My long awaited review of my experience using transit in Tunis over last month. In this blog post I am going to go over all the trains I used when navigating the city. We will start with the TGM. The TGM, or Tunis-Goulette-Marsa, railroad is a commuter rail line that runs to the east from downtown Tunis towards the northern suburbs. The line covers 19km of standard guage track starting at Tunis Marine station near Mongela and ending at Marsa Plage. It was inaugurated in 1872. The stations are quite pleasantly designed, if a bit rundown and have long platforms which could allow for increased capacity in the future. Tickets are 800 millimes and be bought at ticket counters at each station. In the evening there won’t be anyone selling tickets at the counters, rather you buy it from someone on the train. Tickets are rarely actually checked, but sometimes spot searches are conducted and often you have to pass the ticket counter to get to the platform. Currently, they are running two car trains with half of one car being first class with more comfortable seating. Most of the cars are setup with two rows of seating on one side of the train and one row on the other side. Service is fairly frequent with trains more or less every 20 minutes, but sometimes wait times can be much longer and there is no information available about arrival times on the platforms. I really like the look of the trains, but the rolling stock is pretty old and could definitely use some TLC. You will often find broken doors on the train that either don’t open or won’t shut. Additionally, kids will open the doors while the train is moving to hang out the side. I never saw anything bad happen, but it’s hard to imagine that there aren’t any accidents. There are a lot of grade crossings on the line and cars are stopped by gates which are lowered when a train is approaching. The stops are pretty close together and often there are coffee shops and stores located directly around them. The neighborhoods are very walkable. Overall I give the TGM a 5/10. It is well integrated within the community and the metro network, very cheap and somewhat reliable, but pretty unsafe and a bit unpredictable. Platform screen doors, updated rolling stock and arrival information would be good improvements.
At Tunis Marine station you can switch to the Tunis Metro. The metro is a tram network of 6 lines. Construction of the network began in 1981. Lines 1-4 were opened in 1985, 1989, 1990 and 1990 respectively and run a high floor tram manufactured by Siemans. Lines 5 and 6 were opened in 1992 and 2008 respectively and run a low floor tram from Alstom Citadis. Transfer to lines 3 and 6 is very easy at Tunis Marine which connects the TGM and metro nicely. The central terminus for lines 1, 4 and 5 is place Barcelone, which is directly across from the Gare Centrale de Tunis where you can get regional trains. Line 2 begins a few stops away at Place de la République. The outer termini for lines 1-6 respectively are: Ben Arous, Ariana, Ibn Khaldoun, Kheireddine, Intilaka, and El Mourouj. Tickets are 500 millimes and can be purchased at each station. There is also a notable lack of information on departures/arrivals at tram stations, but they seem to run fariyl frequently. They are also very crowded. This can be a problem because often people who are waiting to get on a train will stand right in front of the door when the train arrives, wait for the door to open and then try to get on immediately without waiting for exiting passengers to disembark. Be sure to get close to the door when your stop is next. The tram lines run mostly above ground, but there are some subterranean sectors. It runs pretty fast, so it is important to be vigilant near the tracks as a pedestrian. Overall I give the metro a 6/10. Similar to the TGM, unpredictable arrival times make it difficult to rely on, but it does serve a significant portion of the city and is pretty cheap. Platform screen doors would be beneficial as well as the future addition of a circumferential route.
Lastly, I will briefly mention the commuter line to the southern suburbs. With its central terminus at the Gare Centrale de Tunis, the line runs on 25km of track, stopping at Borj Cedria. There are A and B trains labeled on departure/arrival lists and I believe the B is an express line, but I am not sure. There are 18 station stops. Trains seem to run fairly on time in correspondence with the posted timetables. The trains are also pretty long, 8 cars at least, maybe more. This service is essentially the mirror of the TGM for the southern suburbs, but with bigger and newer trains and easier connections to regional services. I really didn’t ride this one enough to speak about it at length.
