We’ve found some true gems in Tunisia so far on this trip, and this has continued as we travel around the country. From the capital of Tunis, we made our way by train to the city of Sfax. It was about a 5 hour journey and though beautiful in it’s own way, the landscape of fields upon fields of olive trees was fairly consistent with little variety and resulted in a few cat naps along the way!
Sfax was chosen as one of our home bases because we wanted to visit the Medina which we had read was a little bit different than other areas and because of it’s proximity to what we consider one of the gems we came across in this this area.
Gem #1: El Jem
All I can say about this Unesco World Heritage Site is WOW and let the pictures do the talking instead!
We had to back track a bit to get to El Jem from Sfax which meant we didn’t have as much time to wander the medina as we had planned. We had heard that this particular medina has different because as an industrial town, it was less about tourism and had more workshops and factories. We only had a short time to wander around and it was later in the day, so we didn’t see a lot of this, but it’s still great to get lost in the streets and alleyways.
At first we questioned why we hadn’t chosen to just stay in El Jem, but over the two nights we spent in Sfax, we realized that unintentionally it had been because of the second gem we’ve come across in our time here.
Gem #2: The People
We ended up staying at one of THE best Airbnb experiences we’ve both ever had (we also acknowledged that DawnO has the super power of choosing amazing places to stay!) We spent two nights in a private room in the home of a Tunisian family. We’ve found Tunisian people in general extremely friendly and always going out of their way to help us and make us feel welcome, and our host Mohamed went above and beyond this! We had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time with him talking about Tunisia, his life, meeting his wonderful wife and kids and just genuinely feeling for that small moment in time that we were actually a part of Tunisia instead of just simply visiting it.
Gem #3: The Adventures and Stories
We were so happy as we left Sfax and expected the day we left to simply be a travel day. We knew that travelling from Sfax to Djerba would be a bit of a day. We knew that it could take anywhere from 4-6 hours to get to by louage, that we may have to wait for the louage (minivan) to fill up before leaving, that there was a ferry involved and that we’d still have to navigate to where we were staying once we got on the island. What we didn’t know was the adventure that was waiting for us on a simple van ride!
We were the first to get on this particular louage and only had to wait maybe 30 min before we set out on our way. We made a stop to eat and we made a stop for gas.
Throughout our journey the bus driver kept trying to communicate with us but he didn’t speak any English and not much French. Combined our French is barely passable and our Arabic is non-existent. We kind of got the impression that he was unhappy with this situation . . . . one of those “speak our language when you’re in our country” type of situations. We have been doing the best we can with our high school French (which has been getting us by), but with this no longer involved, it was a bit more of a struggle. He could see Dawn in his rear view mirror and we kept thinking that he was looking back glaringly at her.
Eventually at one of the stops through one of the passengers we found out he was actually really WANTING to communicate with us. He had never had English speaking tourists in his louage before and really wanted to learn/know more about us. How’s that for a lesson in interpretations and perceptions?!!
We ended up talking to a couple of the passengers on the louage who spoke very good English. The first was a man from Libya, and the second was one who approached us at the food stop. He welcomed us and let us know we could ask him anything we wanted to know about Djerba as he was a government official there! He proceeded to show us that he was telling us the truth by pulling out his phone and showing us interviews and public appearances he had made. It was one of those unexpected almost unbelievable moments that sometimes happen while travelling.
When we pulled up to the ferry stop, instead of getting into the lineup, we pulled up to the side and the government official guy got off carrying an official looking file folder, while we all waited behind. There seemed to be a bit of confusion as to what was going on. DawnO was a bit concerned that we weren’t in the lineup. My prediction was that he was getting us to the front of the line. A couple of the other passengers weren’t convinced that anything was happening and got so frustrated that they left to do a walk on to the ferry.
Guess what happened? Well, it took a bit of time, but government dude eventually came back, the remaining passengers hopped into the louage and to the front of the cue the driver drove!
And that’s how we’ve ended up in Djerba!
It took us awhile to find where we’re staying, and I will say . . . . our accommodations this time is a RockAwn first, but . . . . . that’s a story for next time!
**** I’ve been asked where all the food shots are . . . . rest assured, that will be happening sometime soon! 😆
*** to see more pics from this particular adventure and another perspective head over to DawnO’s blog post HERE
I am loving the Ancient Roman stuff! Very very cool! And what an unexpected gift in meeting Muhammed! Food and people – the strongest memories I have from most trips for sure. 🙂 Cant wait to see where you go next!🙌
Jess
Right Jessica?! ikyk ✨💖✨
[…] 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 […]