Mediterranean

Day 12 - Wed 24 Oct 07

Up for breakfast at 08:00 everything was on a tray so I took one and ate most of the things on it! Loaded the car up and headed off towards Tunis. Stopped off at Dougga - an amazing roman ruin based on the brow of a hill with fabulous views over the valley. A lot of buildings here are intact including a big temple. I got there before all the tour buses arrived, but only just.

Then it was back in the car, due to lack of change I decided not to take the toll road and headed off down the old road. With in a few minutes a commonwealth war grave appeared on my left, so I pulled in to have a look around. Within minutes a man appeared and offered me a list of all the people buried there. In the list I found a namesake so I headed off to find his grave. The place is very well looked after, and I give the guys what little change I have and thanked them for their efforts.

My police escort

Not soon after heading off I'm flagged down by a policeman, at first I couldn't work out what he wanted and then it dawned on me; his pal wanted a lift into Tunis. So I ended up giving a rather large and jolly policeman a lift. With a bit of French, a bit of English, and a bit of Arabic we have a kind of a conversation. I dropped him at the edge of Tunis, and by following his instructions (and a lot of luck) I ended up right by the clock tower in the centre of town.

Getting to the port was very easy, and according to everyone the piece I paper I have should be enough to get me aboard the ferry, and I should be back here by 18:00 tomorrow. After that I drove to Sidi Bou Said, a pretty little village past the port. It costs 2Dn to park in the village, so I dump the car on the side street instead and walk up the hill. Hotel Sidi Bou Fares has a room and I get the price down from 45 to 40Dn including breakfast.

I take a walk around the village and it's very pretty, but it's not what the real Tunisia looks like. It's a bit too pretty. I take a hike down a series of steps to the harbour and then back up - it really wasn't worth the effort! The place is teaming with tourists I assume they are all off the cruise ships in the harbour. Back down the hill to the supermarket to get some supplies, and then sat in the courtyard of the hotel to write up my diary.