Photos: Map of rapid transit in Tunis, TGM train pulling into Carthage Byrsa station, Tunis Marine station, Marsa Plage station, Line 6 metro car pulling into Tunis Marine station, Gare de Tunis
It has been quite the week. Teresa and I indeed climbed Jebel Boukornine on Friday which was awesome, but not without its hiccups. After my last class with Wejdi :’( we got back to the Airbnb, suited up and the took a cab to Hammam-Lif which is the town closest to the trailhead I picked out for us. We refilled water in the town and then walked over to the start point. I had mapped out the route on my garmin which wasn’t able to give us a real trail map, but we could follow GPS breadcrumbs. At the entrance to the park, there was a forest ranger (unclear at the time, but that’s what Khouloud thinks upon review) who stopped us and seemed to be saying that hiking was not allowed in the forest. He was speaking only in Tounsi so I couldn’t really understand him too well. He took a look at my driver’s license, gave us the phone number of someone named Mohamed and then sent us on our way. The hike was gorgeous! Beautiful views of the coastline and surrounding hills. The navigation on my garmin worked well and we only made a couple minor wrong turns which were easily rectified. We didn’t see a single other person until the top. Approaching the summit we turned off the trail and onto a chipped access road. Close to the summit we ran into a Brooklyn-Nets-jersey-clad guy in a guard house who informed us that it was in fact a military zone and that we needed to leave immediately which we did. We hightailed it down the access road and back onto the trail. The descent was a bit stressful, but we made it out fine. At the bottom the forest ranger stopped us and I was worried there was going to be an issue, but he just wanted to know how the hike went! We grabbed dinner at a creperie in Hammam-Lif and then got in a cab to go back home just as a thunderstorm was rolling in. Great day overall.
Saturday morning we took the TGM downtown to Tunis Marine and then switched to the Metro and then Louage at Beb Alioua direction Hammamet just as I did the previous weekend. In Hammamet we took some time to explore the old medina and the fort and have a coffee/ice cream before going to the beach. When I went to Hammamet last time to see Prof Mauguière I met some guys at a windsurf center on the beach not far from the medina. I decided to go back and rent one for a couple hours to get out on the water. They vetted me and decided I could go out under supervision. I was a bit rusty, it was a windy day and the board they gave me was understandably not the nicest in their collection so I had some difficulty getting going, but had a great time. We took another walk around the medina afterwards and bought some soap and some tiles and then took a train from Bou Regba to Borj Cedria and then switched to a regional B train to Rades. We could have continued to Place Barcelone and then gone Metro back to TGM, but we decided to get a cab because it would have taken much longer and we were tired. We took the taxi to Avenue Roosevelt in La Goulette to have a classic Tunisian dinner at one of the restaurants on the avenue. We both got a whole fish which comes with bread, soup and slata mechwia. It was super good!
Sunday morning Mom and Dad arrived in Tunis! Teresa and I were both super excited to welcome them to Tunis. We had dinner at my host family’s apartment Sunday night. Monday morning we walked the ruins of Carthage, had lunch at Sidi Bou Saïd, and then dinner at Dar El Jeld in the medina with my host family. Tuesday we went to the beach in the morning, walked the medina during the day (and bought a rug), and then had dinner with Khouloud in La Marsa in the evening. It was great for my family to meet her as well. Wednesday we went north to a beach near Rhar El Melah. We reserved a cabana thing on the water. It was super fun. This morning we flew to Rome and are now on our way to Monterosso. The end of this trip was fun, but super hectic so I am hoping that we will be able to relax a bit here in Italy. I honestly haven’t had any time to reflect on my experience this past month, but I intend to set aside some time to do that. Also, I plan to publish my full review of Tunis transit either later today or tomorrow.
