To wrap up our two-week vacation in Tunisia, we just had to drive around the Cap Bon and end up in La Marsa so we could drop off our rental car and catch our flight out of Tunis. From Kairouian, our scenery changed from small town to suburbia. Nabeul is the country’s ceramic center and…

From Mahdia, English John, the Dr. and I jumped in the car to catch the sunset at El Jem, Tunisia’s most impressive Roman monument. It would have been more impressive, of course, if we actually made it inside. We arrived in El Jem just a little before 6pm after a 45-minute drive. When we walked…

We said good-bye to Houmt Souq, Jerba, and drove a long way up the east coast to Sfax. On our map, Sfax and Sousse were the two locations besides Tunis that looked like busy cities because of several roads connecting them with surrounding towns. We vowed to skip the tourist traps when we first looked…

We slept some more as Taha and Emin drove us the next morning to Matmata. The roads started to disappear and this is why only 4x4s are allowed in the desert. More camels and rosemary bushes dotted the side of the road. From the top of Matmata, we saw how Mother Nature carved stones and…

After pricing three companies while in Tozeur, we settled with Au Coeur du Desert which charged us 350 dinars for a two-day tour. Our English-speaking guide, Taha, and his brother, Emin, picked us up as soon as we returned our car to Europcar, the rental agency. Taha drove like a maniac, but he was very…

We had a long way to go to Tozeur via Gafsa, so we woke up early to start our drive to Kasserine. The rolling hills switched to empty lots of cacti. As our surroundings started to become flat, more and more locals started to hitch a ride to the nearby towns. We saw an older…

We were awaken by the first call to prayer of the day. A man’s voice echoed through the loud speakers but we still got up later than expected. The staff at Les Mimosas still served us the free breakfast of hard-boiled egg, bread, butter, coffee and orange juice. We checked out, sad that we didn’t…

As soon as we drove away from the city, the landscaped changed. Olive trees lined the highway and dry, earthy dust covered the air. We arrived in Bizerte after an hour, parked our car in front of the municipal building and walked to the Old Port. Bizerte sits on a canal that links the lake…

We arrived in Tunis-Carthage airport after a connection in Paris minus the Dr.’s backpack. We originally planned to start our drive to the north of the country without stopping in Tunis, but this setback, although minor, was still annoying. We took care of everything first: filed a claim for lost luggage, exchanged our dollars to…