Tunisia!

Exotic, very exotic.


It has deserts, oases, villages of white houses with light blue doors and windows, cities with Arabic walls older than a thousand years, gigantic mosques, Greek, Roman, Punic, Phoenician and Berber ruins...



It has history, has architecture, religion, and as if still had to offer anything else, Tunisia has the turquoise Mediterranean inviting you for a bath.

When I chose Tunisia as a destination I did because of a project I had found: working in the post-revolution, giving lessons to the people about democracy, human rights, civil rights and so on.

Not everything got as planned, but at least I met a fascinating place. So fascinating that George Lucas chose to record several scenes of Star Wars.

Planet Tatooine? Not, it's Tunisia, babe

Two weeks ago I received a visit of a Russian friend, Mikhail (or, for the close friends, simply Misha), and we decided to travel through the center of the country.

I thought that I was going to see camels and palm trees in their natural habitat, but as I said, Tunisia is too exotic to offer only this.

We started the trip in Carthage, which both of us had already visited, but we decided to go back because I heard that there more remains than I visited. As I expected, there was nothing more surprising than the Antonine Baths.

Ruins of a Roman amphitheater in Carthage. Renovated,
it is still used for concerts, plays, and even for a film festival

From there, we went to the resort town of Nabeul and Hammameth, famous among Europeans for its warm, crystal and clean waters, and also for the price – if you compare with Italians or French beach resorts, the prices in Tunisia are derisive.

75 miles later we arrived in Kairouan. The city was the capital of Tunisia until 1159 (no, you did not read wrong, it is 1159), and it was a safe spot for the Arabs who traveled from the sea into the wilderness. In a region by that time dominated by the Romans and Berbers, the city is just a day's walk from the Mediterranean, and there travelers could rest in safety. Surrounded by solid walls, which some sections are still stood, in Kairouan are found some preciosities: La Grande Mosquée, the first mosque built in all of North Africa; Aghlabid basins; mausoleums of Muslim prophets...

One of the mausoleums in Kairouan

Part of the old wall

When we went there the Mosque was already closed – it’s opened for tourist visits only untill 14:00. After that, it’s only for Muslims.

La Grande (closed) Mosquée

Leaving Kairouan we went to Tozeur, a city with 30,000 inhabitants built in the middle of a huge oasis. We were there only for one night, and we did not prioritize the city: in the vicinity are found the most interesting sights. Among them I should highlight the salt lake of Chot el Jerid (or simply "the salt lake"), the oasis in the hills of As-Sabikah (or simply "the oasis in the hills"), the canyons (enough of Arabic names) and waterfalls.

Sunrise

Date-tree

Misha, myself and the wild camels

Oasis and Hills

I do understand George Lucas

Waterfalls in the middle of the desert

Ruins + Canions

In Chot el Jerid

At the hotel in Tozeur we had the curiosity to ask about the outskirts of the city, and there we got tips for all these places. The clerk also told us about the Roman ruins of Sbeïtla. I did not create great expectations, but me and Misha decided to go there and see where the people form this town with a complicated name spends their afternoon:

Mikhail, myself and Sbeïtla ruins

Is it possible do to not get impressed?

Trajan Arc in Sbeïtla

Leaving Sbeïtla we unfortunately went back to Tunis – Misha had to go back to Moscow.
Next week, my last in Tunisian land, I’m going to see the second largest coliseum still standing and some other ruins.

Stay tuned!

Carthage!

Clique aqui para versão em português

The former capital of the the Punic empire, Carthage was a powerful city in the region now known as Tunisia. It was one of the largest commercial centres, and for being so influential, Rome declared war to it.

For almost 120 years the empire dueled for control of the Mediterranean Sea. After being invaded by Hannibal (the emperor, not the Lecter), Rome finally won the war and destroyed Carthage.

Hannibal crossing the Alps with his army

Roma rebuilt Carthage decades later, and most of the remaining ruins are from the Roman time. The most famous of those are the Baths of Antoninus.

