Here’s the truth . . . . I didn’t know much about Tunisia before we came here. When someone asked me why we chose Tunisia as our next destination, I couldn’t even remember why, and I did very little research looking into what Tunisia was all about before I stepped foot in the country. This was next level being kind of unprepared . . . . even for me!
The only things I knew after the very little reading I did was . . . some Star Wars scenes were filmed in Tunisia, and the food (specifically the street food) looked like it would be really good.
I was proven correct on both counts! 😃
May the Force Be with You
I’m not much of a Star Wars person (do you peeps have names like the Trekkies do? 🤷🏽♀️), but I did grow up with the first (or second) trilogy and have fond memories of seeing those movies as a kid with family. Of the numerous sites in Tunisia, DawnO and I made it to three. Luckily, these were from movies that I’ve actually seen.
Like I said, I’m not a Star Wars fan?/nerd?/geek?/person? . . . . still I was quite excited when we made it to the sights. Maybe because they were a little difficult to find. There wasn’t really a map and in one case we used GPS coordinates. I found it cool once we got there to think back to watching these movies and seeing these scenes on screen, but I also imagined the actors filming their parts not necessarily knowing how big this thing called Star Wars would eventually become! It also blew my mind how underrated these places where and how no one seemed to give much of a shit about them. Having a few Star Wars peeps in my life, I was so surprised that someone hadn’t come along and slapped a fence around these things attaching some kind of entrance fee to them. Maybe that’s part of the appeal?
Exterior of Mos Eisley Cantina (Episode IV: A New Hope)
This was the first site we went searching for and probably the one that was the most difficult to find. We wandered around, feeling like we were going in circles and finally had to stop for a coffee and to regroup. That seemed to be the ticket as we ended up coming across it about two blocks later!
Exterior of Ben (Obi-Wan) Kanobi’s house (Episode IV: A New Hope)
It was a bit of a walk to get out to this one and there was literally no one there. So we checked it out, went inside, and closed our eyes to just be silent and still for a few moments. Well . . . . turns out the force became strong with us! The moment we left, we “magically” found the bus stop we needed, with the exact bus that we wanted appearing instantly (the bus system takes a bit of navigating and we never were able to find a map or times even after asking around), and it took us literally outside the gates of our resort! 😮
Exterior of Anakin Skywalker’s house (Episode 1: The Phantom Menace)
The first two sites were on the island of Djerba. This one was in Medenine and we were able to check it out on our way to our mountain cave hotel. We took the bus from Djerba, got off and guess what was very very close to the bus station we were dropped off at in Medenine? Seems like the force was strong once again!
Fun fact . . . . which I discovered while here. TATAOUINE is a city and governorate in Tunisia. TATOOINE is a desert planet in Star Wars. Who knew? (well . . . some people knew!)
OMG . . . the Food!
I LOOOOOVVE street food and will try almost anything. We had a list of things to look out for and actually made it through the majority of them. We heard that the food was really good, and it did not disappoint!
When I first arrived, I got to town hours before DawnO. I checked into our place and our Airbnb host made me lunch. It was a good introduction of what was to come.
The number one condiment in Tunisia is harissa. It’s a spicy pepper paste that is added to many sandwiches or combined with olive oil for dipping bread into. Ajoog also comes with many meals and has eggplant, roasted peppers and garlic. Then comes mayonnaise, possibly to tone down the heat?!
Tunisian food is very bread based. There are a lot of different breads, a baguette comes with many meals, and a lot of different kinds of sandwiches can be found everywhere, many with french fries or even fries inside the sandwiches 😋 Other popular things to put in sandwiches are harissa (that’s maybe considered more of a given!), eggs and tuna.
Probably our favourite sandwich of all was one made with flatbread that is kneaded and fried right in front of you! It was what we ate as we were weighing our options of how to get back to the Tunis area when we got stuck at the ruins of Dougga and it was the last meal we had together before DawnO left to go to the airport
Another fav was a simple flat bread with minimal ingredients we discovered while riding the train. People would come by with a wicker basket and for 1 dinar (about $0.50 Canadian), they’d reach in to pull out a steamy hot delicious flatbread. Imagine our excitement when we were able to find and flag down a wicker basket carrier during one of our louage rides!
