Day 8
Again, by the time we got up we were already in port. The port of call for this day was Tunis. This was the only day on which we had booked an excursion through Disney. We had to meet at 9:30 in the Promenade Lounge on deck 3. So that gave us plenty of time to get some breakfast at Lumieres, which is right next door. We sat down and straight away an announcement came that the ship had been cleared by the authorities, but that they had just found out that we would need passports that day if we wanted to leave the ship. The previous evening we had been issued with landing cards for Tunisia that clearly stated that they would allow passport-free entry into Tunisia. We did not need a passport anywhere else. My photocard of my provisional license together with my key card was always sufficient. So I did not doubt the information that we were given the day before. This was one of those situations where I was glad that our cabin was only on deck 2. I ordered my breakfast and then I went back to the cabin to get the passports. I was back in plenty of time before my breakfast arrived.
After breakfast, we went over to the Promenade Lounge and sat down. We had a really negative experience with a Disney excursion last year and were therefore a little nervous, but this time everything worked like clockwork. The staff arrived in plenty of time before the official meeting time. They made an announcement that everybody would need their passport and also that due to cultural convention in Tunisia, both men and women had to ensure that their shoulders and knees were covered. I was a little surprised by this. As far as women are concerned, I expected this and I was wearing trousers and top with sleeves down to the elbow. However, in Dubai, it is perfectly acceptable for men to wear shorts. Aparently not so in Tunisia. So DH had to go back to the cabin to change as he had been wearing shorts. It appeared a little bit silly as we had booked a beach excursion, but hey, if in Rome, do as the Romans do.
As soon as the official meeting time had arrived, they asked one member from each family to come forward with passports, landing cards, key cards and excursion tickets. Three members of staff went along the line that formed and checked that everything was present and correct and then issued stickers with the tour number on. Once this was all done, they gave out towels and then radioed the staff working on deck 1 to check if they are ready for us. Once they were given the go ahead, we all moved down to deck 1 and left the ship. Two members of staff from Youth Activities actually came on the excursion with us and that made a lot of difference. One went ahead of the group to make sure that everybody knew where they were going and one stayed at the back of the group to make sure that we had not lost anybody. Immigration was very smooth. They checked our passport and stamped our landing card and then we were on our way. I know exactly two phrases in Arabic "As-salam alaykum" (Hello) and "Shokran" (Thank you). I had taught them to DH earlier that day and he used them on the immigration official with great effect. He even got a smile. Unfortunately they did not stamp our passport. If I have to bring my passport, I at least expected a stamp.
Once everybody had gone through immigration, we were escorted to our bus and soon we were on our way. The hotel were we went to for our beach break was about a 20 minute bus journey away from the port. Tunis very much reminded we of Dubai even down to land being reclaimed from water (in this case lakes rather than the sea) and loads of construction going on. I felt right at home. About an hour after our initial meeting time, we had arrived at the hotel. I was very impressed.
The hotel was beautiful. It was built in typical Arabic style. We were welcomed with a non-alcoholic cocktail and then shown the pool that we were allowed to use and then the beach. The day was a little overcast and it was quite windy. I had expected a beach with white fine sand like in Dubai or the Caribbean, but the sand was brown and quite rough. DH headed straight in the water and only came out briefly to get his wetsuit on. I waded in up to my ankles and decided that it was way too cold. I walked along the beach for a bit. They were offering camel and horse rides and their were vendors selling ceramics, jewellery and baskets. I was not tempted by the camel rides or in buying anything. I ended up chatting with the two people from Youth Activities and found out a bit more about what there job is all about. This is definitely something that I would consider for the future.
Once DH was suitably chilled, we decided to head up to the pool. On the way, we were intercepted by one of the vendors, who proceeded to tell him that I was worth 4000 camels. We had a good giggle and moved on. When we got to the pool, we were the only people there. The pool was huge. It was still pretty refreshing, but once I was in, I was fine. We were joined shortly afterwards by one of the Youth Activities staff and we continued chatting while swimming next to each other.
After a while we had enough and got out of the pool to dry off. By then the sun had come out and could just dry off naturally. Once we were dry, we went inside the hotel to have a closer look. This was really beautiful. I was hoping for a gift shop as I was looking for a Pashmina to go with my semi-formal dress. There was a gift shop, but it looked quite expensive and was also closed. We bumped into one of the staff from the tour operator and got chatting to him. He told us a lot about his country and based on what we heard, we decided that we really would like to come back to travel around Tunesia at some stage. It seems to be such a beautiful and diverse country. My employer does fly to Tunis via Dubai so it will be easy and cheap for us to get there.
We were just leaving to get back on the bus, when I noticed that the gift shop was now open. As I still had 15 minutes until we needed to be back on the bus, I decided to have a look. I could not find a Pashmina, but I saw a beautiful traditional Arabic dress in a gorgeous turquoise colour with gold embroidery. I had always lusted after the traditional dresses in Dubai, but they are so expensive there. I decided to check how much they wanted for the dress. Considering that this was a hotel gift shop, I did not expect that it would be any kind of price that I would be willing to pay. Well, I was surprised. It was only EUR20. So I snapped this up. Not only does it look beautiful, but it is also made from lovely soft cotton and is very comfortable.
After I bought my dress, we headed back to the bus and soon we were on our way back to the port. I had originally wanted to visit the Soukhs in the afternoon, but I had not realised how far the port is from the centre of Tunis. I think there is a train, but that just seemed too much like hard work. DH was not bothered either way and he is not too keen on the Soukhs in Dubai so we decided to head back to the ship.
The bus driver wanted to drop us off again where we were picked up in the morning, but was redirected to a different area of the port. While we were gone, two more ships had arrived, one of which was the Louis Majesty. I am not sure if you heard that story on the news, but a couple of months ago, this ship was hit by a freak wave, which caused some of the windows to shatter and one passenger actually lost his life when he was knocked over by the wave and hit his head. Well, you would never have guessed what had happened by looking at the ship. She looked in excellent condition. Of course, little did we know that we would be hit by just such freak weather before the cruise was over.
It soon became clear why we were redirected. They actually have a little Soukh right at the port. The sold the usual tourist stuff as well as rugs, jewellery, beautiful wooden boxes and chess sets and dresses. Unfortunately I still did not find a Pashmina, but I ended up buying another traditional dress. This one is purple. I found it really hard to decided between the purple and a Royal Blue dress and I wish that I had bought both. They were also doing Henna art at the Soukh and I was very tempted, but we wanted to get some lunch. There was also a photo opportunity with a Falcon and I had every intention to come back after lunch to get some Henna art and have my photo taken with the Falcon.We walked back to the ship and I took some photos of the local architecture.
When we got to the gangway, they not only checked our passports and room keys, but there was also an immigration offical there, who collected the landing cards. So we could not get back off the ship again. We dropped our stuff off in the cabin and I quickly tried on my dresses, which fitted perfectly. We then headed up to Topsiders for some lunch. Again, the place was pretty empty. The theme for the day was Middle Eastern. So I was right in my element. I had lentil soup, houmous, olives, falafel, grilled chicken, couscous and beef patties followed by bakklava and everything was yummy. DH had a bit of an allergic reaction to one of the salads. We never could figure out what was in it that upset him.