2 недели в Тунисе 2 weeks in Tunisia

My hotel was called Marabou. 3***. The number is normal (+-). Only the view from the window - on the ugliness-construction. Therefore, he was not upset about the occasion, because he was not going to sit in the room. If you look to the right from the balcony, you can see the sea. Plumbing in the room was classy. The floor is bad - cold stone.

The food in the restaurant was just great. Something, but it was at the highest level! Knowledgeable people said that this hotel food is not 3 *, but 4 or 5. Maybe I was lucky with the hotel, or maybe the situation is like this throughout Tunisia. Perhaps the proximity of Europe is affecting, because the cuisine at the hotel was close to European, although couscous was often served. I liked this dish as a way to study the local culture, but not to eat it every day at home. I don’t understand how the Arabs managed to teach the whole of Europe to eat this couscous. Whatever, the food was top notch!

It was striking that food and drinks cannot be brought into the hotel.
This is so that people at 3 would buy expensive drinks in a bar and restaurant, + dined for $ in a restaurant.

The hotel has a half-board system. I can say that the half-board system suits me better. Two meals a day is enough and saves about $ 80 per week. All inclusive is unsuitable because, for example, drynki are of poor quality. This is how people from a nearby hotel - Samara said. It's not officially allowed to be carried. But who can. For example, my St. Petersburg friends and I managed not only to carry food and drinks to the hotel, but even to carry beer bought in the supermarket .....to the hotel bar !! ! It was business. In general, this is how you buy what you want in a supermarket, and calmly carry it to the hotel in an opaque bag or bag. But by no means in a branded supermarket package! Calmly. Nobody swears. And in the room, too, do not show all these things in appearance and everything will be OK.

The body of the hotel is a little dilapidated, especially the corridors.
People say that if the hotel is 3 ***, then it should be on the verge of reconstruction. But I did not particularly pay attention to these disadvantages. The hotel area is not very big. The patio with the pool is very beautiful. There was an indoor pool. Didn't swim in the pools. There was a fitness center, sauna, hammam, tennis courts, massage, aqua park, all for $. Sunbeds with mattresses on the beach and near the pool for 2 dinars. Near the pool are normal, on the beach - dead. I did not want to pay for this, especially such money, so I almost always did without them.


The sea is unimportant. Reminds us of our steppe Azov and Black. The beaches are dead too. Dirty. But they are pure sand. By the way, despite the fact that the hotel is on the first line, the beaches are municipal, as I understand it. Because who wants to come. Strained merchants on the beach! This is reminiscent of the Motherland! Only here they scream loudly and pass by, but here they may scream and be quieter, but they can pester, stand above the soul, and this is annoying.
One grandfather, not particularly burdened with intelligence, every 30 minutes. comes to the beach and shouts: "Helloo, trauben banana, trauben banana alllooooo, vitamin, vitamin. " More of a moron. He does not know any other words along the way. Is that between these words can insert "madame" and "monsieur". Trauben is the German word for grape. Even on the beach they sold everything, rags, souvenirs, palm trees. True, I saw the police several times on ATVs - "beach patrol", they drove some merchants, maybe those who do not pay bribes. And there was also one moron Arab who, selling rags and souvenirs, ran along the beach and could shout: "Freebie, freebie, freebie, fuck the price, fuck it. " When the Russians asked him if he understood what says, he answered that he understood, adding more obscenities. Along the way, he did this when there was no trade.

The hotel is boring. There are no discos (out of season). Animation through time was, in the end it disappeared altogether. Animation in the bar took place (divorce).
It so happened that these goats advertised the animation, then, after the people gathered in the bar, they simply canceled it. Rather, they did not cancel, but simply froze.
The population of the hotel - the whole of Europe. Almost all. There were all but the British, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Greeks. And so - absolutely the whole of Eastern Europe, central, western, Scandinavia. Most of them are old Germans. If I say that I was resting in a German nursing home, it would be practically true. But there are plenty of Russians too. But they do not exist at all, when compared with Turkey and Egypt. This applies to the whole of Tunisia. This is one of those things that the country might like - it's really not Russian autonomy, like Turkish and Egyptian resorts. We can say that in Tunisia I felt myself abroad. Russian speech is heard very rarely. It is desirable to know English, many local people know. I felt comfortable with French.


