Tunisia-Med-Sahara Day 12

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 our previous discussions.

Riadh dropped us off at the Souk so we could have time to shop. Gennie and I walked around to look and to take pictures; our usual routine.

We met Khamis and a few others to go to see the fish market but by that time most of the auction was finished. We were given until 10:45 for free time.

I started a conversation with two gentlemen drinking coffee to see if I could get a photo. One man agreed and asked me to send him the photo.

He was going to give me his internet address, but he did not have a pen. When I pulled out my Pentel, he admired it so I gave it to him and he was very pleased.

When we walked by him 30 minutes later he was doing a crossword puzzle with the pen. He recognized us, held up the pen, and thanked us again for the great gift!

Khamis did not give us any specific numbers but unemployment is very high in the cities. Many young men sit in the sidewalk cafés drinking coffee or tea, chatting, and smoking for most of the day.

The vendors in the markets are very aggressive, wanting you to look, then of course to buy. Most are multilingual and switch languages in a heartbeat when you reply to their invitation to shop.

We are trying to speak French in our greetings so they start with French, then switch to German or Dutch and then when they guess we are American, they speak to us in English.

Tired of walking and shopping, we sat in a park, smiled and talked to a few people, and then it was time to meet back at the bus to go to the port.

We all gathered at the meeting point and at 11:45 Riadh took us to the dock where we were greeted by our boatman. He raised the gang plank and at 12:00 we were off to sail in the Mediterranean aboard a traditional galleon.

We had the whole ship to ourselves, so we had lots of room to move about on our ship, The Ulysse, and to take photos. It was a bit cooler on the water, but not at all unpleasant. Both Gennie and I enjoy the sea so we were happy to have the fresh sea air and sunshine.

We sailed out into the Mediterranean for about 30 minutes and then dropped the anchor. We were served a lunch of salad, a spinach brik, and then a vegetable couscous. We were also offered water, the usual beverage and then Coca Cola and wine. This was only the second time on this whole trip we were offered anything other than water with our meals, very different from other OAT Trips.

We had our traditional oranges for dessert and all commented on how delicious they are. Most of the hotels serve Tang for breakfast – what a disservice to the wonderful juice they could serve.

After we ate our lunch and listened to music and watched a few magic tricks which the boatman did for us, the sailors raised the anchor and we sailed back to the port.

It was 1:30 when Riadh met us. We made a quick photo stop at a Spanish fort, Ghazi Mustapha, where the Turks fought the Spanish.

A few people wanted to go back to shop, but the bus took the rest of us back to the hotel. Our room had not been cleaned so we waited a few minutes until the ladies had finished. It was very pleasant today, 68º and 62% humidity.

While Gennie typed the journal, I got my bags ready for our flight in the morning. Then she organized the few purchases she made and I looked at the photos from the morning and early afternoon.

We met our group at 6:45 and then went to our Farewell Dinner at the Fatroucha Restaurant. We had an excellent seafood salad and then fish for our main course. Oranges, strawberries and dates were offered for dessert. We ended our meal with mint tea, a regular tradition.

This was the last time we saw our driver, Riadh so we thanked him. He was always very professional and a very good driver, one of the best we have had on our OAT trips.

Tomorrow we fly back to Tunis and leave the hotel at 7:45am so we said goodnight to our friends and finished our packing so we would be ready to go bright and early in the morning.

Accommodations: Cesar Hotel - - - Meals: B, L, D

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I see that many of your pictures are of men. Was it difficult to take photos of women? Is it a male dominated society?

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