welcome to tunisia – the only true democracy in the middle east/north africa! tunisia sparked the arab spring in 2011 when a merchant set himself on fire on the streets of tunis. its autocratic government was quickly overthrown, and it has impressively remained democratic since, though things haven’t been easy. the economy has basically always been struggling and continues to – hopefully things move in a positive direction in that regard because the people really deserve it.
i stayed in a great little hostel in the old medina of tunis called dar yas. it had a central courtyard with an excellent breakfast, and friendly owners. the medina of tunis is a few kilometers in diameter and completely car free. at night it is almost completely abandoned and mostly unlit, which made for some adventuresome explorations. in the daytime it is teeming with shoppers, but not too many tourists these days.
there is a definite french feel to the slightly newer central part of tunis, where a wide boulevard is lined with french cafes, a theater, and a cathedral. before its independence, tunisia was occupied by the french.
i took a very crowded lightrail train to the bardo museum, tunisia’s most famous museum. it houses amazing full wall and floor mosaics from tunisia’s history, especially from the roman era when nearby carthage was one of the empire’s most important cities. the bardo unfortunately gained more notoriety in 2015 when a terrorist gunman massacred 22 people, mostly tourists, within its maze of mosaics. in the main lobby now there is a touching memorial to the victims. terrorism is exceedingly rare in tunisia, and it is painful to see how one attack like that can decimate an entire country’s tourism appeal for years.
in the evening i met up with a friend named mae, who recently moved to tunis to learn arabic. it was great to catch up and learn more about tunisia from someone who lives there. we took a taxi to the nearby mediterranean seaside, past the ruins of old carthage and a roman amplitheater, to a white and blue-hued town called sidi bou said, where we watched the sunset and got some tea and dinner.
leaving tunis ended up being an adventure as well. my flight to milan on tunisair kept being delayed and delayed for hours, until it eventually disappeared off the departure boards all together. when no answers were forthcoming from airline staff, a very vocal passenger started an uprising, which led a cadre of people who were supposed to already be in milan to block a terminal walkway so no one taking other flights could board their flights either. chanting and a fistfight broke out, and the protest eventually dissipated into us still waiting for our flight. we finally left 12 hours after schedule.
overall, it was a great couple days in tunis!
