by olive trees (and pretty big as well, spanning 70 hectares). The ruins themselves are remarkable (and show traces of not only Roman, but also Numidian, Byzantine and Punic eras) – and very well-preserved. The city was founded by the Numidian empire, but was heavily influenced by Carthage, and was finally conquered by the Romans, It became a significant city under Roman rule, and what’s great is that the whole layout of the city can be traced at the site. What was also nice was also the fact that we were pretty much alone at the site (apart from a bunch of hardy English pensioners). What was less great was the weather – we were assailed by a relentless wind, rain and even sleet! It actually made the visit very difficult – we had the impression of running from shelter to shelter (which is not that easy considering these roman ruins tend to lack roofs and the like…

Anyway, we started our visit with the remarkably well preserved theatre, and from there carried on towards the forum, with its well preserved Capitol. The capitol, majestically overlooking the rest of the site, was no doubt the highlight of the site. From there we carried on exploring the site, taking in the various temples, and also the only royal Numidian monument in Tunisia – a tower-shaped mausoleum.

So all in all, we were very impressed with the place. I would go as far as to say it’s the most impressive Roman site I’ve ever seen – with the possible exception of the Forum and Coliseum in Rome (but what I like about Dougga is the fact that the site is so well-contained, and really gives an idea of what a roman city was like). It’s just a real pity about the weather – it did make it very difficult to fully appreciate the site. But hey, no pain, no gain, right? :-)

In the end, we were quite happy to be back on our way to Tunis, anyway (we could still feel the wind in our bones)... We arrived in Tunis quite early, actually, so ended up going to the cinema in the evening. We saw “Sex and the City: the movie” of all films (not really my cup of tea, as the English would say)… What we found quite interesting was the fact that apart from us, the clientele seemed to be mostly lonely middle-aged and old men – perhaps the title led them to expect a different kind of movie? ;-) We finished off with a dinner at the hotel restaurant – not a bad choice as it turned out.

Saturday was our last day in Tunisia, so we decided to spend it doing some last minute visiting and shopping in Tunis. Our first stop was the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Cathedral, on the Avenue Habib Bourguiba. One interesting thing I learnt during the visit was that quite a few of the first popes came from Tunisia, or had Tunisian origins – now that’s an odd fact for the pub quizzes… We then headed on into the medina, where we visited the Zaytuna Mosque (the 2nd oldest mosque in Tunisia). It was all very impressive, and again quite similar to the mosques we’d seen in Sousse and Kairouan. Unfortunately not even the courtyard is accessible to non-Muslims, we could just basically view the inner courtyard from behind a grille.

The last couple of hours were spent shopping. I insisted on buying at least one item in the Souk – after all this is an Arabic country where haggling and buying something is a must-do activity for tourists, right? In the end I ended up acquiring a pretty ashtray for the more than reasonable price of 4 dinars 500 (the about 3 euros). After some last-minute Tunisian pastry shopping, it was time for us to catch a taxi to the airport, and head back to home sweet home….

So what were our impressions of Tunisia then? I think mostly we were positively surprised. I was expecting a much more touristy place – something more like the canary islands. And sure, we did run into a couple of places where tourism is clearly the order of the day (especially in Hammamet). But I suppose we avoided the worst tourist traps, and travelling off season certainly helped. In general, it seems lke a more developed country than for example Egypt, and the fact that everybody speaks French, and street signs etc. are in French, definitely helps. All in all, I could well consider a second visit, perhaps to the south of the country.

More photos here.

Sousse and Kairouan

Our next destination on our Tunisia tour was Sousse. This time, we decided to travel by louage. Louage is a very practical means of transport – basically it’s a minibus service. You just show up at the louage station, and somebody helpful takes you to the right mini bus – which leaves when it’s full (which typically doesn’t take more than 15 minutes or so, at least for big towns/cities). The price is fixed – and more than reasonable (you pay about 2-3 euros for a 1-hour journey). No need to haggle!

So anyway, after a one-hour louage ride later, we arrived in Sousse. Sousse is, like Hammamet, quite a touristy place, being located by the sea and blessed by a very nice beach. But unlike Hammamet, it’s also a big city (the 3rd biggest in the country, with about 170,000 inhabitants), which makes it a much more “real” place – the weight of mass tourism feels less obvious here. We walked past the walled medina, with its imposing Kasbah, to do our check-in at our chosen hotel. This time we were very happy with our choice – the place was central, clean, and the staff was very friendly indeed. We didn’t linger for long though, preferring to start exploring the medina, for which Sousse is famous. We started by visiting the great mosque – one of the oldest ones in Tunisia (construction began 851 AD). In contrast to the mosques we saw in Cairo – which were very elaborate and beautifully decorated, the Tunisian mosques, are generally much more austere, almost fortress-like. Perhaps it is because they tend to be quite old (those were violent times...). Anyway, they are majestic places nonetheless.

