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November 25, 2005
Next Stop: Mahdia
I slept in later than normal today, getting up around 9am for a nice breakfast at the Kasbah buffet. I really didn't have much planned for today since Marouen Mraihi and Tom Dawkins were coming down around lunchtime to join me during my travels around southern Tunisia. After breakfast, I took another walk through the market, where I managed to get a few more photos of people. One woman insisted I pay here one dinar after I took her picture; so far she's the only person that's requested money here in Tunisia.
Around noon I went back to the hotel to give Marouen a call and see if he was on the bus yet. He said they were at the bus station waiting to depart Tunis, which meant I wouldn't see them for at least another two hours. Knowing that I'd have a draining week ahead of me, I decided to chill out by the hotel pool, reading my newly acquired French travel guide to Tunisia. I managed to make out a lot of it, probably because I already knew much of the Lonely Planet Tunisia guide by heart.
Marouen and Tom arrived just after 2:30pm. They asked if it would be alright to walk around the Medina before leaving Kairouan; I said I didn't mind, since at this rate we probably wouldn't reach our next destination until sunset anyway. Marouen suggested we stay in Sousse, but Tom and I recommended Mahdia, since it was smaller and more laid-back. Marouen seemed okay with that.
Tom had expressed interest in buying a carpet; he was certainly in the right place. We walked around the medina passing various carpet shops, but decided to grab a quick bite to eat at a restaurant first. We ordered omelets, which came with beans, French bread and a Tunisian salad - quite delicious.
The three of us then backtracked to one of the carpet shops, where we first asked to climb up to the terrace first. Unfortunately, the terrace wasn't that spectacular, but we were still obliged to shop around for a few minutes. Tom didn't want to spend more than 150 dinars on a carpet, which pretty much meant he'd be looking at ones that were two square meters. The owners of the shop pulled out carpets that were tagged at well over 300 dinars, but that was just a negotiating tactic. With some language assistance from Marouen and a healthy dose of haggler's skepticism, Tom eventually got the carpet at less than 150 dinars.
By the time we got to the louage station, it was around 4pm; we'd be lucky if we arrived in Mahdia by 7pm, since we had to catch a taxi first to Sousse and then change for another taxi to Mahdia. The process was simple enough; we'd go to the station, call out where we wanted to go, and would be directed to the right minibus. We'd then wait until the bus filled and then hit the road. Pretty straightforward.
Marouen slept most of the time while Tom and I talked US politics; for an Australian he knew a hell of a lot about what was going on in US policymaking. We reached the Mahdia louage station around 7pm, then caught a taxi the last few kilometres to the medina. He charged us three dinars -we definitely got ripped off, but were too tired to do much about it. We found ourselves on a chilly, quiet peninsula jutting out in the Mediterranean, standing at the edge of a medina alleyway. Ahead of us we found the Hotel Al Jazira, our home for the next night. Two song birds greeted us as we went inside; the owner gave us a quad room for ourselves.
After dropping our bags, we walked through the peaceful medina past a few cats and not much else to the Restaurant de la Medina, where we ordered their fish couscous special. The fish (mullet) was okay but the sauce on the couscous was excellent. Meanwhile, the local cat parked himself between Marouen and me, waiting to be fed. I didn't know the local protocol for feeding cats, so I resisted giving him any fish. Clearly, this wasn't the right thing to do, because the cat kept trying to claw his way into my lap. The restaurant owner seemed to get a kick out of my predicament. Just another night in Tunisia, I guess.
Posted by acarvin at November 25, 2005 5:57 PM
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