Friday, April 27, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Souyah bazar
Mum and I bought four rugs between us from this shop as well as leather jackets, handbags etc.
Soula shopping
A fantastic shop for souvenirs and beautiful jewellry and countless other things - 4 floors of wonderful browsing there to be had. Lifts between floors too!
Mum, me Yori on beach
Mum, me and Yori with some of her German friends who were also in Tunisia at that time.
Smoothie movie man1
Every day we enjoyed strawberry smoothies on the beach. Jalal made this fun because of his smiling teasing ways.
snoopy disco3
Every evening the children joined the entertainment team guys for the Snoopy Disco which they adored!
Monday, April 16, 2007
Tunisia again at Easter 2007
Mum and I have just returned from another fantastic holiday in Tunisia. We had an early flight on 28th March but did not realise until we left the house to set out for the airport that a thick fog had descended overnight. It was so bad that we could only see a few feet in front of us and it was a nightmare for Colin who continually had to swerve to avoid parked cars as we could not see them until the last minute. The whole journey to the airport which normally only takes 30 to 40 minutes was quite stressful, especially as the time was getting closer to the last time for checking in. Fortunately we made it there in time. In fact we were fully anticipating long delays due to the fog, but luckily for us the fog lifted quite soon and we did actually take off on time. We both had aisle seats, one behind the other, and the plane was a Boeing 757, which isn’t as cramped as some. The journey was uneventful and for me passed quite quickly as I was sitting next to a lady from Whitchurch, where I used to live, and we had loads to talk about during the flight. We got on so well that we were both disappointed that we were going to different resorts on arrival in Monastir.
We arrived in Monastir about 12 noon and the only delay then was waiting for our transfer coach to fill up. Finally about an hour later we were en route and within 20 minutes the first stop was our destination, the Marhaba Beach Hotel in Sousse. Inside the hotel we were warmly greeted by the doorman and then the reception staff and were given a welcome cocktail to drink whilst filling out our registration forms. Soon after that a porter took our cases and led us to our room up on the third floor. It was great to finally arrive, look at the wonderful sea view from our balcony, put the mini kettle on and brew up a refreshing cuppa. We then left the unpacking until later, put towels, sun lotion and our books into a rucksack and headed off to the beach to enjoy the rest of that day’s sunshine.
The beach was even closer than the one at Marhaba Salem where we stayed last summer. Just a 50 meter stroll through beautifully tended gardens set around the outdoor pool, with profusions of colourful flowers and tall palm trees, through an arch next to the snack bar and pizzeria which led onto the beach itself. In contrast to the lovely lifeguard at the Salem hotels, the one here was older and quite grumpy but he did actually improve as the week wore on. After the journey it was heaven to relax on a sunbed under a thatched sun parasol, close to the sea to enjoy the sea breeze and sea air and we stayed there until the sun disappeared behind clouds around 5 pm, which turned out to be the same most days. Once the sun disappeared it was a bit too chilly to remain as the sea breezes felt quite cold. Back in the hotel we unpacked and got ourselves organised and went down to dinner at 6.30 where we asked the head waiter for a table for two rather than four, and were luckily given one quite close to the buffet tables. We also met the waiter looking after us whose name was Muhammad and he looked after us beautifully the whole time we were there.
We were too tired after dinner to seek out the hotel entertainment that first evening, having got up at 4 o clock that morning, so went back to our room about 8.30 and had an early night, looking forward to a whole day on the beach when we got up the following morning. Waking up next morning was a joy because the air was alive with birdsong from 6.30 am and the rising sun was a fiery red ball emerging from the sea on the far horizon with its reflection reaching nearly to the shore. It was so beautiful that I took a photo there and then and hope it comes out, taken from that distance! The sun took a little while to get going, so we decided to walk to the nearby shop outside the hotel complex and get some milk for Mum’s cups of teas. Exiting the shop afterwards we noticed that the entrance to the Hotel Tour Khalef was nearby (this being one of the other three hotels in the complex, and the one where Mum stayed on her first visit to Tunisia, 18 years previously). We decided to walk back through this hotel so that Mum could see it again. We fully intended to go back more than just that once, but there was plenty going on at our own hotel and we didn’t actually make it back to sample their evening entertainment or any of the shared facilities. After walking through the reception area and out the other side we walked through yet more beautifully tended gardens, down past the children’s playground and the pools, and then discovered a gate which led through to our own hotel. By this time the sun was up so we collected our things from our room and headed straight to the beach where we stayed the remainder of the day.
That evening at dinner the waiters were dressed in Tunisian costume and looked stunning. We realised why when during dinner troops of musicians playing their instruments and dancers, both men and women, wended their way throughout the restaurant, to advertise the folkloric show that would be taking place in the huge reception area at 9 pm that evening. After dinner we grabbed a table with a good view and finished off the bottle of wine we’d had with our meal whilst waiting and during the show. I really enjoyed that evening. For me the best part of being in a foreign country is listening to their own music live. The band consisted of three musicians, two with different drums, one with a pipe that sounded something like bagpipes but with that Eastern air. The dancing was beautiful, berber dancers to begin with and belly dancing later. I really enjoyed it and looked forward to seeing it all again the following week. Before the show, and indeed every evening at 8.45, the two young men in charge of the entertainment rounded up all the children for the Snoopy Disco show, where the children had to copy the movements of the two Tunisians, keeping in time to the music, including wending their way through all the tables. The children absolutely adored this and waited eagerly after dinner every evening. After three songs they were invited to have a go at hula hooping and some did quite well, but they all got prizes of either non alcoholic colourful cocktails or handfuls of sweets. The participants changed several times during our two weeks at the hotel, as people were constantly arriving and leaving, but we never failed to enjoy this part of the evening immensely and we even bought the Souvenir Marhaba Beach CD at the end of our holiday which included these children’s songs as well as a selection of popular Arab music.