Photos: Wejdi and I on the last day of classes, Teresa and I climbing Jebel Boukornine, View to the west from the top of Jebel Boukornine, The old medina in Hammamet, The Lawlor and Fares families at Dar El Jeld in the medina in Tunis
It has been another eventful week here in Tunis! I had a great time visiting professor Mauguière in Yasmine Hammamet last weekend. As I mentioned in my previous post, she was presenting at this year’s CIEF conference which was located at the Hotel Royale in Yasmine Hammamet. My journey began early Saturday morning, picking up some croissants from Patisserie Mozart before taking the TGM to Tunis Marine station downtown where I changed to the metro. It was my first time taking the metro here in Tunis. It consists of 6 lines of mostly above ground low floor tram and lines 1 and 6 stop at Tunis Marine. Tickets are 500 millimes.I hopped on the 6 towards Beb Alioua. Khouloud had told me I could find a louage at Beb Alioua to go to Hammamet, but I didn’t really know how it worked so I had to ask around a bit before I found the right station. Louage that are white with a red stripe go between cities and at Beb Alioua they are all assembled in a sort of parking lot where the drivers are shouting out the destination of each bus. Once it is full it will leave. I found one pretty quickly and ended up sitting up in the front middle seat so I had a good view for the ride. It cost me 7.800 TND. The ride was about an hour and I arrived in downtown Hammamet vieille around 10h30 so I had some time to walk around the old medina and the waterfront. It really is a cute little town with a super nice medina. I chatted with some locals in the souks to practice my Arabic and ended up buying more stuff than I planned to, but that was okay. I then got a taxi to the hotel where I met Prof and two other women who were attending the conference. We had a nice lunch on the beach and then went to the civilization and religion museum in the fausse medina at Carthageland. We had a nice time at the museum and got a tour of the galleries from a very passionate guide. On the way back to Tunis I decided to try the regional train so I took a taxi to Bou Regba station where I caught the train back towards Tunis at 18h30. The ticket was 4.250 TND It goes pretty fast until Borj Cedria where it starts to make more frequent stops as it approaches Place Barcelone. At Place Barcelone I switched back to the metro line 6 which came within a few minutes and then TGM at Tunis Marine. I got off in La Goulette and had dinner at a restaurant on Avenue Roosevelt which famous for its many eateries. I had mixed grill with some liver, heart and other cuts. Very tasty!
Sunday I went for a ride with Phil and Abdel up north past Raoued Plage with a coffee stop in Kalaat El Andalouss. On the way there we rode by the construction site for a new mega development project called Tunis Bay. Pretty dystopian. Searched for the spirit of gravel on the way home. Did not find it, but enjoyed a trek through some unfamiliar terrain. Phil heads to Bruxelles next week so it was nice to get a last ride in with him.
Then Teresa arrived on Monday! I went to the airport around 5pm to pick her up and then we took a taxi back to my Airbnb. Monday evening we went to have dinner in Sidi Bou Said at Café des Délices and took a walk around the town beforehand. It was a beautiful evening and we were serenaded by a singer with a drum who was coming around to everyone’s tables. I spoke with him a bit in Arabic, he was super nice. We had Ojja and a Caesar salad with Thé Belouz. A good start to Teresa’s stay in Tunis! On Tuesday Teresa came with me to my Arabic class to meet Wejdi and she got to sit in on our lesson. It was super fun! I was happy that she could come get a taste of the lessons because I have been enjoying them so much. We picked up an order of mille feuille that I had put in for Eid and then in the afternoon I went for a bike ride while she wrote her journal entry. We went to my host family’s apartment for tea in the evening. It was awesome for them to finally meet her! A long time coming for sure. We had a nice evening, but didn’t stay too late as we would have an early start on Wednesday.
We got up around 6am on Wednesday morning to take a bolt over to the Fares apartment in Aouina to celebrate Eid. We had a wonderful breakfast with homemade bread, juice, honey and olive oil. Eid is a Muslim holiday which is rooted in the story of Abraham and Isaac. Since it is based on the Lunar calendar, the holiday moves by about 10 days each year. In 2021, when I was studying abroad in Tunis and staying with the Fares’, Eid was July 19th. I had to leave to go back to the US on July 17th so I missed it, but this year we were able to celebrate with them. I helped Fathi slaughter and butcher the goat. It was an intense experience, but very rewarding and I felt that we really respected the animal. We used every part of it except for the hide. It was hard work to skin it, clean the intestines and cut up the meat, but the meal was so delicious! We grilled it immediately and ate the meat with some lemon, bread and slata mechwiya. The liver was the best part for me. Afterwards we made sausages and spinach dolmas with the stomach and large intestines. It was super fun to help Amil with the preparation, sewing up the intestines and stuffing them. We were all knocked out on the couch by the end of the day!
