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Golf Residence Hotel
Port El Kantaoui
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Golf Residence Hotel Pool
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Port El Kantaoui
marina entrance
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Port El Kantaoui
Fountain
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Port El Kantaoui
Fountain
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Port El Kantaoui
marina
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Port El Kantaoui
marina
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Port El Kantaoui
Beach
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El Jem Roman Coliseum
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El Jem Roman Coliseum
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El Jem Roman Coliseum
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El Jem Roman Coliseum
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El Jem Roman Coliseum
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El Jem Roman Coliseum
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El Jem Roman Coliseum
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Bedroom Matmata
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Lady Matmata
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Matmata
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Matmata Village
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Star Wars Location
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Star Wars Location
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Lady Matmata
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Bustling Market
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Bananas Flower
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Atlas Mountains
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Atlas Mountains
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Atlas Mountains
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Julie Sahara
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Julie And Dave Sahara
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Sahara Dessert
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Julie Sahara
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Canyon
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Chott El Jerid Salt Lake
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Sunrise Chott El Jerid Salt Lake 5 Am
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Mirage In The Dessert
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South Tunisia Landscape
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Waterfalls
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Market And Waterfalls
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Kairouan
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Carpet Shop Kairouan
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Kairouan
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Sidi Bou Said
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Sidi Bou Said
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Monestir Port
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Mosaic Bardo Museum
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Mosaic Bardo Museum
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Parasailing PEK Beach
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Parasailing PEK Beach
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Parasailing PEK Beach
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Parasailing PEK Beach
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Parasailing PEK Beach
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Parasailing PEK Beach
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We had a great time in Port El Kantaoui,, we stayed at the Golf Residence Hotel,
the accommodation was basic but clean, we stayed on a halfboard
basis, the food was good, there was plenty of choice each
day and the sweets were great, it has a nice pool with a separate
children area, a pool side bar serving food soft drinks and
beer. there's also a water park across from the hotel.
Its only 300 meters from the marina,there are lots of shops,
restaurants and bars,there is a free horse and carriage take
you to the beach from the hotel. which is 500 meters away.
The beach is good this is were we went Parasailing a brilliant
experience. There are a few fixed price shops, which it maybe
a good idea to visit to get an idea of prices before doing
any bartering as shop keepers start high but eventually agree
on a reasonable.
There are cheap tuk tuks 2 TDs to take you to Sousse, we
got on one and ended up going all over the place, the driver
had a phone call, he then went to the petrol station got some
fuel in some bottles and the delivered it to someone who'd
ran out of petrol before taking us to Sousse, so we had a
free tour of the local area HA HA. Taxis are around 5 TD to
sousse.
We went on 3 excursions, Sahara explorer 2 day trip, Carthage,
Sidi Bou Said and the Bardo Museum tour and a boat trip.
Two Day Sahara Explorer Trip.
This trip was fantastic, cost £62 each including entrance
to all admission fees and an over night stay at an hotel,
evening meal and breakfast in Douz The Gateway to the Sahara
dessert it was an early start both days 6:30 Am leaving the
hotel in PEK and a really early start from Douz next day 10
to 4 AM
We met a nice couple called John and Sharon who were staying
at the Golf Residence and were also going on the trip.
From Port El Kantaoui, we met our guide who was called Kamal
who is extremely
knowagable and coach driver called Eddie. he said you need
to have a supply of 1 TD coins, which you need for the 'photo
tickets'
Firstly we went to see the fantastic El Jem, Roman Coliseum.
This Coliseum is almost a complete ruin and replica of the
Coliseum in Rome, its the second largest after the Coliseum
in Rome,it is said to be in better condition though than the
one in Rome. And is a must to see on a visit to Tunisia not
to be missed.
Built by the Romans the amphitheatre of El Jem was used as
a stadium for gladiatorial fights. The extended bleachers
are believed to have room for as many as 35 000 seated spectators.
The rich people took seats closer to the arena, poorer people
had to sit way up at the top where it was harder to see. Below
the arena there are cellars that used as holding cells. Where
wild animals were kept in them. Before they were brought from
there to the stage. The extent of the arena is quite impressive.
El Jem was a large city situated at the crossroad of the caravan
ways. Lots of townspeople, ready for "bread and games"
were looking forward to watching the bloodshed from a safe
bleacher.
To avoid crowds and to distribute the spectators evenly to
the bleachers, the Romans thought up a very clever system.
The amphitheatre was divided into sectors. And had 64 entrances
to lead the people in. Above each of them there was a head
stone at a noticeable height with a God or an animal carved
in them, no image was repeated.
To get to a performance they would acquire an entrance ticket,
the ticket carried the image of a head stone from the entry
point you should use for your sector (for illiterate persons).
Ticket collectors would have never allowed you to enter through
another entrance other than that on your ticket. As a result,
people were arranged for getting in without problems in a
few minutes.
The amphitheatre was preserved very well due to the Romans
who felt concern for it, taking a good care of the landmark.
John and I climbed the stairs to the highest level of theatre
to get the best view of the town. Be careful and look around
you, so not to fall in one of the stairway openings. We are
enjoyed a tremendous view of the arena from there.
Next, back on the coach were we went to Matmata, to see the
Troglodyte cave dwellings and villages of people who live
homes in underground cave complexes.We had a look around inside
the caves we had a photo taken with some of the people who
live there, they had a baby 3 month old camel so cute. We
also visited a cave that is an hotel one of the places that
were used during the filming of the original Star Wars film,The
landscape around this area is described as Lunar like, it
is very dry and barren, it has lots of little isolated Berber
villages. They have a dish for tips.We then had lunch at a
restaurant.
