# Tunisia from Italy - the basics Jan/Feb 2010



## hmh (Jun 25, 2008)

Just home from 2 months in Tunisia, we had a ball! 

Here are a few pointers while we can remember them. We will post a more complete blog of our actual trip when we can get the camera to talk to our rather old computer . . .

- Lots of amazing Roman and pre-Roman Punic remains - amphitheatres, whole ruined towns with very nice mosaics both in-situ and in museums (sites such as Dougga, Carthage, Thuburbo Magus, Bulla Regia, Sbeitla). Most towns have an old Medina with interesting souks. 
Long Mediterranean coastline with excellent beaches of fine sand. 

Interesting desert hill country with troglodytic dwellings in the S.East (Star Wars was filmed near Matmata), and the northern tip of the Sahara in the S.West with oases of palms, dromedaries etc.

- Most people speak some French, though not that much, but enough for you both to get by. Much less German and Italian spoken and not much English. All road/town signs in French, but not all govt buildings etc.

- No campsites. Only half a dozen towns have them, which has a plus, in that you can park more or less anywhere, rather like an HGV. There are parkings everywhere, mostly unsurfaced, so at first they look like a piece of rough ground.

- Good places to park include ports, with the yachties; museum carparks; near the Gendarmerie or "sureté" as it is called; open ground on a headland or by a beach. If in doubt ask the gendarmerie, the port police, or the museum night-watchman. Some ports charge a few dinar (1 TD =0.5 Euro), you might need to tip someone a dinar, but often not.

- If you need a campsite, hotels are happy for you to use their carpark and their facilities, for around 20 TD.
Campsites, where they exist (Tozeur, Douz, Kebili, Gafsa, Nabeul, nr Bizerte) may well not display a sign, and "camping" which means campsite as in French, also means a park/recreation ground - if they don't exist, no-one knows what you mean, even taxi drivers . .

- Jane and George Swindail give a list of campsites from 2006 on Magbaz website.
The French campingcar.enliberte.free.fr has a list of BTS (a pun on a sort of GCSE, meaning Beaute, Tranquillite, Securite) where they have parked up successfully.

- It feels very safe. The idea of parking up just anywhere in much of Europe would be unthinkable, but you quickly get used to it in Tunisia and in 2 months we wild-camped all but 5 nights. Very few campervans, we met perhaps a dozen - unlike Morocco where there are thousands of French vans. Some groups of Italian motorhomes. Plenty of European tourists in hotels in holiday resorts along the coast.

- Pedestrians all walk in the road all the time and pavements are mostly blocked at some point. People cross the road without looking, (it is normal to use your horn, just a warning "bip") so speed limits in towns are 30 kph (20 mph). Enforced by:

- Speed bumps! Really massive ones, as you approach most villages or towns, originally painted in yellow stripes, and with signs, but inevitably not always . . . Stick to speed limit or below, and both be on the look-out whenever you near a settlement. (We seriously bent our bike-rack, and shook all the screws out of the wardrobe frame before we learned the rules!) Also some nasty potholes. 

But the standard of driving is generally good as nobody rushes and they all make allowance for pedestrians and donkeys, flocks of sheep and goats . . . 

- Motorways are v.cheap if not plentiful, and have a loo and water tap just after the "péage", so you can empty cassette / fill water tank.
Otherwise half-fill with fuel at garages, include a tip, and ask to fill with water. They may have a loo, too. Ports also have facilities, as do museums.

- Some towns have dry-cleaners/laundries ("pressings" as in France), which do laundry by the kilo, or the machine-load . . . or park up on a headland and rig up a line.

- Some taxis run on LPG, and with an adapter you can get your propane cooking cylinders filled - our problem was to find a garage with both LPG and an adapter. Best to have your own. Anyone know where we can get one, they aren't legal in France? List of some garages with LPG on Swindails blog (Magbaz website, see above).

- A German we met was cleaning his fridge burners weekly, having exchanged his German cylinder for a Tunisian one, but he had no trouble with one filled with LPG from garages, and neither did we.

- Very cheap destination. Small all-purpose shops everywhere. Wonderful fresh fruit and veg, organically grown. Flat Arab bread or French sticks. Butchers shops and separate shops for poultry. Best bargains were chickens roasted on a spit, in a supermarket, or in front of a poulterer's or a café (TD 5 to 10). We bought a small pressure cooker as "lambs" have walked miles with the flocks and are not too tender! Fuel around 1 TD (0.50 Euros) per litre. Internet cafés everywhere 1 to 2 TD / hr.