Today, Thursday, I went for a ride around 5am and it was so quiet in the streets. The president give two days off for Eid so everything was still pretty shut down today and there was almost no one out this morning. It was very peaceful and I had a good workout with some hill repeats in Sidi Dhrif. We took the TGM downtown so I could go to Arabic class which was still running today despite the holiday. I was thankful for that! Downtown was so empty! It was really weird to see the streets so vacant since they are usually bustling at the time of day that I walk to class. I dropped Teresa at a café while I went to class and then afterwards we went to go walk around in the Medina. It was really cool to see the Medina so empty as well. You can usually barely move in there! We had a great time walking through the streets and really got a good look at the buildings without everyone in the way. For lunch we stumbled upon a hotel restaurant that was miraculously open! It was in a traditional medina house that was over 700 years old according to the chef. We were the only ones in the restaurant and the staff was super friendly and I got to practice my Arabic with them as well. We had Couscous aux legumes. The chef then gave us a tour of the house. So awesome! This afternoon we went for a swim at the beach and then just chilled out at the apartment. It’s crazy that I’ve been here for four weeks now and I only have one left. I’m sad about tomorrow being my last day of Arabic classes with Wejdi, but looking forward to climbing Jebel Boukornine!
Photos: Professor Benedicte Mauguière and myself in Yasmine Hammamet, Beb Belghith Medina Hammamet, Cuppa Dawgs, Me with our goat, Teresa cracking almonds for Thé Belouz, Our main meal on Eid, Filling the intestines
It’s been a few days since I checked in, things have been busy and I was working through some technical issues with uploading to the site which seem to be all sorted now. Last week I really got into a good rhythm and did a big week on the bike. Sunday to Saturday I put in a little over 17 hours which I was happy about. My daily routine got a bit more standardized so I’ll go through a typical day in the life for me here. Usually I will wake up around 6:30am or 8:30am depending on when I have Arabic class. I have class at 11am on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays and at 9am on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I like to leave my Airbnb about 2 hours before class so that I have plenty of time to grab the train and get downtown. The wait time for the train fluctuates pretty significantly (full review coming soon, haven’t forgotten about that, just waiting to get more experience with the other transit modes available here). So let’s take a Tuesday for example. I’ll wake up around 6:30am and try be out the door by 7am. The train station is literally right next to my Airbnb so it’s about a 2 minute walk and I’m at the platform. I buy a ticket for 800 millime (roughly 25 cents) and usually I am on the train by 7:20am and 25 minutes later I arrive at Tunis Marine station. I really enjoy taking the train with the other commuters in the morning, it gives me a real sense of being part of the community. I walk north through Lafayette to Rue Irak which is where my language school, Wissem Arabic Langauge Institute, is located. Typically I have about an hour to kill before class so I have breakfast at the coffee shop on the corner where you can get an espresso, a bottle of water, a lemonade and pain au chocolat for 5 dinar (around $1.60). The guy who works there is super nice and helps me practice my Arabic. I’ll either finish up the homework if I didn’t get the chance to do it last night or do some reading. I’ve been trying to get through some of the Masters reading list for my program and I read Pour que tu ne te perds pas dans le quartier by Patrick Modiano last week which I really loved and now I’m reading La princesse de Clèves.