On Friday we decided to go into Sousse centre and visit the medina, as the weather wasn’t so sunny when we woke up in the morning. After another excellent breakfast we walked to the gate and thence by taxi we went first to the Marhaba Salem hotel so that Mum could say hello to the lifeguard there, who looked after her so beautifully last year, and I had another gift for him too. In December I took him a London baseball cap and this time I took him a London T-shirt. Walking through the hotel to get to the gardens which lead to the beach we passed the photographer who did a double-take when he saw us and gave us both a big hug and kissing greeting on both cheeks. Mum was so thrilled to see him again, especially at the lovely welcome he gave us. It quite made her day!!!
On the beach Zou Zou was pleased to see us too, and was pleased that I had brought him another present! He soon found seats for us and we decided to stay awhile. Other guys there who sell tours, who knew us from last summer and my own visit with June in December, also greeted us and chatted but one of them kept trying to persuade us to meet him one evening in Port al Kantouai, an invitation we both declined! Then a bit later we got a taxi to the medina, our first call being to a shopping centre called Soula where I knew Mum could browse to her heart’s content without being hassled to buy things. We ended up spending a couple of hours in there, there were four floors of merchandise. I fell in love with a rose pink leather jacket and was so disappointed that they did not have it in my size, so we decided to go to the shop where we had bought our rugs last year and see if they had anything. This was our next port of call, and the staff there were delighted to see us again and made us welcome. Unfortunately they didn’t have rose pink leather jackets in our size there either, but they offered to take us to the factory on the Monday where we could be measured up and choose the leather the jackets would be made from. We then enjoyed freshly squeezed orange juice and chicken cous cous in one of the outdoor cafes. Before leaving we decided to pop into the shop where Ahmed works and as we approached he was outside and was delighted to see us. He ushered us in and went off to get mint teas and returned shortly afterwards with his boss Tadhuir who then proceeded to try and persuade us to buy something. We ended up in a long process of haggling as we fell in love with two turquoise and silver necklaces which cost a bit more than we anticipated paying. In the end he let us have them at near cost price, just over 2 dinars per gram, and we were very pleased with them. When we left Ahmed said he would come and visit us on the beach during the weekend, either Saturday or Sunday, as the Marhaba Beach Hotel was an easy walk from Sousse, just a couple of kilometres. Mum and I returned to the hotel and spent the last part of the afternoon on the beach, and then after another excellent dinner enjoyed the fun cabaret show which took place in the Salon Bar, a huge lounge with a raised bar on one end.
On Saturday we decided to walk to a local internet cafe, as we wanted news of home, especially of my sister Debbie who was in hospital awaiting a heart operation on the Thursday. By the time we found the internet cafe it was quite a long walk, so you can imagine our disappointment when we got there to find it was closed, and would not open that day, with no explanation as to why. According to the list of opening hours it should have been open all day on Saturdays! Mum was quite tired after the walk, plus we had to walk back, so we decided to visit an internet cafe in Sousse centre on Monday before going to the leather factory. We spent the remainder of that day on the beach.
One of the things that charmed us on that beach was the arrival at regular intervals of one of the waiters, who was tall, dark and very handsome, with a cheerful disposition who would walk through the sunbathers with his tray of fruit smoothies, calling out ‘Smoothie Movie, vitamins! Strawberry, banana, lemon’ – and we always had a laugh and joke with him and had a couple of strawberry smoothies which were really delicious. Likewise, waiters from the pizzeria and bar would serve up bottled beers with nice glasses, from a tray there on the beach. It felt quite incongruous having this lovely waiter service, these men dressed up in such smart uniforms, amongst the casual beach setting. Some days we even ordered snacks which were brought to us in the same manner - lovely! The entertainment that evening was just karaoke so we only lingered long enough after dinner to see the snoopy disco show and listen to the guy singing and playing his keyboard and then retired to bed quite early. He played in the restaurant some evenings and to my delight that evening played my request song ‘Aysha’ which is a beautiful arabic song, several versions of which I have on CDs by Peruvian bands. Soon I was tucked up in bed reading one of my books and Mum was still getting ready for bed when someone knocked on the door. We were both puzzled wondering who it could be and when the knock came a second time Mum answered the door. A smartly dressed waiter was outside and seemed really puzzled but couldn’t really communicate with her. I didn’t fancy getting out of bed in my pyjamas so Mum just said that we hadn’t ordered anything and he went away. As Mum got into bed she jokingly said ‘Just my luck, a handsome man knocks at the door and I haven’t got my teeth in!’ I was hysterical laughing and couldn’t stop laughing at that remark for days! The whole holiday we had a lot of fun teasing each other like that. The following evening we received a phone call asking us to meet someone outside the hotel for a drink. I politely declined and asked him not to phone again, not having any idea who it could possibly be, although we did wonder later if it was that guy who’d kept asking on the Salem beach, but we were still puzzled as to how he could have found out our room number. Mum said ‘do you think it could have been Muhammad? If so, bang goes our two pots of tea and two pots of coffee every morning.! I said no, it couldn’t have been him because his voice was unmistakable and I would have recognised it. Sure enough our two pots of tea and coffee were there as usual next day and Muhammad was just as friendly and nice as usual, so it ended up being a mystery we never got the answer to.
