Day 07-02 - Monday, March 16, 2009 - Arrive in Tunis/Welcome Drink and Dinner The flight back to Casablanca was at 6:15am. Our alarm went off at 3:30! It was a short night. The hotel had “breakfast” for us but it was only coffee and a few cookies. Both Adil and Jamal were there to pick us up at 4:30 for our break-of-day flight leaving Morocco. Surprisingly, the airport was ...
Read Day 1!
Day 08-03 - Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - City Tour and Bardo Museum/Visit Sidi Bou Said/Explore Ancient Carthage/Visit North Africa American Cemetery/Visit Sidi Bou Said We were back to a reasonable wake-up call – our alarm got us up at 6:30am. Breakfast was back on the first floor where we had our wonderful buffet last night. The sumptuousness of the breakfast selection here in ...
Read Day 2!
Day 09-04 - Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - Optional Tour of Ancient Roman Dougga Archeological Site Today we had an optional tour of Dougga, the best-preserved ancient Roman city in North Africa and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were up before the alarm went off at 6:30 and then had our breakfast with Margo from Santa Fe, NM and Rick from Woodland Hills, CA. Burr…it was chilly ...
Read Day 3!
Day 10-05 - Thursday, March 19, 2009 - Cross Cap Bon/Explore Hammamet/Travel to Sousse Today was a travel day so we had to have our bags out at 8:00. There were many smokers at breakfast this morning so the hostess helped us to find a non-smoking table. It was chilly again today, the temperature was 53º and humidity was 78% when we went out to the bus at 8:30. We had to identify ...
Read Day 4!
Day 11-06 - Friday, March 20, 2009 - Optional tour to El Djem/Roman Amphitheater/Museum/Mosaic Workshop We managed to jury-rig the shower so we could use it more easily this morning and were down to the breakfast buffet by 7:15. Twelve of us chose to take the optional excursion to El Djem I went out to check on the weather; it was 58 degrees and the humidity was 67% by the ...
Read Day 5!
Day 12-07 - Saturday, March 21, 2009 - Travel to Kairouan/Introduction to Islam Discussion and Mosque Visit/Visit Carpet Factory/Home-hosted Lunch The telephone rang at 6:15 this morning – someone else’s wake up call! We got up at 6:45 so we had plenty of time to pack our bags for our travel day and get ourselves ready for the day’s adventures. Riadh and the porters loaded up our ...
Read Day 6!
Day 13-08 - Sunday, March 22, 2009 - Travel to Tozeur/Visit Sbeitla We had a long day on the road so we set the alarm for 6:30. Our luggage had to be out at 7:30 and then we went down to breakfast. The buffet this morning was as nice as last night’s dinner. It has been chilly, but today was cold! It was 50º with 61% humidity. The departure time was set at 8:00 but there were a ...
Read Day 7!
Day 14-09 - Monday, March 23, 2009 - Mountain Oases Optional Tour We woke up to bright blue skies and a sunny day. It was warmer today; 57º and 49% humidity here in the oasis. Some of our California friends do not like this cool weather! The alarm woke us up at 6:45. We had slept well in this quiet hotel of satellite units. The rooms surround a central courtyard and main ...
Read Day 8!
Day 15-10 - Tuesday, March 24, 2009 - Red Lizard Train Excursion/Ride in Horse-drawn Carriages Through Tozeur Oasis/Adobe Brick-making Demonstration Another beautiful day at the Oasis! It was 55º and 54% humidity. Last night at 10:30 when we finished posting the journal, Khamis told us we would have to leave earlier than originally planned to get a seat on the train. We reset ...
Read Day 9!
Day 16-11 - Wednesday, March 25, 2009 - Travel to Douz/Chott El Jerid/ Camel ride/Discover Bedouin Wedding Traditions This is a travel day so we got up a little earlier to organize our belongings. We were ready for breakfast at 7:35. Several groups were leaving this morning so the portico was congested with 4-wheel drive vehicles on their way to the desert and the full size buses ...
Read Day 10!
Day 17 - Thursday, March 26, 2009 - Travel to Djerba/See Matmata Cave Dwellings/Tour Djerba and Visit El Ghriba Synagogue We only spent one night in Douz at the oasis. Our bags had to be out at 7:15 and were already being loaded on the bus when we left breakfast at 7:30. I checked the temperature and it was 54º and the humidity was 69% this morning. Our target departure time was ...
Read Day 11!
Day 18-13 - Friday, March 27, 2009 - Galleon Cruise/Farewell Dinner The sun came up early but we did not have to get up until 7:00. We had a nice breakfast with Margo, Michelle, Ed and Linda. We left the hotel at 8:30 for our excursion and more shopping on the island. Khamis gave us a little more information about the island. He also answered a few questions still pending from ...
Read Day 12!
Day 19-14 - Saturday, March 28, 2009 - Fly from Djerba to Tunis This morning we flew back to the mainland and to Tunis. Our alarm woke us at 6:15 and we were out to breakfast by 7:00. The luggage was collected and we helped the driver to put it in a very small mini-bus. There was very little room on the bus as we had all of our carry-ons and big bags full of dirty clothes and ...
Read Day 13!
Day 20-15 - Sunday, March 29, 2009 - Flight from Tunis to JFK/Visit to NYC and finally to Denver There were still people in the streets when I looked out the window at 2:00am. We received our wake-up call and our alarm went off right on time; double coverage on a flight day! We had packed everything but our toiletries and the computer last night. By 2:40 we were out of the room ...
Read Day 14!