We then visited the ribat (ribat means hostel or hospice in Arabic, refers to a small fortress/religious retreat), just next to the great mosque – apparently it is one of the most well-preserved ones in northern Africa. Although there wasn’t much to see, we were treated to some nice views from the ramparts. After this we went for a very good lunch indeed at a restaurant (which I really recommend from the bottom of my heart) called “Le restaurant du people”. The portions were generous, the food tasty (especially the couscous – I think it may have been the best one I ever tasted) and the service very friendly. And the prices were very reasonable indeed – I think we paid something in the region of 5 euros each… Our appetites sated, we decided to head off to check out the action on the beach – although the truth to be told the weather wasn’t quite right for it, with no sun in sight. So after a relaxing sit on the beach, we returned to explore the medina. The Sousse medina reminded me a bit of the one in Tunis – it’s less picturesque than the one in Hammamet, but feels like a more “real” and lively place. Definitely more authentic (although for sure, there are streets where tourists are free prey as well, not to worry!).

Unfortunately the weather went from bad to worse with the rain starting to pour, so we decided to escape into a museum – the Dar Essid. This interesting town house gives a glimpse at what life during the 19th century in Sousse might’ve been like (for a rich aristocrat family, that is) – very interesting indeed wwith some very pretty and impressive furniture and “decorative stuff” (which is normally not really my kind of thing). But what’s most amazing – they even had the self guide handouts translated into Finnish (definite proof that Sousse is a touristy place!). After a tasty mint tea in a nice tea house in the medina, we headed back to the hotel room to freshen up for dinner – which we had in a very nice restaurant just a block away from the hotel.

After a rather basic breakfast at the hotel, we took a taxi back to the louage station, from where we carried on towards our next destination; Kairouan. The journey was incident-less again, apart from a rather rigorous ID check upon entering the town (yet another subtle reminder about the fact that Tunisia is a bit of a police state). Kairouan is the oldest city of Tunisia – founded around the year 670. In fact, the great mosque of Kairouan is the oldest one in all of northern Africa – which earns Kairouan the honour of being one of the 7 holy cities of Islam (and of course the most important one in Tunisia). Kairouan is also the Tunisian capital of leather- and carpet work. We started off with the main attraction – the great mosque (which is so holy that 7 pilgrimages to it is equivalent to a pilgrimage to Mecca). It is quite similar to the one we saw in Sousse – again we were struck by its almost fortress-like appearance. Unfortunately the city was preparing for some kind of cultural festival, which meant that a large part of the courtyard was covered by a tent. So there wasn’t all that much to see, at the end of the day.

We then spent had a good walk around the medina – which I reckon was the most interesting one we saw in Tunisia. Its houses, painted in blue and white, give the place a sense of harmony, and in general the place felt calmer and less hectic than the medinas of Sousse and Tunis. It was a bit like the Hammamet medina, but more spread out and certainly less touristy (although naturally, there are a couple of streets well set up to cater for the tourist hordes…). Having explored the medina, we headed off for lunch. LP recommended a pizzeria which was conveniently on the way to our next “Kairouan tour stop” – which we decided to go for. Big mistake – we had what were probably the worst pizzas we’ve ever had in our lives (with the possible exception of the 0.02 euro pizzas they sold in Cuba) – I didn’t realise pizza could be this bad….

Our next stops were the Aghlabid Basins – big water reservoirs dating over 1000 years back in time. Not that much to see really, but you have to admire the engineering skills required to build the reservoirs (which span over 120 meters in diameter each) – I don’t think Europe could match this engineering feat for quite a few centuries… From there we carried on to Zaouia de Sidi Sahab – which has the rather odd nick-name the Barber’s mosque (Sidi Sahib was a companion of Mohammed, and always carried a few hairs from his beard – that’s devotion for ya…). It was a pretty enough place – the feel of the place was a bit similar to that of a monastery (a Zaouias are religious complexes built around a mausoleum). It would’ve felt quite peaceful if it hadn’t been for a bunch of annoying young brats whose French was limited to “je veux un dinar s’il vous plait” (for some reason Kairouan was the only place during our trip where we ran into that sort of behaviour). We finished off our visit of Kairouan with the Zaouia of Sidi Amor Abbada –dedicated to a saint who was also a local blacksmith (some of his odd handicraft – like a pipe – were on display). Then back to Tunis by louage!

More photos here.

The Cap Bon

Our original plan after Carthage and Sidi bou Said had been to go to Dougga – a famous Roman site west of Tunis. But after the Bardo museum and Carthage, we were suffering from a mild case of “ancient ruins fatigue”, so we decided to change the itinerary a bit, and head for the Cap Bon instead.

