The train into Tunis turned out to be quite an experience - and great fun! We spent half of the day wandering around the Souk which is just amazing; it hasn't changed much in a couple of thousand years, although I'm not sure they sold quite so many nylon belly dancing outfits back then! The alleyways are very narrow with a cobbled gutter running down the centre and each side is lined with shop after narrow shop, all overflowing with brightly coloured merchandise. Vendors expect you to haggle and once you have agreed a price, they invariably get a huff on to give the impression that you have done them out of a great deal of money. Believe me, you haven't! If you pay as much as half the original asking price, you have paid too much.
Although Tunis was busy and the souk was teeming with people, we felt really safe in the city and there was a very vibrant, friendly atmosphere. In the train on the way back to Sidi Bou Said, young people stood up to give their seats to the elderly (no, they didn't stand up for us, but thanks for the thought...) and when a young disabled boy got on, other passengers made sure that he was okay and generally looked to his wellbeing.
After a tiring day in the city, we had a quiet evening on board before setting off on our last sea voyage of the season. There was a certain amount of wave noise on the hull during the night and when we got up in the morning, we were still moving a bit but the forecast was good so we set off after breakfast. Conditions in the bay of Tunis were fine - a little bit of residual swell but nothing uncomfortable as we motored towards Cape Bon. Before we reached the north eastern tip of Tunisia, we passed the yacht which had been moored in front of us the previous day and left several hours before us in the morning. We slowed up and they waved as we passed, one of the crew holding up a fish which he had evidently caught en route!
The sea was - as expected - a bit lumpier as we went round the Cape although once passed, we expected it to die down a bit. It didn't! There was more of a swell here but longer than the usual abrupt Mediterranean swell and it took a while to abate. Things finally improved as we got closer to Hammamet but it wasn't good enough for us to anchor off as we had hoped, and instead we went straight into our winter port. We intended to fuel up before berthing, but the fuel station wanted cash (another one!) and we didn't have enough in the kitty so we went straight to the pontoon and spent an age getting Zaffina securely onto her mooring.
Port Yasmin is a good choice for the winter - very sheltered, very secure and very inexpensive! We were relieved to be offered guardianage services as we had been concerned that it might be difficult to find someone to look out for Zaffina whilst we are away, but there are a couple of businesses run by English people at the marina. All the formalities with customs and police were dealt with surprisingly easily and this time with no requests for "gifts".
Once we had dealt with all the relevant paperwork and sorted ourselves out, we turned our attention to the important question of how to celebrate Frank's birthday! In the end, we hired a car and drove about 500 miles down to the Atlas Mountains where we stayed at a fabulous hotel with the most amazing views of a ruined village on the opposite hillside. The highlight of the trip was his birthday dinner. The hotel erected a Berber tent on the terrace overlooking the village and surrounded it with hundreds of candles. When we walked in for dinner, the meal was set up on a low table with 2 cushions on the floor and whilst we ate, we were entertained by a Berber flute player. He was even more entertained when Frank had a go with the flute and couldn't get more than a windy parp out of it! The evening finished with mint tea and a shisha pipe - traditional Tunisian style!
Yesterday we made an 8 hour drive back to Zaffina via the mountains, a salt lake, palm oases and olive groves - exhausting, but fascinating.
Now it is time to start clearing, cleaning, packing and generally preparing for our flight home. The summer has been an amazing experience and our Azimut has once again exceeded all expectations. The time has just flown past and I can honestly say that we've loved just about every moment of it (except maybe the incident with the rock!!)
Thanks for reading my blog - tune in again in the springtime of 2010 for more exciting episodes of Zaffina in the Med!
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