April 2004
Tunisia
From 3 to 17 April 2004 we traveled to Tunisia. We visited medinas, mosques, Roman monuments, famous movie locations, breathtaking canyons and sandy beaches, and much more.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
1/79 We left on the afternoon of 3 April, taking this charter Transavia flight to Monastir via Djerba.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
2/79 We stayed at the Tej Marhaba Apartment complex, approximately one kilometer from the center of Sousse, by the beach.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
3/79 On Sunday we walked from our hotel to the medina of Sousse to look at the souks (shopping area). You can see the Great Mosque in the background of this photo.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
4/79 A room of mosaics inside the Sousse Museum, housed in the former Kasbah.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
5/79 Here Amy looks out over Sousse from the Kasbah walls.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
6/79 After our visit to the medina, we walked into the suburban area to the west and found the Catacombs of the Good Shepherd.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
7/79 On Monday we took the train to Tunis, and visited the ruins of Carthage. Here Art stands in front of the Antonin Baths.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
8/79 The flowers were in full bloom at Carthage.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
9/79 Inside the Antonin Baths.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
10/79 Amy inside a partially restored Roman villa.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
11/79 There was a sea of little yellow flowers in Carthage. This is a citadel of Carthage, converted to a mosque.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
12/79 We also went to the Carthage museum, one of the four sites we visited that day.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
13/79 Inside the Carthage Museum.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
14/79 We were starving. We found no place to get food during an entire afternoon of walking around the Roman sites of Carthage. Finally by the museum we found this stand where the only thing we could order was a baguette with tuna, drenched in tuna oil. :oP
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
15/79 After Carthage we took the TGM train to Sidi Bou Said, the Beverly Hills of Tunis. This is a beautiful park in the center.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
16/79 The whitewashed homes of Sidi Bou Said. We walked up this steep street to a great view.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
17/79 All doors in Sidi Bou Said were this shade of blue.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
18/79 At the top of the street we had this great view over the harbor.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
19/79 We had a couscous dinner at this open-air restaurant in Sidi Bou Said. Again we were served tuna; luckily there were lots of cats around to help us out. ^..^
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
20/79 On Tuesday we walked back to the Sousse medina to visit two sites. This is the courtyard of the Great Mosque.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
21/79 This is the Ribat of Sousse.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
22/79 Here is a view over Sousse from the top of the Ribat tower. The Great Mosque is in the foreground.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
23/79 Amy went up the narrow, scary tower alone, and took this photo of Arthur lounging around down below.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
24/79 On Wednesday, 7 April, we rented a car for a week: this blue Renault Clio.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
25/79 Here we are on the road from Sousse to Tozeur via Kairouan and Gafsa. There were zillions of these white Isuzu pickup trucks on the road, all over the country.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
26/79 Along the way we saw a few herds of camels roaming free.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
27/79 We found a very nice hotel in Tozeur. In the evening we walked into the oasis.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
28/79 On Thursday we drove to the Star Wars Canyon, southeast of Tozeur, close to the Chott el Jerid. Raiders of the Lost Ark was also partially filmed here.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
29/79 This is the rock where R2D2 got snatched by the Jawas in Star Wars: A New Hope.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
30/79 Amy looking over the canyon where Indy tried to rescue Marion from the Nazis.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
31/79 Driving over the Chott we were passed by hundreds of these white Land Rovers racing south taking tourists on desert "safaris".
