From Stormy Seas to Magical Mountains

This section of the journey has involved a couple firsts for Rock-Awn!

1. first all-inclusive together
2. first time sleeping in a cave

Rock-Awn Does an All-Inclusive

Talking about it now, we don’t really remember how it happened. Maybe it was simply because we both haven’t done one in awhile, and we’ve never done one together. Maybe it’s because Djerba is knows as the island of dreams and has a few resorts. Maybe because it’s shoulder season, so it seemed like a good deal and idea at the time. Regardless of the reason, when we arrived on the island of Djerba after our louage adventure, we made our way to our all inclusive resort.

As we got to the gate, the security guard was reluctant to let us in. We didn’t have a wristband, and I don’t think he was used to seeing guests arrive to the resort from the local bus!

The experience we ended up having (which we suspected we would) is that for the most part all-inclusive resorts aren’t for Rock-Awn! Now to be fair, the resort was exactly what all inclusive resorts are . . . . but for us, we felt restricted with specific times to eat, food that had a tapered down local feel, and encouraged to take part in resort activities we weren’t particularly interested in. To also be fair to the resort, the weather wasn’t great and so the things we would have done like hang out by the beach, go swimming, play ping pong and mini golf just weren’t really possibly because of the windy conditions (it actually stormed with heavy winds, lightning and downpours the last night/day we were there). It WAS really nice to see and be by the sea though.

Djerbahood

A highlight of our time on Djerba was wandering around Djerbahood. This is a neighbourhood that invited artists from all over the world to make art in their area which resulted in around 250 murals that can be found all along the streets. It was really cool!

El Ghriba Synagogue

When we arrived on the island and got off the ferry, we noticed that there seemed to be a heavy police/military presence. Our passports were checked a couple of times and we were wondering what was going on (or if this was usual). Our government official guy that we met on the louage told us that every year there is a pilgrimage to the El Ghriba Synagogue (the oldest synagogue in Africa frequented by both Jewish and Muslim worshipers). The pilgrimage was happening as we arrived. It was pretty quiet when we visited with only a handful of people there.

Unfortunately, two days after we visited and the day that we left the island an incident occurred, We heard about it after we arrived at our next place. It was heartbreaking to hear this for all involved and all that may be affected in various ways.

Rock-Awn Sleeps in a Cave

I intend in life to put out positive vibes. That doesn’t always come easy, especially during times when I am struggling mentally and emotionally. I feel like the way we were raised in the western world and our society in general has been created from a view that is heavily negative and divisive. So, I try to focus on and create the opposite. Sometimes I wonder if that creates too much of an illusion that life always runs smoothly. Regardless of the answer to that question, our arrival to our mountain cave dwelling did NOT start off smoothly!

I think I’ve mentioned that one of DawnO‘s superpowers is choosing kick ass places to stay. This was one the that was booked before we got here and we were both super excited about. As the time drew near, however, we started to have doubts. There was weird communications with the owner where answers to questions DawnO had asked suddenly changed and made it more difficult for us to even get there on our own. We arrived at the place and it was one of those situations, that often happens in travel, where we were confused to what was even going on and how we were told things would go, didn’t go. We became so frustrated that we considered cancelling the rest of our nights stay (knowing we had a leg to stand on to do so) and desperately began researching where to go instead/next and how to even get there!

Luckily there was a couple staying at the place (we were the only guests that night) – medical professionals who live in the US but are originally from Kazakhstan and Argentina. We got to talking, had a good time sharing stories and made the plan to hang out the next day as they had rented a car, were planning on touring the surrounding area and were happy to share the experience and have company.

This simple interaction made all the difference for us and shifted everything! Communication with the owner seemed to get better, we had an amazing day with the couple seeing even more of the amazingness of Tunisia, and the place and accommodation we had been so excited about once again became ✨magical✨!

Our Mountain Cave Dwellings

Ksar is the North African term for “fortified village” and we’ve spent our time in the mountains exploring many of them. This is also where we stayed!!

Ksar Jouamaa became our home base for three nights, and after the initial weirdness we were so grateful for our time there. Being shoulder season, there were very few guests, there was clean up that needed to be done around the property, but just simply being there was amazing and felt like such a special experience. The staff was great despite our limited ability to communicate, both sunrises and sunsets were spectacular amongst the mountainous expanse and being a morning person, me and the resident rooster (who I named Jerry) spent time hanging out together while I wrote, and took in the view with him crowing beside me.

Ksar Tounket

Ksar Tounket was the first place we went on our road trip with our new friends. There are many cool things about the ksars, one of which is how they blend into the scenery and are so unassuming. There were a few rough roads on the way to the point that we almost gave up saying “meh . . . . it doesn’t look that interesting anyways!” Glad we pushed through (and grateful to our driver for powering on), as our initial “meh” assessment couldn’t be further from our experience being there.

Chenini Village

Our second road trip stop was Chenini village is “a ruined Berber village” whose oldest structures date back to the 12th century. It was a lot more touristy (with buses and vans arriving to drop off groups) than our first stop, but it was still relatively quiet and easy to find quiet spots to stand and imagine yourself in the ancient times looking out over the goat herders and keeping an eye out for any potential invasions.

Berber Villages and Sunset Hike

Our last day in the mountains, we arranged to take a guided hike with one of the guides from the local village. We were hoping to go in the morning, but the guide wasn’t available. Instead he proposed a sunset hike. So, we said goodbye to our travel friends from the previous day, had a chill/relax day around our ksar and then set out for the hike. It was absolutely magical, and the perfect way to end our time here in the mountains!

It’s been an epic adventure so far and though we only have a few more days left, who knows what we could still get up to!!

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*** to see more pics from this particular adventure and another perspective head over to DawnO’s blog posts HERE and HERE