City Post: Sousse

Onward to Tunisia! We have a mutual friend who absolutely loves Tunisia, so we decided to give it a go from Morocco. It was a pretty short (and cheap) flight from Casablanca, and set us up to go to Egypt, so why not?

To get there, we had to get up at 2h00 in the morning! Our flight was at six o'clock, and we had to be there three hours early. Talk about abusive. On top of that, our reserved taxi ghosted us at the Tunis airport, so we had to get to Sousse on our own. We could have taken the train or bus if we had any idea how they worked, but we hadn't done any research on that, so we opted for a taxi. Two hours in a "taxi" to Sousse. Wasn't the cheapest option, but at least we got there.

We stayed in an Airbnb in Sousse. This was quite a departure from our last four months of travel. In Europe, we got a bed for the two of us (or a bed and a couch). In Sousse (and all of Tunisia), we got entire apartments, complete with multiple bedrooms, kitchens, bathroom(s), you name it. This was the first prolonged privacy we would have from each other since we left home! (Which we both liked for our own reasons).

We had every intention of enjoying the beaches and the water while we were in Sousse. What we didn't know was 1) what the norms for women are at beaches (welcome to a normal question in the Middle East / North Africa) and 2) how cold the water would be. It turned out that on the first day, neither of those things mattered, because it was SO windy! Even the locals were avoiding the sea walk. We decided to try it anyways, but that was an epic fail, so we ended up at a beachside café drinking coffee and reading our Kindles.

A bit later on that day, we decided to visit the Ribat in Sousse. Ribats were Moorish outposts that stood watch over the seas to warn and protect against invading armies. In Sousse's case, those were those coming from the European continent. They were often integrated into the city walls (as was the case in Sousse), and served primarily as a military garrison. Thee Ribat at Sousse has existed since at least 812 AD, based on an inscription found at the site, but could be older.

It was a remarkably well-preserved piece of history, with very few modern modifications. You could really get the sense of how military life must have been in the small rooms, courtyard, and watch platforms / tower. From the platforms and tower, you could survey the entire city and far out into sea. It was no wonder why these Ribats played such an important role in anticolonial history in Northern Africa!

The Ribat also had a deconsecrated prayer room. Much like modern mosques, it was an open room with a mihrab indicating the direction of prayer. While the prayer room is unadorned and empty, the threshold to enter clearly shows the wear of over a thousand years of footsteps entering and exiting. There is a foot-shaped and -sized indention where patrons and visitors have come to the mosque for over a millennia. It was such a simple feature of erosion, but to think that we were walking in the footsteps of who knows now many millions of people, some of them potentially prominent historical figures, was a fascinating consideration in a city neither of us had heard of two weeks before.

The next day, we explored the medina, or old city. We would learn that in Tunisia, the medinas were both protected sites and sites for local merchants to peddle their wares, mostly to tourists, but occassionally to locals. The medina in Sousse was unique (to us), as there was a map which mapped out the walking route past important features. The maps were unassuming in mosaic tiles along the walls, and one could be forgiven for not noticing they were there in the first place. The route walked us by the mosque, through parts of the souk, local schools and residences, and, finally, the Sousse Archaeology Museum. It wasn't the most impressive site, especially after wandering Marrakech, but it was still worth wandering to take in the feel of what local life must have been like when the medina was the entire city.

In Sousse, we learned early on of two scams common in Tunisia (every country has their own popular scams). First was the "festival." Local merchants with eagle eyes for unsuspecting tourists would strike up a conversation with you, and then tell you that you were lucky, as there was a festival in town that you should see. When they offer to take you there, you inevitably end up at their shop instead (or their friend's shop, if they're a spotter). Once there, you end up being pressured (hard) to buy something.

The second same was the funnier of the two, especially for us. Men would walk by, and say, "Hey! You don't recognise me? I work [insert job here] at your hotel!" It was always some obscure job that you wouldn't have noticed, like a security guard or cook. They would then say that this was their day off, and offer to show you around their city. There was only one problem: we were staying at an Airbnb! Jack responded once with "Really? Because breakfast wasn't ready when I woke up this morning" when one of them said they worked the breakfast shift as a cook.

We ran into both of these scams in every city we visited in Tunisia. Harmless enough once you figure them out, but expensive if you fall for them (go ahead, ask us how we know).

One of the good things about having our own space in the Airbnb was we could each have a bit of our own routine without disturbing the other. Jack was (and is) a morning person, and enjoys writing or reading over pastries and coffee or tea. Jo, on the other hand, likes visiting local gyms in the afternoons and evenings. It was what we would discover to be a nice change of pace, as we could each have our own space after being together NON-STOP for four months! (Seriously, how many married couples do you know that are even together that much?!).

Plus, we wouldn't wake each other up with snoring or talking in our sleep (we'll let you decide who does which!).

When we left, we were bound for Hammamet, another city we knew absolutely nothing about except for the nice beaches (Jo actually found it on a travel forum). We went via train...which...if you are ever traveling through Tunisia, you should do once just for the experience...(as per usual, that's a story for the next post!).

Google Photo Album