Tunisia-Med-Sahara Day 13

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 mementos of Tunisia.

We made the 20 minute trip to the airport easily and at 7:45 we had checked our bags, gotten our boarding passes, and went through a perfunctory security check. We found the waiting area and then camped there until they called our flight.

There was a group of travelers from the US and we began a conversation. They were from the Air Force Academy, just four miles south of our home in Monument, CO.

The students and a civilian representative from Tunisia were also going back home. They are on an earlier flight through Paris, but chances are we will meet up with them again on the JFK to Denver flight on the last leg of our journey home.

We boarded a shuttle bus that took us to the tarmac and to our ATR Tunisair turbo prop plane. There were seats for 72 passengers also going to Tunis this morning. We took off right on time at 9:30.

Our flight was smooth and we were offered a beverage during our 50 minute flight. The landing was bumpy and we seemed to be thrown from side to side until the pilot got control of the aircraft.

We collected our luggage and then went out to the parking area to meet our driver, Mohammad, who took us directly to the Hotel Africa. We were given our room assignments and found our room.

This is the same hotel we used to begin our trip so it felt like coming home to a familiar surrounding. Khamis agreed to meet us in the lobby in 30 minutes to settle the Optional Activities bill.

Several people were waiting for more directions for afternoon activities. We settled in our room, and then went out to get a light lunch.

The streets were jam packed with people out enjoying the Saturday afternoon. Usually we had seen only young men sitting at the sidewalk cafés but today families and young and older people alike were out walking seeing and being seen.

We thought it was warm at 81º and 41% humidity but most of the locals had jackets and coats on this afternoon. There were many kebab cafés on the boulevard in front of our hotel.

We chose a sidewalk café that looked inviting where we could sit down and Gennie had a pita bread sandwich and I had a wrap. Both were served with chicken meat combined with condiments and vegetables.

Lunch included french fries and we ordered a Fanta and a Coke; more than we could eat for less than $6.00. We finished our lunch and found a shop for ice cream that was excellent.

Walking and eating ice cream on the busy streets was not easy so we went off the main thoroughfare and walked on the back streets, still busy, but not shoulder to shoulder.

At 2:45 we came back to the room and caught up on e-mail messages and Gennie worked a bit on her upcoming classes. It was warm in our room so we had the windows open.

We could hear an occasional outburst of cheering below and guessed that some of the cafés were televising a soccer game on this Saturday afternoon.

Verne called us at 6:30 to tell us that our departure time had been moved up one hour as our flight was now at 5:05 instead of 6:05am.

Gennie got online with OAT and the flight was still listed at 6:05 but when she checked Alitalia Airlines, she confirmed the earlier departure.

We left the room to have a pizza and saw several members of our group who knew about the change also. Thank goodness we take care of each other.

We bought a half cheese and half Napolitano, (with anchovies and black olives) pizza to share. We stopped on the way back to the hotel for ice cream.

Gennie changed the wake-up call to 2:00 and then we tried to get to sleep early. We fly first to Rome, then JFK, and then to Denver arriving at 10:38pm with any luck at all.

This will be the last journal for awhile. We get home to Colorado late Sunday evening so look for the end of our journey on Monday, March 30th.

Accommodations: Africa Hotel - - - Meal: B

Please see our Trip Evaluation -- Click Here -- A Complete Review of Overseas Adventure Travel's Tunisia: From the Mediterranean to the Sahara.

To put the arrow on Gennie for all the ice cream stops you appear to make is, in my opinion, putting the arrow on the wrong person. It is VG...NOT GG!

Ice Cream? Twice in one day? Must have been very good.

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