The Cap Bon is a very pretty part of Tunisia, and is also blessed with some of Tunisia’s best beaches. So yes, it is very touristy. And we were headed for Hammamet, which is the main tourist resort on Cap Bon – so we were a bit anxious as neither of us is a huge fan of package tourist resorts. We started off by checking into our hotel, a good 20 minutes walk from the medina. The best thing that can be said about the hotel is that it was cheap – let’s leave it at that. Since we were only planning to spend one day on Cap Bon, we decided to head off to explore straight away, and jumped into a taxi which took us to the nearby town of Nabeul. Actually, we were only planning to use Nabeul as a transit point for heading westwards. But we quickly realised that our plan to see all (or even half) of Cap Bon in one day was way too ambitious. So we decided to explore Nabeul for a bit instead – it is after all the Tunisian capital of ceramics. We quickly realised there wasn’t really much to see in Nabeul, so we headed back to Hammamet after a stroll through the crowded main street (where everybody was trying to sell us ceramics) and a “good value for money” type of lunch by the beach.

We started our exploration of Hammamet by a visit to the unusual Villa Sebastian. The villa was built by the Rumanian millionaire George Sebastian in the early 20th century, and has now been converted into a kind of cultural/exhibition centre. The villa itself houses some vaguely interesting paintings, and an impressive swimming pool. After a lengthy stroll in the pleasant gardens, we found ourselves at the roman-style theatre, where we enjoyed the sunshine for a while. After a surprising encounter with a chameleon (well I think that’s what it was anyway), we made our way back to the villa for another tea (people drink a lot of tea in Tunisia...). All in all, the visit was a nice and peaceful way to spend a couple of hours, after the hassle and bustle of Hammamet.

We then headed to explore the medina; starting with the 15th century Kasbah (a Kasbah is a kind of military fortress which “guards” the medina). It was nothing to write home about, although we had some pretty nice views over the medina and the rest of town. The medina itself was very pretty, a bit reminiscent of Sidi bou Said with its white and blue painted houses and windy streets. But it was certainly a lot less peaceful than Sidi bou Said – it’s a good example of the bad things mass tourism can do to a place. Tourist shop after tourist shop... A pity, but that’s the way of things I suppose... We finished off the evening in another “good value for money” restaurant, which turned out to be owned by Sodexo! Now that’s globalisation for you!!!

More photos here.

Carthage & Sidi bou Said

One of the sites I was really looking forward to seeing in Tunisia was of course Carthage. Carthage is of course one of those legendary cities, forever linked to names like Hannibal (the Punic general – not the Lecter one ;-), and the tragic love story of Dido and Aeneas (as told by Virgil in the Aeneid). These days it’s actually a posh and well-off suburb of Tunis – in fact even the omnipresent president lives here.

To get there, we decided to give the TGM, a suburban railway link which runs along the coastline towards the north from Tunis, a go. It all went without the slightest trouble (a far cry easier than our foolish attempts to use the Cairo public transport during out trip to Egypt, for example), and we arrived in Carthage, full of anticipation. Our first destination was Byrsa hill, which was the spiritual heart of Punic Carthage. Unfortunately, as we found out, not much remains of the Punic town – the romans took their declaration “Delenda Carthago” (Carthago must be destroyed) rather literally – very little remains, so a fair bit of imagination is required. A part of the residential area are still to be seen, and there is an interesting museum. So it was pretty interesting, in the end – and the views from the hill over Carthage (including the Punic ports) were impressive.

After a very nice lunch of freshly caught fish by the seaside, we headed to visit the Roman remains of Carthage. After the destruction of Punic Carthage, the Romans built a new city here, under the reign of Julius Ceasar – which actually became the capital of the Roman province of Africa. So it became the 2nd city of the Roman world – after Rome itself. We started with Antonin’s roman baths – which were very impressive indeed. The most impressive Roman baths I’ve ever seen – that’s for sure. Certainly more imposing than the ones we saw in Varna a couple of years ago, for example. We spent a good half hour wandering around the atmospheric ruins – I kind of like the way have been preserved – without sings / maps and explanations everywhere. Leaves things to the imagination.

Having explored the baths and the other ruins nearby, we headed for the other Roman site in Carthage, the area of Roman villas. It was less interesting than the roman baths – less to see, but there was one interesting roman villa, which has been quite well restored. And we were once more treated to great over Carthage and nearby Sidi bou Said, from the balcony. We also had time to check out the Roman theatre, just down the road. This one has definitely been rebuilt to serve the needs of the Carthage International Festival, which takes place during the summer, so it’s not what I would call “authentic”. Still, worth the walk….