An easy food to find throughout Tunisia is brik. Brik is a thin pastry filled with stuff, then an egg is cracked in and it’s fried. I really wanted to try it, and we had the chance in Djerba. My assessment of it at that time was it was good, but I didn’t need to have it everyday (it can be a bit on the greasy side). The next day we went to our mountain cave hotel where they served us dinner for three nights. Our appetizer EVERY night . . . . . brik!
There were a couple of things we thought we would find everywhere, but we just didn’t (maybe we didn’t look in the right spots?!) One was Shakshuka (also called Ojja in Tunisia) which is eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, olive oil, peppers and onion. We managed to find it on the first day and the last day of our travels.
The second thing we had trouble finding was couscous, and the only chance we had to have it was when we were in the mountains.
On our first day, we wandered through the medina taking in the sights and trying some things. We found ourselves in a section I called “cookie corner” We went to different stands to get something to bring back to try. We both ended up with the squarish looking cookie with sesame seeds. DawnO’s French speaking ability turned out to be a bit better as she came with 4 different cookies and I came with a small box (asking for the least amount I could get). I’ve been carting those cookies around everywhere and though they have come in handy sometimes when we needed some sustenance or a bit of a pick-me-up, I’m looking forward to finally releasing that weight (I’m looking at them sitting on the desk right now)!
These square-ish cookies are called Makroudh (which means diamond) and is made with semolina dough, nuts and dates. The other longer cookie is called Mehshi Tataouine and is made of sesame, almonds and walnuts.
We also had some drinks! Mint tea was everywhere and is DELICIOUS!
Didn’t get a chance to try the Tunisian beer, but we had an opportunity at our all inclusive resort to try a spirit made from figs called Bouka
I had been keeping an eye out for a drink I had read about called Citronnade which is lemonade using the whole fruit. We found a stand on our last day, and it is . . . . . SO . . . . . GOOD! It would be super refreshing on a hot day!
The overall verdict . . . . Tunisian food ROCKS!!!
The Scrub Down
On our wish list of things to do during this trip was to go to a hammam and have a gommage. Hammams are public bathhouses/steamrooms found across the Middle East and North Africa. Gommage is a full body scrub where someone takes charge of scrubbing you down. I think it’s because we both love the heat, but in our six trips together we’ve been to at least three saunas or steamrooms in three different countries!
However, these three previous steams involved being in cultures where tops and bottoms were covered. Hammams involve bottoms only. It’s funny to think about how uncomfortable this can be coming from a North American culture, and it’s funny to think I was actually a bit nervous considering I’ve gone to South Korean bathhouses where you are buck with no clothes! But, there’s something a bit uncomfortable about asking your bestie (when you’re both from and have been raised in prudish North America) if she wants to hang out topless and watch each other get scrubbed down!
So, we tried to go to a hammam when we first met up in Tunis, but no one showed up to open the doors. We did one at our resort in Djerba, but this one was just us and our scrub lady walking us through every step of the way (the tourista version). Hours before DawnO was set to leave Tunisia, we went back to the place we had originally tried to go to and there we found the true experience . . . . . success!
There were other women there, we had no idea what we were doing, yet there was always someone (staff or other ladies also enjoying a steam) offering to help us out whether they could speak English or not. The scrub down (gommage) was AMAZING!! Probably the best one I’ve ever had (and I’ve been scrubbed down pretty good in Korea) with lots of skin flakes removed and shedding of my old skin (I feel reborn!!) AND you know what’s not a big deal at all? . . . . . . . stripping down and being topless with a bunch of other women and your best travel buddy! It’s actually quite freeing and relaxing!
That ends Rock-Awn six with no doubts Rock-Awn seven will be happening . . . . how can there not when they always end up being epic adventures!!
Thanks DawnO for the good times and thanks Tunisia 🇹🇳 for being so amazing and a wonderful introduction to the African continent!
Up next is an adventure with B-Rod next month . . . . maybe. It kinda depends on what happens with his work situation. Here’s hoping that there’s a resolution that is beneficial to all and an adventure that has been waiting a long time to happen!
*** to see more pics from this particular adventure and another perspective head over to DawnO’s blog post HERE