Artistic reconstruction of the Baths

Now Carthage is a town half an hour by train from Tunis. The ruins are open to visitors for a bargain (for free if you have the ISIC card).

Corinthian capital at the entrance of the archaeological site

Ruins of an ancient Roman church

Ruins of the Baths of Antoninus

A detail: half of the larger column was reconstructed,and both (higher and lower) were recently resettled to show
to the tourists how great the building was.

 The whole archaeological site is very poorly maintained, but it's still impressive, with beautiful mosaics, roman columns and some statues.
On the return home, I found further evidence of the Tunisian neglect at the ruins.

You are walking back home when suddenly...

...you are faced with a piece of a column of more than 1500 years.

I'm planning to visit the Bardo Museum  (official website - in french), that was the biggest and best collection of Roman mosaics in the whole world, and it's pretty nice that the Museum is 5 minutes walking from my hostel, in the old city (or Medina) of Tunis.

So, more pictures are coming soon!

Chapter I - The Departure

It works like this: you do not know how far you can go, and then you decide to try. If it works, great, if not, no reason to complain, at least it helped you to find out what is your limit.

After holidays in Rio de Janeiro, I decided that it was the time for an exchange. Thanks to a friend  that gave me some tips and to Aiesec office in Uberlândia, I began the struggle: apply for a passport, find an interesting project, send mails in English, interviews, search for cheap flights, choose hostels, etc etc etc..

It took me two months and 5 kilos.

Leaving home without a return date is terrible. I left my family without any idea about when I was going to meet them again. Entering the boarding area in the airport, looking back and seeing parents, siblings and friends turning their backs and walking back home without you is freakly painful and surreal. I'm glad that I was with a jewel to reassure me!

Madrid Barajas Terminal 4 - I did not know the city,

I got too scared after seeing the size of the airport

After 5 days in Rio, bye bye Brazil, it is the time to go to Europe!

Route: Rio Galeão - Madrid Barajas - Paris Orly

As Paris deserves a chapter for itself, so, that's all for now, folks!

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As-Salāmu `Alaykum (English version)

Clique aqui pra texto em português.

Or simply Salam Alaikum. Translating: peace be upon you.

A week before the six-month anniversary of my trip, I decided to start writing about my journey, so as not to leave any of you lost, I'm going to begin with a brief report on what I've done so far.

I left Uberlandia (my hometown in Brazil) at the end of March. I did it to spend some months traveling, volunteering and meeting new faces. After a few days in Paris and Berlin, I arrived in Wroclaw (pronounced Vrots-suav), Poland. I lived and worked there for six weeks with an Indian and a Nigerian boy, two Chinese, one Thai, one beautiful Filipina and an Ukrainian girl.
After Poland and a stroll through the neightbour countries, I went to St. Petersburg. I did not only see the sun setting at 11 pm and rising at 3 am: I also worked and made friends with people from around the world, such as India, Indonesia, Romania and Serbia. Though, I had some problems along the way - I once got robbed while sleeping on the streets - but, still, nothing of that spoiled my favorite destination so far: Russia!
Over one month later, I moved to the capital, Moscow. Without any doubt, the must fun place in Europe. The city reminds me of Brazil: frenetic and hot (yes, hot, I went there during the high summer, ok?). St. Petersburg is to Rio while São Paulo is to Moscow.
Then, after two months in Russia, it was the time for another empire: the Austrian! I lived in Salzburg for five special weeks. This time without any colleagues from anywhere ... No Indians or Chinese, just me and my summerticket (kind of rail pass for the summer in Austria: 70 euros and you can travel at much as you wish in Austria).
Now, I'm in the most exotic country of my entire journey: TUNISIA! This place is like a video game! The houses, the palm trees, the Arabic alphabet, mosques, marketers and burqas (even in the heat of almost 40 degrees). Thanks to Allah, I finally got back to work in an international team with Germans, Polish, Romanians, French and Canadians. They're just really nice and extremely intelligent.

I'll keep you posted with all of my future escapades so do visit my blog again!
Salam!

ps.: comments are very welcome ;)