- Go to a supermarket early on (Monoprix, Champion, or Magasin General - at least one in all sizeable towns, except Douz) and make a note of prices. Imported foods such as cheese are dearer. Milk is very good quality. Yoghourt in little pots, but also a yoghourt called Raieb, which is very nice. No need to bargain in shops, only in souks. It helps to ask prices (e.g. for fruit) before starting to buy.

- Alcohol in some bars/restaurants (particularly tourist areas), or in 1 large supermarket per town, often in a locked room, so ask if you don't see it, and not for sale on Fridays. Prices as France, but wine is dearer. There are "caves co-operatives" in some places, including one called Domaine Atlas at Bou Argoub, just off the M-way S. of Tunis. Wine there around 5 to 6TD per bottle.

- We didn't eat out much, but that is just us. A French couple we met had eaten out consistently for 6 weeks, and had no problems at all. We washed all veg and fruit well.

- Lots of police everywhere, stopping vehicles and asking for their papers, but you are an honoured and much-prized visitor, they even salute you, and wave you on, so wave back . .

- Customs formalities are a bit long-winded, but they have a lot of over-loaded Tunisians returning from Italy to deal with, and are unlikely to search you for excess alcohol - might be an idea to stow it in unobvious places. They asked if we had a camera, we said Yes, but not a particularly good one. They made a note of our GPS (pretty useless there) presumably so we wouldn't sell it before leaving.

- Children wave and smile at you, and might ask for a pen or a dinar, but not always, nothing like Morocco. You are not hassled by hawkers and beggars, mostly people take no notice.

- Quite a lot of litter in some places, but less than Morocco or Greece, we thought.

- Dress is mostly Western amongst young people. Older generation often wear long garments (women); dressing gown-type garment (burnous) over trousers etc. (men). In many villages the women have their own local style of dress. 
Women would attract attention in short sleeves, low necks, shorts, anything tight-fitting, except in areas with lots of tourist hotels, such as Sousse, Hammamet, parts of Djerba.

- We crossed from Genoa, as GNV are much cheaper than SNCM/ CTN who run the crossing from Marseilles. Cheaper still would be Civitavecchia etc. or Palermo. 450 Euro each way from Genoa inc. cabin, 135 Euro each way via Palermo inc. cabin. 

For some reason it was cheaper buying a ticket in Tunisia in dinars for the return trip, by around 20 Euro, haven't worked that one out yet. 

- You cross into La Goulette, the port of Tunis, quite a nice little suburb and only 5 minutes from Carthage, which is a comfortable place to park up, and one of our favourites - a mix of smart white villas amongst trees and architectural sites.

- As you see from the above, very like Morocco in many ways, but more prosperous, and actually we much preferred Tunisia. 

- The fact that there are so few campervans and campsites means you are on your own when it comes to breakdowns/repairs etc. 
As everywhere, backstreet garages were wonderfully helpful, but David had to be inventive mending a bike rack, a leaking shower tray, a collapsed bed. A small group of friends might like to travel together . . . But we were fine, in fact.

Helen and David.


----------



## eddied (May 9, 2005)

Thank you for that Helen & Dave. Tunisia deserves a good write up. Have always found it a very civilised, friendly, and safe country. Some would say that 'ooman rites' are not up to standard; but that's why there is little crime, no extremism, and feel good factor. Catholic churches, mosques, and synagogues can beseen side by side in Tunis. Good ferry services also from Naples and Catania.
saluti,
eddied


----------



## Dunky (May 1, 2005)

Have been undecided as to where to go next trip, your info re Tunisia has us interested. Do we need visas?. If we go it will be for 5-6 weeks - where would you choose to stay for two weeks in one place as a R & R spot? Thanks for most informative post _ any other advice welcomed. We have visited Morocco with our van a few times so are not completely green. Gordon and Grace Mackie


----------



## Briarose (Oct 9, 2007)

Hi what a fantastic and informative post for anyone wishing to visit Tunisia.

In our prior MH days when package holidays were the order of the day, Tunisia was one of our favourite and much visited destinations.........we were always amazed when folk used to say 'it isn't safe' etc etc and not to venture out at night, we always found it to be really safe and made many friends out there.