On Sunday the weather was glorious, the hottest yet, so we set up our sun-beds really close to the sea, to enjoy the breeze and sometimes have a paddle. That beach was like paradise and it was almost a wrench to leave it each evening. On our last day we couldn’t bear to look at it, we felt so sad to be leaving it behind! During the afternoon Ahmed and a friend came and visited us for a while, but could not linger long as Tunisians are not allowed to mix with tourists on those hotel beaches. We all had a beer together and then they went on their way, and I said I would call in the shop one day on one of our visits to the medina. In the evening the entertainment was extra special, the only time we had to pay for it, 10 dinars each for the Family Drag show. This show proved amazing as those men looked so elegant and beautiful as ladies in their high heels and I was especially impressed when one of them did a belly dance which was even better than real belly dancing because he somehow made his whole body shiver as well as belly dancing incredibly well. The show was funny in places too, as they made some of the male tourists participate.
Then on Monday after breakfast we went to the medina and then set out to look for an internet cafe and eventually found one a few yards further on from the main post office. There it was a relief to finally have news from home and to know that Debbie’s heart operation had been successful and that she was recovering well and would be allowed home the following week. Unfortunately I could only write brief messages in reply because the keyboard was in arabic and the letters differently arranged, which is a nightmare for a touch typist. So instead of my fingers flying over the keys at 100 words a minute I had to finger type and kept making errors. So needless to say, my replies to the family were quite short and all other emails had to be left to reply to after my return home. We then made it to the carpet and leather shop by 10.30 and after mint teas were taken by car to the leather factory and we were both measured up for a rose pink leather jacket each. Fortunately they had the exact colour we wanted (in the medina shops we saw at least 20 different shades of pink) and they had enough to make two jackets. They then said they would be ready by Friday (but could have been ready in two days had our visit been shorter). We returned to the shop and paid £40 deposit each, the balance payable on Friday when we collected the jackets. We were pleased with the price, £100 each, which was similar to the prices charged in the Soula Centre which is a government shop with fixed prices. We knew we had got the jackets at these prices because we are now regular customers at that shop, having bought 2 rugs each plus handbags and other souvenirs on previous visits.
Afterwards we returned to the same cafe for fresh orange juice and chicken cous cous, then decided to look at a few shops in the medina before returning to the hotel. I wanted to buy presents for Tia and Jasmine. Crossing the square we were spotted by Ahmed who came over, and we somehow found ourselves being ushered in to a different jewellry shop which belongs to Tahuir’s brother. Although we intended only to stay long enough for a mint tea and social visit, his brother started to read Mum’s hand and as she is really fascinated with that kind of thing she was soon being persuaded to buy a necklace made from a mixture of gold and silver. His reading, mostly about the past, was impressive as he got everything right, plus he even gave her a set of numbers to play the lottery and told her to play them only on Wednesdays, not Saturdays. She purchased the necklace with a fatima hand, and afterwards he looked at my palm and recommended I buy a berber cross to go onto my chain. Although I had not intended to buy anything like that I found myself doing so. Normally I much prefer the silver jewellry made by artisans using semi precious stones. I just hope what he said is true, that by wearing the necklace my luck would change for the better, especially if I did a little ceremony he described upon alighting from the plane on arrival back in England. We then visited a couple of other shops to buy the outfits I wanted to get for Tia and Jasmine and returned to the hotel in time for a few hours on the beach but we didn’t stay as long as we’d hoped as it started to shower with rain and in fact there was a bit of a storm that afternoon although it didn’t last longer than an hour and then the sun came out again and there was an amazing rainbow over the sea which lingered for ages. That evening we decided that after dinner we would walk up to the Tour Khalef Hotel and check out the entertainment there. However we got as far as the door and were ushered out by the doorman, only to be ushered back in again a few moments later as we were greeted with heavy rainfall!!! The doorman was quite amused at our speedy return. We ended up doing the same the following evening, this time exiting the hotel to a fine dry evening. We walked through the gateway arch leading to the Tour Khalef and were astounded by the amount of birds in the vines growing up the walls on either side. There were so many birds they occupied every inch of that tree and the cacophony of birdsong was amazing, I guess because it is the mating season. The pools were deserted of people and it all looked so beautiful in the evening dusk, the silhouettes of the tall palm trees against the darkening sky, the birdsong etc. We then started walking up through the gardens to the hotel but didn’t get far. We suddenly realised we were being eaten alive by mosquitoes and had to hurry back as fast as we could. We suffered from those bites for a few days afterwards and because of it did not venture out at night again.
The remainder of our holiday was spent in much the same way - once we got into April the weather improved each day and got warmer and warmer so that every day was glorious. On one day we decided to visit Port Al Kantouai and that was an enjoyable experience. After running the gauntlet of shops to the circular square we were enchanted to listen to some dramatic classical music and the fountains in the middle were going up and down and changing momentum of spray in time to the music. It was a pleasure to watch, with the sun beating down, enjoying all the flowers. We sat at tables in an outdoor cafe and enjoyed huge ice-cream sundaes with tropical fruit - lovely! Afterwards we went into the shops around the square, and then eventually through the archway leading to the marina - where I was delighted to see the chap dressed up as a saracen and damn, yet again, I had failed to bring my camera!!! I fully intended to go back there just to take a photo of him but we never got round to it in the end. We stayed in the marina the remainder of the afternoon because the setting was so beautiful. There were some kittens playing outside one of the restaurants and I had fun playing with them, as did many other passing tourists. In one of the jewellry shops I fell in love with the silver and mother o pearl rings and ended up buying one at less than half of the price first quoted, having gotten quite good at haggling by this time. There were catamarans moored and people trying to persuade you to go out on them to see the dolphins. We were both very very tempted and only declined because I wasn’t convinced we were dressed in warm enough clothing to be on a boat going out to sea. I will definitely do that on a future visit though as I have never seen dolphins frolicking in the sea before. In one of the shops I bought some beautifully decorated pink leather Tunisian style shoes with little heels - at a great price, only £10, a fraction of what they would cost back home even if that style was available.