Class starts at 9am and goes until 11am with a short break in the middle. I enjoy our lessons so much and I am learning a lot. My reading in Arabic especially is improving. Now that we have learned the whole alphabet we are starting to put words and sentences together and even started conjugating verbs earlier this week. Verb conjugation in the present tense is very straightforward in dialect which is quite nice. After class I walk back to Tunis Marine to grab the TGM back to Carthage. Typically I will stop for Kefteji or Brik on the way. When I get back to my Airbnb I get kitted up and go for a spin. Last week I was doing 2 or 3 hours every day so that would often take me through Raoued and up to El Kantara. There is a guy there who runs a little store where I’ve been stopping for water and I practice talking with him as well. He’s super nice. Also, teenagers on motorbikes will sometimes ride with me, so cool! After my ride I will wash the bike if necessary and then go down to the beach for a swim. It’s usually around 4/5pm at this point. The closest beach is about a 10 minute walk and I can grab an ice cream or a soda or something else cold from a shop on the walk. You can see Jebel Boukornine from the beach and it’s really beautiful. I was often one of the only people there last week because students were still taking the bac, it is starting to get a bit more crowded this week. When I get back from the beach usually Hayat has left me a plate of whatever delicious food she has made that day and I can eat that and then take a little nap before going out for the evening sometimes to Sidi Bou Said or Marsa or downtown. Sometimes I go for coffee with Khaled and others or by myself to do some reading.
It was a great week! I loved my routine. But…. Then I got food poisoning on Saturday, woof! I’m not sure where I got it, but Saturday and Sunday were super super rough. I won’t go too far into the details, but it wasn’t pretty. I remember this same thing happened to me two years ago when I was here. Maybe I got a bit too cavalier with my street food consumption, but I think it’s somewhat difficult to avoid especially in the summer. To me it’s worth it if I’m only sick a few days out five weeks! But it was pretty awful. I did manage to get it together to go to class on Monday and every other day this week, but I was still feeling very ill at times during the day and didn’t get to do any riding from Sunday through Thursday.
Even though I was suffering from the food poisoning I was still able to do some fun stuff this week. On Monday I went back to Sidi Bou Said for tea in the evening and while I was waiting for the train I randomly met Karim Samaali, a Tunisian scholar currently living in Montreal who studies chanson engagée! He is back for vacation with his family. What a coincidence. Then on Wednesday I went to Bizerte with my host family which was awesome! There is a beautiful old port there and we tried some of the local specialties like a sort of chickpea mash sandwich that I forget the name of and some pastries with apricot jam filling and honey glaze. So good. Thursday night I met Khouloud for coffee at Punic’Art! She was my culture and history teacher when I was on my study abroad program with Amideast back in 2021. So great to see her again after two years and hear about the projects she is currently working on. Tomorrow I am headed to Hammamet to see Professor Bénédicte Mauguière who is in town for the CIEF conference. She is really the one who helped me start to take Francophone and African studies seriously and I’m so grateful to her for all her help during my graduate school process. She was on sabbatical during my senior year at Colby so it will have been a little over two years since I have seen her as well!
Photos: Sunset at Tunis Marine station form the TGM, Moto friend, Kefteji, Refuel in El Kantara, Two views of Bizerte
This is going be a long one. So much to report!! Classes at Wissem Arabic Language Institute have been going super well. I am about half way through the alphabet and learning lots of new words both in class and outside of class. Practicing in the taxi is great and I discover a lot of new music there too. Wajdi is a fantastic teacher and I had Friday’s session to myself which was nice. Typically we do about 3-4 letters per day and then practice writing some words with the new letters. Wajdi will pronounce a word and then I write it down. He has been very happy with my progress and I am super stoked on it as well. Looking forward to next week!
On Friday I met Yasser for the first time!! I went to the Medina after class, met him at the Zeytouna Mosque and then had tea in a beautiful café in the heart of the Medina. I also met one of his calligraphy students, Haneen, who is from Palenstine. Her work is wonderful and you can find her @hneenzzl on Instagram. It was so nice to finally meet Yasser in person and hear some of his thoughts about the paper I produced from our conversations over zoom this spring, I’m very excited to continue this project with him. We chatted for a while and then drove to Bardo for Yasser’s performance at the opening of a new cultural center. I must mention that Yasser’s car is awesome. 1980 +/- Fiat Panda with a cassette deck stereo system installed. See below.