My hotel was in the city of Sousse.
It is the third largest city in Tunisia and a tourist city with no. 1.800, 000 inhabitants. The city is relatively clean, as for the Arab world. But people are not very nice. I mainly say this, because you can’t talk about all people like that. At the crossings, only the 10th or 15th car can let pass pedestrians, we even let them pass more often! Everywhere you can expect that you will now be bred. And there they can stick to you simply, at first glance, for the sake of a nice conversation with the questions "Wat from yo name, yu cam from and so on. " Only all these conversations end with begging for one dinar in the end. That's it! They can also ask you for one dinar for a hint on which road to go there. If at the end of my voyage the word NOU was pronounced more and more confidently, then such a situation could simply cause jitters in other people. If some local bastard says "Allooo" on the street or somewhere else, then you need to know that this is no good.
I worked out a tactic - I froze, pretended that I didn’t understand anything, but to the question “Yu kam from? ” answered either Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Hangari. It almost always worked! None of the local bydloty knows these languages. Everyone knows French, English, Italian, Spanish, German, Polish, Russian. Rather, they do not know languages, but a few words or phrases in order to beg for 1 dinar. Girls are generally horrified. In reality, they can just on the street, without even asking for a name, ask for sex, and after refusing - at least 1 dinar. In the evening it’s dumb - they can stick with a conversation, and at the same time look around all the time to see if there are people (probably to bomb?! ). On the beach at night, it's the same. I didn’t have time to approach the surf line, when it’s not clear where some kind of schmuck climbs out from behind the sunbeds (there is an assumption that local homeless people hang out on the beaches at night) and goes to you with a standard set of questions. And also let's look around.
Therefore, it is not for nothing that the beaches are closed at night. But we still climbed over the fence - either breathe the sea, or listen to the surf - it's always nice. And on the streets in the evenings, hashish and marijuana are offered at every step. All and sundry. In the end, it got so fed up that these people were simply ignored. They even offered cocaine, even some Moroccan shit (Moroccan black). They pulled it up. It was that the taxi driver first offered a taxi, and then this rubbish. Fans of such things can be assured that they are not selling drugs, but mu-lage. Because the price of 1 gram = 1 dinar.

If you come abroad for the first time to Tunisia, then you really don’t want to go to Muslim countries at all later. Because basically, the local population - moral freaks. Men. Women are very good: friendly, affable, polite. If you need to ask something on the street, then it is better for a woman to ask this question.
So more reliable and safer. In Egypt and Turkey, the situation with the local population is much better. Such is Suss. Really a hangout place. There are many discos near the hotel. Admission is free, only drinks from $5. But there are a lot of locals. Perhaps this promised "party" of his lies in the fact that it is the locals who will not let you get bored.

In Port El Kantaoui (a remote area of ​ ​ Sousse) and in Hammamet, the situation is better. True, it’s really boring there, but the locals don’t get it. The beaches are a little better than in Sousse and the locals are driven from there. There are other cities where you can relax - Prince Nabel, the capital, Tabarka, Mahdia, Monastir, the island of Djerba. By the way, Tunisia also has coral reefs. Moreover, in the Tabarka region, and this is in the north. Probably some defective ones. It turns out that if there is normal entertainment in the hotels of Hammamet, then, as I understand it, it is better to relax there. Or Port El Kantaoui, but it's much more expensive.