On the Friday we returned to the medina, did a last internet cafe visit to exchange news with family back home, then collected our jackets which we were both really delighted with. The guys in the shop looked really pleased at our delight in them. We did another last visit to the Soula Centre to buy the remainder of our gifts for back home, including turquoise and silver ring and ear rings to match my necklace as well as another ring and ear rings to match in mother o pearl and Mum bought a couple of rings too. Another day we visited the Salem hotel once more and stayed the morning on the beach. Zou Zou introduced us to the security guard who spoke perfect English, so I said that before going home I would call back and give him the books I had read, and he was very pleased as he said he really liked reading English books. We were also pleased to see the fat man who had sold us our boat trip the previous summer. He tried to sign us up for another boat trip but Mum said ‘Don’t show her the food for goodness sake” so he slammed the book closed and we all had a laugh. Much as we enjoyed last year’s pirate galleon boat trip complete with barbeque, we didn’t want to go that time in case it was too cold out at sea.
A few days before the end of our holiday we befriended a German woman when we realised she and her friends were searching the sand for something, so I volunteered to help them look for it. They had lost the key to their lock box and despite a long search in the sand it could not be found. It was really unlucky to lose it because she had to pay 110 dinars for the lock to be changed. She was with a couple of other German ladies and a Tunisian young man. After that we saw them at meal times and they always came over to chat with us and were very friendly and nice. One of the things that amazed us during our visit was the lack of English people in our hotel. During the whole two weeks we only saw a handful of English people. The tourists were mainly from Hungary and Germany and several from France, Romania, Russia, Holland, Belgium, Finland and other Scandinavian countries. This made it quite difficult to risk talking to others as the few times we tried we came up against the language barrier. It turned out that the Germans were the friendliest, even those who could not speak English.
On our last day, after breakfast Mum and I walked along the beach to the Salem hotels, paddling along in the sea and looking for sea shells. We stayed about an hour after giving the books to the security guard and chatting and saying goodbye to our friends there, and then walked back. On the way we met up with the German lady who had lost the key and she walked with us and we agreed to meet on the beach again that afternoon. Mum and I went to one of the restaurants in the gardens of our hotel and had a roast chicken lunch, then back to the beach as the lifeguard would keep an eye on everyone’s things while they went off to lunch (as many people in the hotel were either full board or all inclusive). Mid afternoon Yori invited us to join her and her friends which was very pleasant, Yori being a teacher from Bavaria, and one of her friends an English Teacher. Yori’s boyfriend Karim could only speak limited English but I could communicate with him in French. We really enjoyed our time with them and we were the last group of people to leave the beach at the end of the day. We saw them again at dinner and decided to spend our last evening with them and met up in the salon bar.
That evening the entertainment was supposed to be ‘Mister Marhaba Beach’ and Yori and I were trying to persuade Karim to enter. As it happened none of the guys wanted to enter so they did some party games and a quiz instead. Karim won a competition that involved men and was awarded a cocktail. The next game involved ladies and started by the young Tunisians in charge of entertainment picking out a couple of girls to dance, who in turn picked Yori who in turn picked me. Afterwards she disappeared fast and I ended up being one of five picked to sit on chairs in front of the DJ. You can imagine my alarm when I realised each of us had to dance on our own, our best effort at belly dancing, to a complete arabic tune, with the audience in the packed salon bar having to choose the winner at the end. The first three girls were young and slim and danced beautifully and I was dreading my turn. Luckily when my turn came I was able to get into the rhythm and managed to do a decent rendition of belly dancing - the music helps! At the end they had to vote by who got the loudest cheering and we were all cheered enthusiastically so they declared us all winners and we were all awarded a Marhaba beach cocktail - delicious it was too! We got the hotel photographer to take a picture of the four of us which I hope will be sent on by post to me later because he did not arrive next day before we left on our journey home. I will see Yori and Karim again in August because by this time I had already decided I would come back for another two week holiday in August. Yori has two weeks booked there in May and 4 weeks in August, so we will see each other again then and will keep in touch in the meantime.
After breakfast next morning we had to be ready in reception for collection by the transfer bus at 10.15. Soon we were on our way back to Monastir and the airport, then a couple of hours wait until we could board the plane home. We were relieved to get our luggage checked in without having to pay excess baggage - being 7 kilos over the limit between us which would have cost us £42 if they had asked us to pay! The journey home was 2 hours and 40 minutes and a very pleasant flight. On arrival back home Colin awaited us at the airport and we were home 40 minutes later. We came back to good weather too which helped! Getting off the plane I had to juggle two flightbags, carrier bags containing bottles of Jack Daniels and Pimms, another bag with more on board souvenirs, and at the same time get the salt stashed in a pocket out and throw it over my shoulder as I stepped onto the ground. Not easy juggling that lot - especially so as the stairs down from the plane were really wobbly!!!
