holiday

[shiy]

im going to tunisia soon any good tips on places to visit while there also does any one know what injections you need to get before i go ?????

[luckystrike]

We went to Tunis for the day and we visited the Bardo Museum (largest collection of mosaic tiles in the world) and Carthage (an excellently preserved old Roman city about 15 minutes from Tunis centre).  We also stopped for an hour in a very pretty little town called Sidi Bou Said, in which all of the buildings are painted the distinctive blue and white.  It was a very good day out, and not tiring at all.

We also went on a two day / overnight trip into the Sahara, which was brilliant from start to finish.  Firstly we visited to old Roman Colosseum at El Djem.  Then, it was a long drive south into the Sahara, where we had lunch and then visited the area around the town of Matmata, where Star Wars was filmed.  This included a visit to a real Troglodite underground dwelling, where we were given freshly baked bread.  We then went to a town called Douz, where we checked into our hotel, got dressed up in traditional clothing and then went into the sand dunes of the Sahara for a camel ride for about an hour and a half.  When we got back to the hotel we went swimming before dinner, then had an early night.  The next day we got up at about 4am, had breakfast and left the hotel.  We visited a huge salt plain to see the sun rise and then went over to a couple of desert towns on the Algerian border - I think that they were called Nefsa and Tawzar - and we toured about in 4 wheel drives for the rest of the morning.  On the way back up through the centre of the country we visited an oasis at Gafsa and saw dates being picked, and also visited a carpet factory / shop, and the fourth most holy Islamic city in the world - Al Kairouan - but we wern't allowed inside the mosque as we were non-Muslims.  We were back in the hotel by about 6pm.

[luckystrike]

CONTINUED.....

A word of warning though - the 'restaurants' which your tour guide takes you to will not be nearly as good as your resort, so be careful with what you eat - especially the meat - as a number of our tour group got very sick the dats following the tour.  Two that we met at the airport even had to see a doctor to get re-hydrated.  If I was to do it again, which I would without a doubt, I would take lots of food and water with me, and avoid ALL meat.

We also had a night out at a 'Bedouin Feast' which was good fun; and a trip to the local market in Monastir, which was a bit of a waste of time, as the things on sale were aimed at locals, and not tourists.

Injection wise, we did have to get a couple - tetanus booster, and the Hepatrix mixture for hepatitis, polio, etc.  Check with your local health centre.

Hope this helps.

[Dom Tuk]

Fully agree with what Luckystrike says about the Sahara desert trip. It was fabulous and my 7 year old loved the camel ride, el Djem and the troglodyte family home. The whole trip is run like clockwork and everything is waiting for you at your destination. The highlight is the camel ride into the sahara in traditional Arab garb. We had no such problems with the food...may have been a blip on the day. If you have a baby then the travel on the airconditioned bus may not be advisable as it is quite a long journey. The endless olive groves are a sight to behold.

[maxi29]

Can I endorse the camel ride too. We did ours at dawn and saw the sun rising over the desert, it was a fantastic sight and one I won't forget.
I had no problem with the food (but then I'm a veggie) but I did get a bit dehydrated, so make sure that you do drink plenty of water.