The tourist area in Tunisia is super-expensive.
European prices are sometimes even much higher. The non-tourist zone is supermarkets, the Generale chain of state-owned stores is even cheaper, which can only be found on the advice of either locals or tourists who have already been there. As for excursions, I traveled the whole country in two weeks. From paid excursions I took Carthage. Then he took another two-day Sahara. I also went on self-guided tours. So cheaper. For example, if an excursion costs $30-40, an independent trip costs $5-10.


The standard of living in Tunisia is difficult to determine. It seems to be like people live well, but the unemployment rate is high, which grows up in the off-season. In general, it seems to me that the standard of living there is slightly higher than ours. It's very hard to judge though. For example, for cars. There are practically no cheap ones like Daewoo. There is no old one either. The bulk are new or not very old French, Fiats. Gasoline there costs a little more than a dollar, more expensive than ours.
There are no cool cars like ours in Tunisia. There are no cool private houses either. Although people of different classes are there, of course, there are. If we compare it with another Arab country - Egypt, then the picture is as follows. In any case, the standard of living is higher than in Egypt. And this despite the fact that in terms of economic indicators (such as GDP, GNP, etc. ) they are specifically behind Egypt, because in Tunisia they do not produce or export anything globally! This is already your Egyptian authorities need to ask a question (I generally keep quiet about Ukraine). Even the hotel towel was labeled Made in Egypt.

Tunisia is said to be the most liberal of all Islamic countries. The local people can drink. Alcohol is available in stores. Women have 100% equal rights with men. Legalized prostitution. Women are not allowed to wear veils.

We weren't very lucky with the weather. The coolest weather was on the day of the return flight - November 1. Plus when I was on paid excursions.
In general, it was not bad, but often cloudy and strong wind. It used to be that you could comfortably sunbathe by the pool inside the hotel buildings, and there was a strong, terrible wind near the sea. Basically, it happened like this: you can swim, but it’s cold to go ashore. In general, the weather was deceptive: it seemed to be warm, but only the wind blows - it's cold. Dangerous weather.


On excursions. I liked Carthage. It was a move to the capital - Tunisia. There we visited the old district of Sidi Bou Said, built in the Andalusian style. I read about this place 3 years ago in a magazine article. There it is described in detail. And described better than it really is. But it's still beautiful, cool, the view of the sea from there is cool. You just need to understand that it is under the care of UNESCO and in some places the houses are shabby only for this reason (repair is FORBIDDEN). The second stop is the ruins of Carthage. Rather, only the ruins of a Roman bath remained from the city. Very good, impressive.
But here we must understand the historical importance. The third stop is the center of the capital. There's free time. You can go to the Arab market in the fortified part of the city (this is called Medina in Tunisian cities), you can walk along the main street of the capital. Chose the second. I realized that the city is nothing special. The third stop is the Museum of Roman Mosaics. I was not impressed. But that's me, and people say it's a good place. Even the scientist alone on the plane (during the return flight) said that there were good mosaics. Indeed, the mosaics are cool, but it only seems to me that they are fake, they don’t roll in the Roman era. I liked the tour. Was satisfied.

Then we went to Port El Kantaoui. This is a remote area of ​ ​ Sousse. A very beautiful place! There are walking paths, parks, fountains. everything is built, done, well maintained at the highest level, everything is green. with a visit to the zoo-botanist park 8 dinars the trip costs.
But the second time we went only in order to ....ride on the Tunisian, i. e. African train !! ! Unforgettable experience! Toilets without doors in the middle of the car, the doors of the entrance trains do not close (“for safety”) while driving - just a bomb! And another incident - the road is electrified, and the train is pulled by a diesel locomotive ...

The second excursion I had was the Sahara. Two-day. Honestly, I regretted that I took it. Why? Because it's a real conveyor. They didn’t really give a normal time anywhere to look, take pictures normally and so on. The first stop is the city of El Jem. There is a third Roman coliseum. Just great. Captures. It's not as impressive in the pictures as it is in real life. The most significant thing after the eiffel and the pyramids of all that I have seen. This is where Gladiator was filmed. I don't understand why such a grand landmark is so unknown. The second stop was Matmata - the village of troglodytes.