The day after my return I visited Thomsons for a summer brochure and discovered that if I return the last week of August and the first week of September, the cost is surprisingly reasonable, only about £70 more than what I paid for a late March departure. My son Adam is keen to accompany me next time so as long as he can get those two weeks off, I will be making our reservations next week. He will love all the sporting facilities available there - jet skiing, parascending, water-skiing, wind surfing, the various boat trips including pirate galleons and catamarans, the quad bikes, even camel rides for the fitter and more adventurous! It will be hot, 40 degrees celsius so we will need to spend a lot of time in the sea to cool off, but I am really looking forward to going back.
All three hotels I have stayed in were magnificent but the Marhaba Beach was heaven on earth!
We arrived in Monastir about 12 noon and the only delay then was waiting for our transfer coach to fill up. Finally about an hour later we were en route and within 20 minutes the first stop was our destination, the Marhaba Beach Hotel in Sousse. Inside the hotel we were warmly greeted by the doorman and then the reception staff and were given a welcome cocktail to drink whilst filling out our registration forms. Soon after that a porter took our cases and led us to our room up on the third floor. It was great to finally arrive, look at the wonderful sea view from our balcony, put the mini kettle on and brew up a refreshing cuppa. We then left the unpacking until later, put towels, sun lotion and our books into a rucksack and headed off to the beach to enjoy the rest of that day’s sunshine.
The beach was even closer than the one at Marhaba Salem where we stayed last summer. Just a 50 meter stroll through beautifully tended gardens set around the outdoor pool, with profusions of colourful flowers and tall palm trees, through an arch next to the snack bar and pizzeria which led onto the beach itself. In contrast to the lovely lifeguard at the Salem hotels, the one here was older and quite grumpy but he did actually improve as the week wore on. After the journey it was heaven to relax on a sunbed under a thatched sun parasol, close to the sea to enjoy the sea breeze and sea air and we stayed there until the sun disappeared behind clouds around 5 pm, which turned out to be the same most days. Once the sun disappeared it was a bit too chilly to remain as the sea breezes felt quite cold. Back in the hotel we unpacked and got ourselves organised and went down to dinner at 6.30 where we asked the head waiter for a table for two rather than four, and were luckily given one quite close to the buffet tables. We also met the waiter looking after us whose name was Muhammad and he looked after us beautifully the whole time we were there.
We were too tired after dinner to seek out the hotel entertainment that first evening, having got up at 4 o clock that morning, so went back to our room about 8.30 and had an early night, looking forward to a whole day on the beach when we got up the following morning. Waking up next morning was a joy because the air was alive with birdsong from 6.30 am and the rising sun was a fiery red ball emerging from the sea on the far horizon with its reflection reaching nearly to the shore. It was so beautiful that I took a photo there and then and hope it comes out, taken from that distance! The sun took a little while to get going, so we decided to walk to the nearby shop outside the hotel complex and get some milk for Mum’s cups of teas. Exiting the shop afterwards we noticed that the entrance to the Hotel Tour Khalef was nearby (this being one of the other three hotels in the complex, and the one where Mum stayed on her first visit to Tunisia, 18 years previously). We decided to walk back through this hotel so that Mum could see it again. We fully intended to go back more than just that once, but there was plenty going on at our own hotel and we didn’t actually make it back to sample their evening entertainment or any of the shared facilities. After walking through the reception area and out the other side we walked through yet more beautifully tended gardens, down past the children’s playground and the pools, and then discovered a gate which led through to our own hotel. By this time the sun was up so we collected our things from our room and headed straight to the beach where we stayed the remainder of the day.
That evening at dinner the waiters were dressed in Tunisian costume and looked stunning. We realised why when during dinner troops of musicians playing their instruments and dancers, both men and women, wended their way throughout the restaurant, to advertise the folkloric show that would be taking place in the huge reception area at 9 pm that evening. After dinner we grabbed a table with a good view and finished off the bottle of wine we’d had with our meal whilst waiting and during the show. I really enjoyed that evening. For me the best part of being in a foreign country is listening to their own music live. The band consisted of three musicians, two with different drums, one with a pipe that sounded something like bagpipes but with that Eastern air. The dancing was beautiful, berber dancers to begin with and belly dancing later. I really enjoyed it and looked forward to seeing it all again the following week. Before the show, and indeed every evening at 8.45, the two young men in charge of the entertainment rounded up all the children for the Snoopy Disco show, where the children had to copy the movements of the two Tunisians, keeping in time to the music, including wending their way through all the tables. The children absolutely adored this and waited eagerly after dinner every evening. After three songs they were invited to have a go at hula hooping and some did quite well, but they all got prizes of either non alcoholic colourful cocktails or handfuls of sweets. The participants changed several times during our two weeks at the hotel, as people were constantly arriving and leaving, but we never failed to enjoy this part of the evening immensely and we even bought the Souvenir Marhaba Beach CD at the end of our holiday which included these children’s songs as well as a selection of popular Arab music.
On Friday we decided to go into Sousse centre and visit the medina, as the weather wasn’t so sunny when we woke up in the morning. After another excellent breakfast we walked to the gate and thence by taxi we went first to the Marhaba Salem hotel so that Mum could say hello to the lifeguard there, who looked after her so beautifully last year, and I had another gift for him too. In December I took him a London baseball cap and this time I took him a London T-shirt. Walking through the hotel to get to the gardens which lead to the beach we passed the photographer who did a double-take when he saw us and gave us both a big hug and kissing greeting on both cheeks. Mum was so thrilled to see him again, especially at the lovely welcome he gave us. It quite made her day!!!
