Tunisia

Visited: April 2012

Duration of visit: 7 days

Capital city: Tunis

Population: 10.85 million (2012)

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

• Family trip with 10-month-old son and 2 years old daughter.
• Tunis – the capital of Tunisia, with its medina quarter that has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.
• Settling down in Hammamet – one of the primary tourist destinations in Tunisia, famous for long sandy beaches, watersport activities, all-inclusive hotels and jasmine.
• Staying in an all-inclusive hotel in the low season. Not my style of travelling, but considering the circumstances of small children, the only option at that time.

Located in North Africa on the Mediterranean Sea, Tunisia has been inhabited for around 200,000 years and it was once an influential regional power. The Sahara Desert, Mediterranean Sea with beautiful beaches, scenes from the Star Wars movies and several historic sights, are the main reason, why Tunisia is one of the most popular tourist destinations in North Africa.

In 2010, Tunisia was also a starting point for Jasmine Revolution, which sparked a wave of protests throughout the Arab world that later became known as the Arab Spring. It also toppled the governments of Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

The capital city, Tunis, was once considered one of the greatest and wealthiest cities in the Islamic world, while today the city center (Medina) is a UNESCO World Heritage. In general, there are eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the country, including the largest colosseum in North Africa – El Jem, the ancient remains of the Roman site of Dougga and the holy city of Kairouan.

We took a comfortable train from Hammamet to the capital. Wandering around the old town with two small kids and a stroller is quite an experience.

Medina is filled with palaces, mosques, mausoleums, madrasas, fountains and markets, dating back to 7^th century. The best way to explore the area is to get lost in narrow streets, which are marked by splendid Fatimid and Ottoman architecture. One of the most remarkable areas is Souk des Chéchias, where the makers of Tunisia’s traditional woolen hats have had their workshops for centuries.

Chechia is a national headgear in Tunisia. The process of manufacturing these traditional hats is long and complicated. The traditional chechia is made of combed wool, knitted by women. The caps are then sent to the fulling. They are wetted with hot water and soap, and trodden under foot by men in order to soak them.

Then comes the treatment of the thistle, which is used for carding or combing the hat, in order to transform the felt into downy velvet. The thistle is often replaced by a wire brush. It is at this stage of manufacture that the chechia is tinted with its famous vermilion red color.

The general impression of the city and people were good; we perceived safety and hospitality.

Hammamet is one of the primary tourist destinations in Tunisia, famous for long sandy beaches, watersport activities, all-inclusive hotels and jasmine.

Visiting it in off season doesn’t bring the same experience as during the summer: the sea was still too cold to swim, but the crowd was much more manageable and the atmosphere calmer.

The main activities in this kind of hotels are usually eating, drinking, resting and more eating, before nightlife. The best thing is that you don’t need to clean the table and leave all the mess under table, after the little kids finish the meal. The food in our hotel was only of average quality with limited choice for non-meat eaters.

It is not easy to travel around with really small kids and the main objective on Tunisia expedition was enjoying the holidays in an easy going way. The maximum I was able to get outside of Hammamet was the capital city of Tunis.

For wider picture of the country, I should have also visited El Djem Amphiteater, the atmospheric ruins of the ancient town Carthage, Andalusian-style seaside neighborhood of Sidi Bou Said town, as well as the Great Mosque of Kairouan.

I am convinced that there will be an opportunity to come back one day and combine deeper travelling around Tunisia with the neighboring Algeria and Libya.