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
32/79 The Chott is a huge dry salt lake. A sixty kilometer road runs north / south through the Chott from Tozeur to Kebili. There were some rest stops along the way where you could walk onto the salt, like here.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
33/79 Arthur on the Chott.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
34/79 After the Chott we passed Kebili and drove to Douz, where we had lunch and visited the Sahara Museum. Douz was crawling with Land Rovers dropping people off in the desert.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
35/79 We took a brief walk into the Sahara.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
36/79 Arthur on the 'Dunes of Douz'.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
37/79 There we many camels parked in Douz waiting to take tourists into the Sahara.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
38/79 There were so many camels and Isuzu trucks, this was bound to happen.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
39/79 We drove to Matmata where we checked into the Sidi Driss Hotel, which is a Troglodyte construction. This technique of building houses into the underground rock is (almost - see Bulla Regia) unique to Matmata, keeping the people cool in summer and warm in winter.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
40/79 In 1976 Star Wars was filmed at this hotel, and much of the set was still in place. Notice the vaporating equipment in the background. :oO
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
41/79 Our room (17) was your basic cave with two simple beds and some hooks on the wall.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
42/79 The impressive landscape around Matmata was a cross between a moonscape and the Grand Canyon. You can't tell but there are other Troglodyte dwellings in these mountains.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
43/79 The next day we drove south towards Tataouine to visit this ghorfa (fortified granery) at Metameur, which is also a unique building style for the area.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
44/79 On Saturday morning we were back in Metlaoui to take this restored 1900s train, the Lezard Rouge, through the Seldja Gorge.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
45/79 The views from the train were very impressive. We stopped a few times to get out and take photos.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
46/79 Leaving the Seldja Gorge.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
47/79 Sunday we drove from our hotel in Le Kef to see two major Roman sites. Here we are at Bulla Regia, which is known for it's unique underground Roman villas.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
48/79 Here Arthur stands in an underground courtyard.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
49/79 Among the ruins of Bulla Regia.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
50/79 Unlike many other Roman sites in Tunisia, there were lots of mosaics left in situ at Bulla Regia, including this impressive specimen.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
51/79 This is the theater of Bulla Regia.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
52/79 We then took a scenic route through the rolling hills from Bulla Regia to the impressive Roman site of Dougga (Thugga).
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
53/79 Amy on stage at Dougga's theater.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
54/79 The capitol of Dougga.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
55/79 Dougga is a very large site to explore.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
56/79 On Monday we visited the amphitheater of El Djem, the third-largest such theater in the Roman world.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
57/79 Inside El Djem.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
58/79 El Djem also had an impressive museum full of mosaics (duh), and this informative reconstructed Roman villa.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
59/79 On Tuesday 13 April we visited Kairouan. This is the Great Mosque.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
60/79 The Cairo scenes in Raiders of the Lost Ark were filmed on the streets of Kairouan. Here we are in the medina.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
61/79 Here we visit the zaouia of a muslim holy man inside Kairouan's medina.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
62/79 Outside the medina there was a market, where we bought a kilo of huge, fresh strawberries.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
63/79 Driving in Tunisia was a challenge, with roads full of camels, sheep, donkeys, horses pulling all kind of contraptions, motorbikes, speeding taxis and extremely slow Isuzus, all honking and flashing their lights at us. Not to mention the zillions of pedestrians (especially students) walking all over the streets, anywhere but the sidewalks.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
64/79 On Wednesday we took the Happy Noddy Train from Sousse to Port el Kantoui, a tourist ghetto devoid of Tunisian culture.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
65/79 We succumbed to a tout and took a two hour sea cruise on this catamaran.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
66/79 Arthur was very brave and sat all the way out on the tip of the boat. Here he searches for dolphins.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
67/79 We saw a group of four dolphins jumping together.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
68/79 They came to the boat and checked us out.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
69/79 On the beach of Port el Kantoui watersports were available, including parasailing and jet-skiing.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
70/79 On Thursday we took the train to Tunis again, to visit the Bardo museum, and the medina. This is the Sousse train station.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
71/79 There was no shortage of amazing mosaics in the Bardo museum.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
72/79 Roooaaaar.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
73/79 Part of the museum used to be a palace, and the rooms were appropriately decked out in full splendor.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
74/79 One of the gates to the medina of Tunis.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
75/79 Amy in the medina.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
76/79 The medina of Tunis was one of six UNESCO World Heritage sites we visited in Tunisia. The others were Kairouan, the medina of Sousse, Carthage, Dougga, and El Djem.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
77/79 On Friday we walked 10 kilometers along the beach from Sousse to Port el Kantoui. The sky was sometimes overcast and the water was very rough.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
78/79 On Saturday, our last day, we walked into Sousse one last time. This is the corniche.
 - (1970-01-01 2004) - Photo Album Amy and Arthur
79/79 Inside the medina we visited the El Kobba museum, dedicated to traditional Tunisian wedding ceremonies.