On the beach Zou Zou was pleased to see us too, and was pleased that I had brought him another present! He soon found seats for us and we decided to stay awhile. Other guys there who sell tours, who knew us from last summer and my own visit with June in December, also greeted us and chatted but one of them kept trying to persuade us to meet him one evening in Port al Kantouai, an invitation we both declined! Then a bit later we got a taxi to the medina, our first call being to a shopping centre called Soula where I knew Mum could browse to her heart’s content without being hassled to buy things. We ended up spending a couple of hours in there, there were four floors of merchandise. I fell in love with a rose pink leather jacket and was so disappointed that they did not have it in my size, so we decided to go to the shop where we had bought our rugs last year and see if they had anything. This was our next port of call, and the staff there were delighted to see us again and made us welcome. Unfortunately they didn’t have rose pink leather jackets in our size there either, but they offered to take us to the factory on the Monday where we could be measured up and choose the leather the jackets would be made from. We then enjoyed freshly squeezed orange juice and chicken cous cous in one of the outdoor cafes. Before leaving we decided to pop into the shop where Ahmed works and as we approached he was outside and was delighted to see us. He ushered us in and went off to get mint teas and returned shortly afterwards with his boss Tadhuir who then proceeded to try and persuade us to buy something. We ended up in a long process of haggling as we fell in love with two turquoise and silver necklaces which cost a bit more than we anticipated paying. In the end he let us have them at near cost price, just over 2 dinars per gram, and we were very pleased with them. When we left Ahmed said he would come and visit us on the beach during the weekend, either Saturday or Sunday, as the Marhaba Beach Hotel was an easy walk from Sousse, just a couple of kilometres. Mum and I returned to the hotel and spent the last part of the afternoon on the beach, and then after another excellent dinner enjoyed the fun cabaret show which took place in the Salon Bar, a huge lounge with a raised bar on one end.
On Saturday we decided to walk to a local internet cafe, as we wanted news of home, especially of my sister Debbie who was in hospital awaiting a heart operation on the Thursday. By the time we found the internet cafe it was quite a long walk, so you can imagine our disappointment when we got there to find it was closed, and would not open that day, with no explanation as to why. According to the list of opening hours it should have been open all day on Saturdays! Mum was quite tired after the walk, plus we had to walk back, so we decided to visit an internet cafe in Sousse centre on Monday before going to the leather factory. We spent the remainder of that day on the beach.
One of the things that charmed us on that beach was the arrival at regular intervals of one of the waiters, who was tall, dark and very handsome, with a cheerful disposition who would walk through the sunbathers with his tray of fruit smoothies, calling out ‘Smoothie Movie, vitamins! Strawberry, banana, lemon’ – and we always had a laugh and joke with him and had a couple of strawberry smoothies which were really delicious. Likewise, waiters from the pizzeria and bar would serve up bottled beers with nice glasses, from a tray there on the beach. It felt quite incongruous having this lovely waiter service, these men dressed up in such smart uniforms, amongst the casual beach setting. Some days we even ordered snacks which were brought to us in the same manner - lovely! The entertainment that evening was just karaoke so we only lingered long enough after dinner to see the snoopy disco show and listen to the guy singing and playing his keyboard and then retired to bed quite early. He played in the restaurant some evenings and to my delight that evening played my request song ‘Aysha’ which is a beautiful arabic song, several versions of which I have on CDs by Peruvian bands. Soon I was tucked up in bed reading one of my books and Mum was still getting ready for bed when someone knocked on the door. We were both puzzled wondering who it could be and when the knock came a second time Mum answered the door. A smartly dressed waiter was outside and seemed really puzzled but couldn’t really communicate with her. I didn’t fancy getting out of bed in my pyjamas so Mum just said that we hadn’t ordered anything and he went away. As Mum got into bed she jokingly said ‘Just my luck, a handsome man knocks at the door and I haven’t got my teeth in!’ I was hysterical laughing and couldn’t stop laughing at that remark for days! The whole holiday we had a lot of fun teasing each other like that. The following evening we received a phone call asking us to meet someone outside the hotel for a drink. I politely declined and asked him not to phone again, not having any idea who it could possibly be, although we did wonder later if it was that guy who’d kept asking on the Salem beach, but we were still puzzled as to how he could have found out our room number. Mum said ‘do you think it could have been Muhammad? If so, bang goes our two pots of tea and two pots of coffee every morning.! I said no, it couldn’t have been him because his voice was unmistakable and I would have recognised it. Sure enough our two pots of tea and coffee were there as usual next day and Muhammad was just as friendly and nice as usual, so it ended up being a mystery we never got the answer to.
On Sunday the weather was glorious, the hottest yet, so we set up our sun-beds really close to the sea, to enjoy the breeze and sometimes have a paddle. That beach was like paradise and it was almost a wrench to leave it each evening. On our last day we couldn’t bear to look at it, we felt so sad to be leaving it behind! During the afternoon Ahmed and a friend came and visited us for a while, but could not linger long as Tunisians are not allowed to mix with tourists on those hotel beaches. We all had a beer together and then they went on their way, and I said I would call in the shop one day on one of our visits to the medina. In the evening the entertainment was extra special, the only time we had to pay for it, 10 dinars each for the Family Drag show. This show proved amazing as those men looked so elegant and beautiful as ladies in their high heels and I was especially impressed when one of them did a belly dance which was even better than real belly dancing because he somehow made his whole body shiver as well as belly dancing incredibly well. The show was funny in places too, as they made some of the male tourists participate.