One of our favourite places to sit and watch the world go by was Port El Kantoui, although I know that isn't the real Tunisia. I would love to venture out and see the countryside etc it really must be like stepping back in time.


----------



## Sonesta (May 10, 2005)

I read your post with great interest and it has left me wanting more! 

Like Briarose; we too have package holidayed to Tunisia before and I must confess, our most enjoyable memories of Tunisia, were of our trips away from the touristy parts! I am not a great fan of commercialised, purpose built resorts anywhere and we much prefer venturing off in search of the 'real' flavour of any country we are visiting. I know that's not to everyones taste but for us, that is and always has been, what makes visiting another country so exciting! The way you describe the places you visited in Tunisia has intrigued me and made me want to just jump in our motorhome and set off on our travels immediately! 

One day, during our package hotel holiday in Tunisia, myself, my husband and our children (who at that time were still at school) caught a very early morning train into the capital of Tunisia and the journey alone was one which we all hold lasting and happy memories of. It was a rickety old train, packed full of Tunisians, most of which, we presumed were on their way to work or farmers off to take their produce to sell on the markets. Many of them were carrying cages of live stock; such as pigs, chickens & sheep and we were all fascinated by the whole scene, especially our children!  It was a truly amazing and interesting journey and travelling through the Tunisian countryside and witnessing some of the homes located along the route, was an eye opener to say the least! I recall thinking during our train journey to Tunis the capital, that our experience resembled that of an era in history, that I have only ever read about in books!

You say you preferred Tunisia to Morocco and this comment really did capture my attention, especially as we long to return to Morocco one day in the future. We visited Morocco approx 4 years ago now in our M/H and we truly fell in love with place! However, your account of Tunisia has really wetted my appetite and I am keen to hear even more! What was it about Tunisia that you preferred exactly?

Sadly, we are not able to be so flexible re where we travel to these days, as we have 2 little dogs to cater for now and many Countries do NOT recognise the pet passport scheme! My guess is; that Tunisia may be one of those countries, which means without our 2 dogs in tow we couldn't consider it!!!!!  This is why we cannot travel to Morocco again as Morocco is NOT part of the pet passport scheme and it would mean in order for us to return, we would have to put our 2 little dogs into kennels, which I'm afraid we are extremely reluctant to do! 

Can't wait to hear more about your trip and your post has made for some fascinating reading! : thumbright: 

Sue


----------



## hmh (Jun 25, 2008)

Thank you for thanking us!

You are right eddied, the political situation isn't up to scratch and it was weird to see those blown-up pictures of President Ben Ali hanging up everywhere. It will be hard to bring in democracy in one fell swoop however. For the moment it is prosperous and pretty safe, which counts for a lot in Africa.

Sonesta. Parked up on Djerba, near a beach, between tourist hotels, we would meet people on package holidays walking by. They frequently owned a camper and were intrigued, wanted to know about security and potential problems. 
We really felt safe and confident to park up in places I wouldn't dream of staying in most of Europe. A degree of self-sufficiency is required however in the event of problems and you need to "live off the country" when it comes to getting water and emptying the cassette.

We preferred Tunisia over Morocco mainly for the people. So open, smiling, helpful and spontaneous and (almost) never "on the make". That said, we did love Morocco too! But one could walk through the souks without buying and with no hassle. Try that in Morocco!

This is possibly simply because there are so few tourists in most of the country, and the tourists there are, are often Tunisian or N. African (hard for us to know, of course!) Also it may be a more prosperous country, it seemed so.

David nearly adopted a sweet puppy in Douz - I managed to resist!

We did meet an English couple who had their dog in the van with them. They had come in via France and Italy. No formalities were demanded of them on entry and they didn't expect any difficulty when they got to Palermo. If your dogs have had their jabs there shouldn't be any problem. This couple were intending to go to a vet as they left France for U.K. to conform with reg's and, if anyone asked, say they had been in France all the time.

Dunky: No visas for Euro nationals. Where to stay would depend on time of year and weather. For a lengthy stop-over in one place you need access to services, so perhaps at some of the tourist areas or marinas. Tabarka and Bizerte for example, though the North was windy, wetter and cooler overall. Tozeur has almost no rainfall and the campsites are pretty cheap. Djerba has a good mix of tourist facilities and wilder, more interesting hinterland. Nice headlands S. of Hergla (N. of Sousse). The Iles Kerkennah sounded good, but we didn't get there.

No question. We will be back again another year and probably for at least 3 months.

D and H


----------