These are people who live in burrows or caves. A crazy stop, in my opinion. Landmark, sucked from the finger. The diverter is complete. Because it's real: the painted caves are a museum, the equipped life consists of props, like in a theater. And troglodytes are not actually troglodytes, but ordinary "actors". Even on the ladles that hang on the wall and depict an element of everyday life, the label has not been removed. In general, the sediment is complete. Then there was a stop in the Atlas Mountains. A good observation deck, a cool place for photographing. Beautiful. Next is another village. Mountain this time. But this is from the series (1) - "do not buy there, but buy here, where we bring you. " They drank tea with almonds there. Cool, but pricey. Toward evening there was a stop at the Douz oasis - this is the gateway to the Sahara. There would be camel riding, really in the desert. True, there were no solid dunes underfoot, there was a road trodden and crap by camels.
The dunes were in the distance, but clearly visible. Fine. Only a couple of tourists had a conflict with the guide. Then there was an overnight stay at the hotel. 4*. It doesn’t fit into this category, but the territory inside is just super, everything is in greenery, palm trees, flowers. Located in an oasis. The air is great there. It was so pleasant to breathe with him that he didn’t even go to sleep for a long time, knowing that the rise was at 4 in the morning. Then we went to meet the dawn in the desert. Stopping at night to buy dates ("series (1) continues, I didn't buy it). We didn't manage to meet the dawn - it was cloudy. A little more road - transfer to jeeps. "It's cool, but, fak, very little. Then again in jeeps - to the Chebika oasis, it's not far from the Algerian border. This oasis is just a fantastic place, there is a spring with clean water that you can drink, and downstream - you can swim.
Only thanks to the guide, who did not tell us about bathing things when everyone changed from the bus to the jeeps. Yes, okay, there was nowhere to change clothes anyway. Is that if you do not be shy with a huge international crowd of tourists. Yes, and there was no time either - a conveyor. Then we were brought back to the bus, on it - the way home. We just made 1 more stop - the city of Kairouan. The first African mosque was founded in this city. This is the most "religious" city for the countries of the Maghrebian Union (Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania). But there was a purchase of souvenirs and / or carpets (series (1) continues, I did not buy). Although souvenirs are 5 times cheaper than in Sousse. And the city is a hole in the hole. Such an excursion.

There are a lot of cats all over the country. Everywhere: in cities, in hotels, on the streets - at every turn. Lots of. Not in the desert.

That's it. Having visited three countries, I realized that they cannot be compared.

It's like asking what tastes better: fruit, meat, or potatoes. Each country is good in its own way. Despite everything that I saw, despite everything that I did not like, it was from Tunis that I was most impressed. In Turkey and Egypt, things are different. But that's how it is for me. But I am a person who knows the local language, rode trains, traveled the country from south to north, from west to east and back, walked around the evening cities and so on.
Although, of course, I myself understand that it is worse in Tunisia. And I look at this from the position of the whole country, and not the hotel in which I was.

The conclusion is that it is worse in Tunisia. But you still can't compare countries. In Tunisia, many tourists from Western Europe rest, for whom this country is located to a certain extent close. For them, the flight (respectively, the tour itself) is cheaper than us.
They were the first to start going there, not many of them were able to experience the magnificence of clean beaches and the Red Sea in Egypt, impeccable service in Turkey. Since these countries are further away for them, not many "capitalists" get there. It was Western people who taught Tunisia to tip for x dog, throwing money around for beggars. For our people, this is clearly out of hand.

When I left, I thought that if I ever return to Tunisia, then perhaps the island of Djerba. I thought that the southern island, it's warm and cool, cool beaches. But on the return flight to Kyiv, I learned from a girl who was on Djerba that the beaches and the sea there are disgusting. According to the description, as I understand it, such as in Sousse. Only there is an island where there really is nothing interesting. So it's not worth going there again. Unless at a good price.