Then on Monday after breakfast we went to the medina and then set out to look for an internet cafe and eventually found one a few yards further on from the main post office. There it was a relief to finally have news from home and to know that Debbie’s heart operation had been successful and that she was recovering well and would be allowed home the following week. Unfortunately I could only write brief messages in reply because the keyboard was in arabic and the letters differently arranged, which is a nightmare for a touch typist. So instead of my fingers flying over the keys at 100 words a minute I had to finger type and kept making errors. So needless to say, my replies to the family were quite short and all other emails had to be left to reply to after my return home. We then made it to the carpet and leather shop by 10.30 and after mint teas were taken by car to the leather factory and we were both measured up for a rose pink leather jacket each. Fortunately they had the exact colour we wanted (in the medina shops we saw at least 20 different shades of pink) and they had enough to make two jackets. They then said they would be ready by Friday (but could have been ready in two days had our visit been shorter). We returned to the shop and paid £40 deposit each, the balance payable on Friday when we collected the jackets. We were pleased with the price, £100 each, which was similar to the prices charged in the Soula Centre which is a government shop with fixed prices. We knew we had got the jackets at these prices because we are now regular customers at that shop, having bought 2 rugs each plus handbags and other souvenirs on previous visits.
Afterwards we returned to the same cafe for fresh orange juice and chicken cous cous, then decided to look at a few shops in the medina before returning to the hotel. I wanted to buy presents for Tia and Jasmine. Crossing the square we were spotted by Ahmed who came over, and we somehow found ourselves being ushered in to a different jewellry shop which belongs to Tahuir’s brother. Although we intended only to stay long enough for a mint tea and social visit, his brother started to read Mum’s hand and as she is really fascinated with that kind of thing she was soon being persuaded to buy a necklace made from a mixture of gold and silver. His reading, mostly about the past, was impressive as he got everything right, plus he even gave her a set of numbers to play the lottery and told her to play them only on Wednesdays, not Saturdays. She purchased the necklace with a fatima hand, and afterwards he looked at my palm and recommended I buy a berber cross to go onto my chain. Although I had not intended to buy anything like that I found myself doing so. Normally I much prefer the silver jewellry made by artisans using semi precious stones. I just hope what he said is true, that by wearing the necklace my luck would change for the better, especially if I did a little ceremony he described upon alighting from the plane on arrival back in England. We then visited a couple of other shops to buy the outfits I wanted to get for Tia and Jasmine and returned to the hotel in time for a few hours on the beach but we didn’t stay as long as we’d hoped as it started to shower with rain and in fact there was a bit of a storm that afternoon although it didn’t last longer than an hour and then the sun came out again and there was an amazing rainbow over the sea which lingered for ages. That evening we decided that after dinner we would walk up to the Tour Khalef Hotel and check out the entertainment there. However we got as far as the door and were ushered out by the doorman, only to be ushered back in again a few moments later as we were greeted with heavy rainfall!!! The doorman was quite amused at our speedy return. We ended up doing the same the following evening, this time exiting the hotel to a fine dry evening. We walked through the gateway arch leading to the Tour Khalef and were astounded by the amount of birds in the vines growing up the walls on either side. There were so many birds they occupied every inch of that tree and the cacophony of birdsong was amazing, I guess because it is the mating season. The pools were deserted of people and it all looked so beautiful in the evening dusk, the silhouettes of the tall palm trees against the darkening sky, the birdsong etc. We then started walking up through the gardens to the hotel but didn’t get far. We suddenly realised we were being eaten alive by mosquitoes and had to hurry back as fast as we could. We suffered from those bites for a few days afterwards and because of it did not venture out at night again.
The remainder of our holiday was spent in much the same way - once we got into April the weather improved each day and got warmer and warmer so that every day was glorious. On one day we decided to visit Port Al Kantouai and that was an enjoyable experience. After running the gauntlet of shops to the circular square we were enchanted to listen to some dramatic classical music and the fountains in the middle were going up and down and changing momentum of spray in time to the music. It was a pleasure to watch, with the sun beating down, enjoying all the flowers. We sat at tables in an outdoor cafe and enjoyed huge ice-cream sundaes with tropical fruit - lovely! Afterwards we went into the shops around the square, and then eventually through the archway leading to the marina - where I was delighted to see the chap dressed up as a saracen and damn, yet again, I had failed to bring my camera!!! I fully intended to go back there just to take a photo of him but we never got round to it in the end. We stayed in the marina the remainder of the afternoon because the setting was so beautiful. There were some kittens playing outside one of the restaurants and I had fun playing with them, as did many other passing tourists. In one of the jewellry shops I fell in love with the silver and mother o pearl rings and ended up buying one at less than half of the price first quoted, having gotten quite good at haggling by this time. There were catamarans moored and people trying to persuade you to go out on them to see the dolphins. We were both very very tempted and only declined because I wasn’t convinced we were dressed in warm enough clothing to be on a boat going out to sea. I will definitely do that on a future visit though as I have never seen dolphins frolicking in the sea before. In one of the shops I bought some beautifully decorated pink leather Tunisian style shoes with little heels - at a great price, only £10, a fraction of what they would cost back home even if that style was available.