By now we reckon we’d seen enough ruins for one day, so we decided to move on to Sidi bou Said (we were too lazy to hike down to the TGM station so decided to take a taxi this time). Sidi bou Said is what one could call “the perfectly picturesque Tunisian village”, sitting as it does on its hilltop, with its blue and white houses. Numerous artists (such as Flaubert, Chateaubriand, de Beauvoir) were also seduced by the place’s tranquil charms, and spent a lot of time discussing art, philosophy and other important things at the café des nattes. Well, we were charmed as well – and also happy to be visiting off-season (I can only imagine what it must be like when the busloads of tourists descend upon the place come summer… After a very pleasant stroll around, we had some tea and Tunisian pastries at the other famous café of Sidi bou Said café Chebaane. Justly famous, the views were rather amazing (and the pastries weren’t bad either…).

After a quick walk down (well, the village is at an altitude of 130 minutes, so it wasn’t THAT quick), to the marina (where we noted that the yachts were only less impressive, but only slightly, than on the Cote d’Azur), and the mandatory tea at the café des nattes, it was time for dinner. We had again chosen a real Tunisian institution – Au bon vieux temps. We had a very nice meal there – the place had real class with more than a bit of a French touch (as seems to be the case with posh restaurants in Tunisia). The photos decorating the walls were testimony to the fame of the place (former dinner guests include Sarko & Carla, Harrison Ford, a former miss France, to mention but a few…). Our bellies once more filled, we took the TGM back to Tunis, happy after a day filled with new impressions and good meals ;-).

More photos here.

Tunis

It’s been a while since our last holiday abroad, and so had felt the urge to broaden our horizons for some time now. After some typically efficient research on the internet, Mathilde found a pretty suitable option for a 1-week holiday in early March – Tunisia. It is actually only a 1 ½ hours flight from Nice (so closer than London, for example), with a price to match. We were a bit worried about being overrun by hoards of package tourists – but figured we should be OK, since we were travelling off-season.

So anyway, we jumped on the Air France flight, happy to explore a country unknown to us. The flight was eventless, as was the taxi journey to our hotel, a centrally located place highly recommended by Lonely Planet. Our first impression of Tunis was positive – it seemed like a much calmer and more organised place than for example Cairo, which we visited a year and a bit earlier. The hotel was nice as well, centrally located, cosy and with friendly staff. Having settled in, we set out to explore town – heading out to the Medina (the old town). As expected, it was a lively place, with people trying to get our attention from all directions, trying to get us into their shops, naturally. But it still seemed somehow relaxed and civilised compared to Cairo, for example. After a walk around, a coffee at Le Cafe de Paris (a real Tunis institution, apparently) and a 2 euro haircut for me, we headed back to the hotel room to get ready for dinner.

For dinner, we were meeting up with an old mate of mine from my mad year in Edinburgh, Oberon. Before we left, I realised from that invaluable social networking tool we all love or/and hate, that Obie was actually living in Tunisia at present. To cut a long story short (the long story includes me having told the taxi driver the restaurant was in Sidi Bou Said instead of La Marsa – thankfully they are only a few kilometres apart...), we had a nice meal, and a nice time catching up on old times. Nice to meet Obie’s wife finally, as well.

The next day, we decided to go all cultural and headed to the musee national du Bardo – justifiably the most famous museum in Tunisia. It gives a good introduction of the country, displaying artefacts from both the Punic, Roman and later Islamic eras. I was really impressed by the place. Normally these types of museums overwhelm me, but this one is an exception. To say that I became a fan of Roman mosaics during our visit would perhaps be an exaggeration, but they were certainly the most impressive ones I’ve seen. And the Punic mosaics weren’t bad, either. The size of the place is just about right; it took us a good 2 hours to see everything. Happy with our dose of culture, we headed back to central Tunis, this time taking a taxi, instead of the “light metro” (actually a tramway network).

We spent the afternoon continuing our exploration of the Medina of Tunis, checking out some of the less touristy parts of the old town and ending up at the Place de Kasbah – which is kind of the political heart of the city (the presidential palace is here, for example). On the whole, a very pleasant afternoon stroll (and peaceful – the Medina was very quite since it was a Sunday!) – the old town certainly has its charm, in spite of the fact that parts of it feel quite touristy. For dinner, the plan was to try out a traditional (=touristy) restaurant in the medina. So off we set, crossing the dark alleys of the old town. It certainly has a different feel at dark – with very little electric lighting, very feel people. And everybody who’s been to one of these places knows how easy it is to get lost in those alleys – so it all felt a bit spooky. And of course the damn place turned out to be closed – like everything else in the Medina on a Sunday.

More photos here.