And Why Not?

As I prepare for my departure from Tunisia this Thursday (2 October), I’ve thrown together a couple reflections, in sum and whatnot of my travels so far in this tiny North African country. Tunisia has been a rough go. I speak in euphemisms, and will not dwell at...

I returned to Sousse this afternoon: I needed to escape the little town where I'd been staying, and I wanted to do some further exploring as well. I had read about some catacombs just outside the Medina, and I was terribly proud of myself after eventually finding them...

We began the morning at 8:00, climbing north out of the desert and doing a little off-roading along the way. The day was spent visiting several ksars, which is a Berber word that basically means fortress. Ksars were built for defensive living: located atop mountains...

Mohammed picked us up in his white Land Rover at 9:00. Gen and I piled in and we began heading east, through the Chott el-Jerid, a massive salt-lake that slowly stretches down into the Sahara. The Chott reminded me of the Bonneville Salt Flats outside Salt Lake City...

In the late morning I took the bus from Enfida to the town of Kairouan.  Kairouan is one of Islam’s most holy cities, the place where the Arabs first established a base as they began to move eastward into North Africa in the 7th Century.  The town has gained a...

This little town where I’m staying is, by virtue of being a small town, simultaneously representative and non-representative of Tunisia as a whole. It serves as a microcosm in that the country is mostly composed of small, conservative, rural towns like Enfida. But...

Takrouna is a small village that sits atop a hill slightly Northeast of Enfida. The city was originally settled by Berbers, and is presently an artisan community. I was driven up to Takrouna on a small scooter by Slim (Sa-leem), the young man in whose house I'm...

When you think of Sidi Bou Said, a wealthy suburb resting on the Mediterranean east of Tunis, think of two things: white and blue. The city's located on a hill that climbs up and abuts a cliff, looking out eastward over the Sea. it's a beautiful area of small, winding...

Carthage is one of those places I recall from High School history class, back when the subject seemed like an endless series of dates and battles and rote events, none of which resembled any lived experience. Carthage sits on the Mediterranean east of present-day...

The Bardo Museum has one of the best collections of ancient Punic and Roman remains from what was the city of Carthage. Tunisia has been warred over and settled by virtually every imaginable tribal group you can name, and the pieces contained in the museum showed a...

Sousse is one of the larger towns in Tunisia and by far one of the most popular, both with Tunisians and Europeans, the latter of whom, riding the strength of the Pound, the Euro and recent Russian oil wealth, swarm the beaches throughout the summers. Tourism is...