And so our whirlwind tour of Tunisia continues. Christi and I are up at 5am to catch the 6am bus from Houmt Souq to Sousse, some 7 hours to the north back on the mainland. Thus far we have been warned off the Tunisian bus service, the advice being to go by louage. This time, though, we trust ourselves to the national bus line of Tunisia. And it is a truly horrible experience. Some of the seats … [Read more...]
El Jem, Tunisia, Day 276
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Sousse is a convenient location from which to explore a little more of the surrounding area. And having learned a painful lesson on the bus ride from Houmt Souq to Sousse, Christi and I intend to travel by train from now on. Tomorrow we're off to visit Monastir, but today its the small town of El Jem, which is home to some of the most impressive Roman remains in Africa, including a coliseum (or … [Read more...]
Monastir, Tunisia, Day 277
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A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Oh, hang on a minute, I've done that one already. Actually, Star Wars was not the only memorable movie to be filmed in Tunisia in the 1970's. Another iconic - some might say iconoclastic - movie of that era was Monty Python's Life of Brian. It tells the story of Brian Cohen, a young Jewish man who was born on the same day as Jesus and subsequently … [Read more...]
The pyramids of Giza, Day 278
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Let me say at the outset that Egypt is a fantastic place to visit. Its history is all around you and incredibly well documented. And to the layman (including myself and Christi) totally incomprehensible. There is a reason Egyptology is its own science and scholars devote their whole careers to unraveling its mysteries. Christi and I prefer to grasp a few simples concepts rather than attempt to … [Read more...]
Faces of Egypt, Day 279
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Our room at the Canadian hostel is absolutely enormous and comes with air-conditioning (Cairo is a hot city), although the 150 Egyptian Pound room rate (US$27) does not get you an en-suite bathroom. The staff, however, are especially nice and help us plan our trip out to the Sahara (the Western Desert as it is known locally) and onward through Egypt. Having said that, the staff cannot get their … [Read more...]
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