On the Friday we returned to the medina, did a last internet cafe visit to exchange news with family back home, then collected our jackets which we were both really delighted with. The guys in the shop looked really pleased at our delight in them. We did another last visit to the Soula Centre to buy the remainder of our gifts for back home, including turquoise and silver ring and ear rings to match my necklace as well as another ring and ear rings to match in mother o pearl and Mum bought a couple of rings too. Another day we visited the Salem hotel once more and stayed the morning on the beach. Zou Zou introduced us to the security guard who spoke perfect English, so I said that before going home I would call back and give him the books I had read, and he was very pleased as he said he really liked reading English books. We were also pleased to see the fat man who had sold us our boat trip the previous summer. He tried to sign us up for another boat trip but Mum said ‘Don’t show her the food for goodness sake” so he slammed the book closed and we all had a laugh. Much as we enjoyed last year’s pirate galleon boat trip complete with barbeque, we didn’t want to go that time in case it was too cold out at sea.
A few days before the end of our holiday we befriended a German woman when we realised she and her friends were searching the sand for something, so I volunteered to help them look for it. They had lost the key to their lock box and despite a long search in the sand it could not be found. It was really unlucky to lose it because she had to pay 110 dinars for the lock to be changed. She was with a couple of other German ladies and a Tunisian young man. After that we saw them at meal times and they always came over to chat with us and were very friendly and nice. One of the things that amazed us during our visit was the lack of English people in our hotel. During the whole two weeks we only saw a handful of English people. The tourists were mainly from Hungary and Germany and several from France, Romania, Russia, Holland, Belgium, Finland and other Scandinavian countries. This made it quite difficult to risk talking to others as the few times we tried we came up against the language barrier. It turned out that the Germans were the friendliest, even those who could not speak English.
On our last day, after breakfast Mum and I walked along the beach to the Salem hotels, paddling along in the sea and looking for sea shells. We stayed about an hour after giving the books to the security guard and chatting and saying goodbye to our friends there, and then walked back. On the way we met up with the German lady who had lost the key and she walked with us and we agreed to meet on the beach again that afternoon. Mum and I went to one of the restaurants in the gardens of our hotel and had a roast chicken lunch, then back to the beach as the lifeguard would keep an eye on everyone’s things while they went off to lunch (as many people in the hotel were either full board or all inclusive). Mid afternoon Yori invited us to join her and her friends which was very pleasant, Yori being a teacher from Bavaria, and one of her friends an English Teacher. Yori’s boyfriend Karim could only speak limited English but I could communicate with him in French. We really enjoyed our time with them and we were the last group of people to leave the beach at the end of the day. We saw them again at dinner and decided to spend our last evening with them and met up in the salon bar.
That evening the entertainment was supposed to be ‘Mister Marhaba Beach’ and Yori and I were trying to persuade Karim to enter. As it happened none of the guys wanted to enter so they did some party games and a quiz instead. Karim won a competition that involved men and was awarded a cocktail. The next game involved ladies and started by the young Tunisians in charge of entertainment picking out a couple of girls to dance, who in turn picked Yori who in turn picked me. Afterwards she disappeared fast and I ended up being one of five picked to sit on chairs in front of the DJ. You can imagine my alarm when I realised each of us had to dance on our own, our best effort at belly dancing, to a complete arabic tune, with the audience in the packed salon bar having to choose the winner at the end. The first three girls were young and slim and danced beautifully and I was dreading my turn. Luckily when my turn came I was able to get into the rhythm and managed to do a decent rendition of belly dancing - the music helps! At the end they had to vote by who got the loudest cheering and we were all cheered enthusiastically so they declared us all winners and we were all awarded a Marhaba beach cocktail - delicious it was too! We got the hotel photographer to take a picture of the four of us which I hope will be sent on by post to me later because he did not arrive next day before we left on our journey home. I will see Yori and Karim again in August because by this time I had already decided I would come back for another two week holiday in August. Yori has two weeks booked there in May and 4 weeks in August, so we will see each other again then and will keep in touch in the meantime.
After breakfast next morning we had to be ready in reception for collection by the transfer bus at 10.15. Soon we were on our way back to Monastir and the airport, then a couple of hours wait until we could board the plane home. We were relieved to get our luggage checked in without having to pay excess baggage - being 7 kilos over the limit between us which would have cost us £42 if they had asked us to pay! The journey home was 2 hours and 40 minutes and a very pleasant flight. On arrival back home Colin awaited us at the airport and we were home 40 minutes later. We came back to good weather too which helped! Getting off the plane I had to juggle two flightbags, carrier bags containing bottles of Jack Daniels and Pimms, another bag with more on board souvenirs, and at the same time get the salt stashed in a pocket out and throw it over my shoulder as I stepped onto the ground. Not easy juggling that lot - especially so as the stairs down from the plane were really wobbly!!!
The day after my return I visited Thomsons for a summer brochure and discovered that if I return the last week of August and the first week of September, the cost is surprisingly reasonable, only about £70 more than what I paid for a late March departure. My son Adam is keen to accompany me next time so as long as he can get those two weeks off, I will be making our reservations next week. He will love all the sporting facilities available there - jet skiing, parascending, water-skiing, wind surfing, the various boat trips including pirate galleons and catamarans, the quad bikes, even camel rides for the fitter and more adventurous! It will be hot, 40 degrees celsius so we will need to spend a lot of time in the sea to cool off, but I am really looking forward to going back.
All three hotels I have stayed in were magnificent but the Marhaba Beach was heaven on earth!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)