From there we went to Douz, "Gateway to the Sahara Dessert",
here we went on a camel ride into the Sahara getting dressed
in Arabian tunics and head dresses, great fun and a right
good laugh, the guide took Julie, myself and a other man right
out into the dessert, we consider ourselves very lucky, as
no other guide took anyone else out as far as us, all we could
see was sand it was really windy the guide helped us to cover
our faces with the headdresses, for us this was the highlight
of our whole excursion. This is an experience that will stay
with us forever.Take something to put some sand in from the
Sahara too, if you want to. The camel trip was an optional
extra of 7.5 TND each. We gave him 5TD tip.
Our last stop on the first day was at an hotel in Douz, were
we stayed overnight, it is a very nice hotel, having signed
the hotel register we were given our keys and had a most welcome
shower, I poured the sand out of my shoes there was a great
big pile of it, we filled a small pop bottle up for a souvenir
to take home with us, We went down to the restaurant had had
a good meal with john and Sharon, then we had an early night.
The next day, was an early start we were woke up at 10 to
4 AM, we went down for breakfast, having had breakfast we
went outside and it was pouring down with rain it soon stopped
though .We got on the coach and set of to cross Chott El Jerid,
an enormous salt lake, where we saw the sunrise, we went to
see how the salt 'roses' are made, all along the road side
there were pools of different coloured water.
We then went to Tozeur, to the 'Desert oasis', where we took
the horse and cart ride, not quite what we expected we thought
it would be a pool of water, but it was a green plantation.we
went through the oasis to see how dates and bananas are grown,
pollinated,harvested etc. Here we went in a cafe we bought
some frozen date palm sap, a very nice sweet tasting drink,
when very chilled. Kamal warned us though it should be drunk
chilled, as went it gets warm it starts to ferment into alcohol,
and sure enough it did within a couple of hours it had gone
cloudy, he said it would give us dodgy stomachs and has a
powerful hangover, we also visited the hustle bustle of the
market here.The horse and cart ride was 5 TND
We were then taken by coach to the Atlas Mountains, where
we met up with the 4 wheel drive Jeeps, and set off for the
trip up into the mountains. Again, this a fantastic experience
with phenomenal views, beautiful waterfalls, we also saw a
market out in the middle of nowhere very isolated, later on
the way back to coach we saw a dessert mirage on the horizon
as we drove along the road. after a short coach trip we then
lunch at another hotel.
Next it was a very long drive to Kairouan, the holiest city
in North Africa, where we saw the Great Mosque, which is very
interesting, sections of it are made of stones taken from
El Jem. We then went to a carpet factory shop. From there
we went back to the Hotel.
At the end of the trip there was a tray at the front of the
coach for tips for the driver and the guide which believe
me they earned ! We traveled over 800 miles by Coach, with
the most of the traveling being on the second day.
Carthage, Sidi Bou Said and the Bardo Museum
Sidi Bou Said is a beautiful little village perched on the
hilltop cliffs overlooking the Bay of Tunis, A combination
of two colours, bright blue doors and windows and white walled
small houses. We strolled leisurely through the upwards-winding
serpentine steep narrow cobblestone streets. We had glimpses
of the emerald sea with the mountain of Bou Kornine and the
southern beaches of Tunis across the Bay.
We were amazed at the buildings of old and new, Andaluthean
styled blue studded front doors with ancient iron doorknocker's.
The open doors gave us views of tiny courtyards.
We had a rest after the uphill walk of the narrow in the main
street of Sidi Bou Said, at a small restaurant for a coffee
and cake, we didn't’t order the honey date and raisin cake
but got it free, I like it but julie wasn't that keen on it.
As we listened to a cannary singing our eyes couldn't stop
on anyone thing specific, with the hustle bustle of the town’s
people and tourists, hold onto your wallet as its very crowded
and very easy pickings for thieves. It is worth rummaging
around though for souvenirs maybe a sandy rose of the Sahara,
handmade carpet, Chess set, Arab scarves, scabbard daggers,
and the inevitable camel’s statuettes and pictures.
We also went into one of the houses which is now a museum
for a small entrance fee, the photo of Julie sat at a table
is on one of the roof terraces is in there.
We also visited the famous Bardo museum. Again we had to
pay a 1TD to be able to take photos inside. The interior offers
the largest collection of ancient African mosaics and statues.
The Bardo museum only recently turned into a place of interest,
as earlier Bardo had been one of the residences of the Tunisian
king. It was his winter Palace.
The interior of the Bardo museum houses artifacts from thousand
years ago. The halls of the Bardo museum holds the statues
found at the excavations of different Tunisian towns, some
of the statues have no heads, some of which are on displayed
on shelves around the museum.
The festival hall boasts the largest preserved mosaic of 56
square meters. This mosaic was found in the near of the city
of Sousse. The other halls walls have magnificent mosaics
that are of less importance. They show periods of everyday
life of townspeople.
We really enjoyed our visit to the Bardo, until it was absolutely
filled with other tourist, at one point we could go neither
forward or backward it was that crowed and could hardly see
anything good job we went early, and just had to wait. Our
guide warned us of this telling us that people disembarked
from the cruise ships when they arrived it the port and came
to visit the Bardo museum.
Carthage is one of Tunisia's most well known archaeological
sites,a;though much of it still underground as other buildings
have been erected on top of it. we saw the theatre on the
hillside,which is still being renovated, the aqueducts and
water systems, also a children's graveyard. A little disappointing
really as we imagined it we would have seen more still very
interesting though as we thing we only saw a fraction of Carthage. |
