We landed at the Tunis - Carthage Airport Friday, midday-ish. And it was beautiful landing there. The airport reminded me of Hawai'i's airport. With the palm trees and the fresh crisp air, all that was missing was someone "lei-ing" us. I think I convinced myself I was in love with Tunis before we even got there, but it was so wonderful to land in Africa. Got my passport stamped and everything. But that's not what these trips are about.
Turns out that Tunisia has a "democracy," better known as a dictatorship. The president Ben Ali has been in his position since 1987. And his picture was everywhere.
Not only big billboards, but the Tunisian flag and his image were those little flag strings... like birthday banner thingies... Silly dictator. However, people seem to be "happy." We got to the five star hotel (Hotel Africa) after about a 15 minute drive through Tunis. We had a glorious large comfortable five star bed for sleeping on, which was woooooonderful. But! First, we did some walking around. We walked through the Medina, which is the shopping center, with all of the shopkeepers that come outside and try to convince you to come into their shops and buy their wares, and everything is "one dinar!!" We walked up through the Medina, past the Grand Mosque Ezzituna, to the Qasbah. Which caused me to have "Rock the Qasbah" stuck in my head for the better part of the trip.
I thought some "god lights" might be a fun thing. This is the Qasbah. In front of some important building that I can't remember the name of... but it's important. In this area, the Tunisian flag is ceremoniously raised and lowered.
Which we got to see, with the back-up of a drumline/marching band. I felt awful thinking to myself that the trumpets were awfully out of tune, because it was probably a bit disrespectful, but they were... These things are facts. But it was still pretty nifty. This guys came out in full regalia, with their caps and hats, dressed in the Tunisian flag colors. From there we walked back through the Medina to a perfume makers shop.
This guy makes the essences for all sorts of perfumes like Dior, J'adore, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, including a whole bunch of Tunisian scents. We got an explanation about how it's done. You put water in the bottom of this thing, and then put the flower or whatever the scent comes from in the top, and something something... perfume essence! It takes about a ton of orange blossoms to make a very small vial of essence. Very interesting. I didn't buy any... since I don't wear perfumes. But there was one called Tunis By Night, which he also referred to as Sex Machine, and told us we could only wear it on Saturdays. What a funny guy. That night we then went to a tea shop, were we had dates with marzipan filling, mint tea with pine nuts, and those of us that were "upstairs" (only 5 of us, everyone else sat below) got these eggs that Mounir, our tour guide, bought for us. They are baked in an oven under the sand. They were very delicious. And, we enjoyed some apple tobacco hookah, which was a fun experience. We tried to get Maria Ponce de Leon (a Temple professor who is learning Arabic and plans to move to Tunisia some day) to partake, but she had just had surgery done on her mouth, and the doctor told her not to smoke... We then went back to the hotel, and enjoyed the all you can eat buffet. Which I did. Extensively. It was all French food, though, rather than Tunisian, but it was delicious, and there was beef, and I ate a ton, and enjoyed it.
The next morning we woke up at the crack of dawn.
To listen to a speech by a Tunisian political something or other. Probably the best guest speaker I've ever heard. He talked about the EuroMed Barcelona Accords of 1995, which involves the Mediterranean nations, and how they can improve their economic situations. Basically, the Northern nations want the North African nations to have better relations for their own populations self interest mostly concerning oil. And things he said made a lot of sense. He mentioned that the Accords did not give the proper tools for the North African nations to grow economically, and a lot of people though the Northern Med nations should provide aid, but it's not their job to do these things. That the governments need to watch out for their own populations self interest before they try to help other nations. It was pretty cool to listen to. He was very well informed, and we were lucky, because usually dictatorships won't let people talk about such things in order to avoid dissent... So we were very privileged.
Then we went to the Bardo Museum, which was very interesting. It's collection of Roman Mosaics is considered the best in the world. And I was mostly impressed with the ceilings, though. They were made of either plaster or carved wood, and were very, very extravagant.
The first two are the made of plaster that is shaped and carved. The last one is made of carved wood with gold filigree. Sooooooo beautiful.
We went to Carthage next. Carthage was very interesting.
It probably seems like I didn't pay attention to a lot of things, but I did, really. The "problem" was it was such an academic trip and we did so much, and so many things were interesting, that I couldn't possibly remember them all. I should do more research on Carthage. I think during the Punic War it was destroyed, and salt was sown into the ground to ensure that nothing would ever grow there. I think Marcus Porcious said "Carthage must be destroyed" during the Third Punic War. And the Romans did just that.
We went to the Roman baths after that, which was very pretty, right on the water
There were signs everywhere that said don't climb on the ruins. Students were. It bothered me a bit... And if you could see to the left, the way left, there would be Ben Ali's House. Now, here's the thing, you can't photograph Ben Ali's house. And there are guards everywhere, hiding in bushes and trees and out in the open with guns and such, ready to take away your camera if you even point it in that direction. Dictatorship, anyone?
We went to the American Cemetery in Tunis
Where about 2800 American soldiers are buried from World War II. Those buried there lost their lives serving in military activities ranging from North Africa to the Persian Gulf. Really moving, sort of like Arlington.
Then we went to Sidi Bou Said to watch the sun set
And have some more tea and more apple tobacco Hookah. We went into some shops and looked around, but this one shop owner told me I had beautiful eyes and whispered inappropriate things as I walked around, so I decided I was done, and waited outside at another tea shop for the rest of the class.
On Sunday we woke, had breakfast, and did some less interesting things, such as visited a post office and train station. And then we came home, and I was very exhausted. But it was such a wonderful, beautiful trip. And there is so much more to say, and I don't even know where to start or fit it in. There are stories for sure, but there is always time for stories.
And ohmigoodness, spring break is in two weeks! Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam. Then Sara comes the 8thish to visit, and we go to Budapest the following weekend. Then, two weeks after that I'm going to Vienna!! (I just booked my plane ticket today... I found a "cheap" flight for it... so I couldn't even help myself).
I think I might be out of words. But it was beautiful and wonderful, and if you ever have the chance, go to Africa.
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