The culture center at Bardo was apparently opened under Bourguiba and then defunded over the years and eventually closed. The current managers have been working for years to finally get it reopened. There is a café with a stage for open mic nights, a black box theater and dance room and a large theater. Apparently there is a recording planned for the future as well! We had a coffee with some of the staff who were very welcoming and then I sat in on Yasser’s soundcheck. He did this performance with his guitar (Taylor acoustic electric), two different harmonicas, and a TC-Helicon as well as the vocal mic obviously. The room was pretty full and the energy was great for the performance. Although I could not understand his speech before starting to play, he was laughing and talking with audience members and really established an intimate atmosphere for the performance. I know that Yasser likes to be able to see the faces of the audience members. The first two songs were in Arabic, the second being Dima Dima (I neglected to record the name of the first one, but will come back here and add it when I find it), followed by a rendition of Pay Me My Money down in Arabic and English which the crowd loved. He taught the translation of Pay Me My Money down to the audience before starting the song. Super fun! Also many people clearly knew the words to Dima Dima which is one of his most popular songs. There were four subsequent performances from two storytellers, a flautist, and a guitar/singer duo which were all very good. I enjoyed it immensely and was grateful for the invitation.
Saturday was a day trip to El Kef, a city in western Tunisia, close to the Algerian border, and the hometown of my host mother and where my host family lived until about 6 years ago when Oumaima started University in Tunis. We left around 8am and arrived in Kef around 11am. We stopped for some food on the way and I enjoyed seeing the countryside which had not yet had the chance to see. The mountains are absolutely gorgeous. They aren’t super tall, but boast with cliffs, jagged peaks among rolling foothills, and trees which dot the mountainside like green polka dots on sandy slopes. Herds of sheep flow through the trees, blending into the terrain. Upon arrival in Kef I saw the Fares’ old house, built some 20 odd years ago. Oumaima and I took a tour of the city while Fathi and Amil dealt with some repairs and other business.
Kef is a wonderful small town with a proud attitude and traditional atmosphere rooted in the rich cultural history of the region. Oumaima took me to the Kasbah, built long ago by the Romans and then to a the cultural museum. We then took a coffee in the Medina and stopped by a pastry shop which is a favorite of the locals. I enjoyed it so much we had to turn around and go back!! We capped off our visit by picking up her parents and having lunch at a nearby restaurant. So much food and all very delicious. Rosemary is a staple of the region, apparently it grows wild in the mountains, and we were served a rosemary tea at the end of the meal. It was very strong, but I liked it.
This morning, Sunday, I got up to meet some riders at 8am in La Marsa thanks to an invitation from Philipp. It was my first proper group ride here and the vibes did not disappoint!! We went north to the countryside and just kept it pretty social. The lads were super nice and I got to use all four of my languages! There were two French, one Italian, one Tunisian, Philipp (Austrian), and myself. Abdelatif, who owns a bike shop in La Marsa, invited me for a coffee at Sidi Bou Said after the group ride and we had a nice chat about riding in Tunisia and other things. I cracked out for another hour afterwards as I wanted to get around 4 hours in today. Got my eyes on the Sidi Bou Said KOM soon. Went for a swim back in Carthage when I returned and then took a phat nap. Ah comme la vie est belle ici!
Photos: Yasser and I in the Medina in Tunis, Yasser's Fiat Panda, Yasser performing in Bardo, Stopped for Mlewi on the way to Kef, The Fares home in Kef, The Kasbah, Café L'Artisto in the Medina in Kef, Stopped for photos on the way back to Tunis, Riding with the lads
What a weekend! I went out to Sidi Bou Said briefly and then took the TGM (full transit review coming soon) back towards Tunis Marine to meet Khaled and his friend Omar downtown on Saturday at Mongela. We then went to surprise Maram at work and had a coffee nearby. So nice to chat and catch up with them. I got to bed early so I could be up by 5am to go meet the La Marsa Running Club for the Sunday morning run. The guy I met on Saturday, Mondher, added me to a couple Facebook groups for cycling and running in the area! I took the train out to La Marsa on Sunday morning around 5:20am and met this dude named Guy on the train who helped me find the Maison des Jeunes which is where the running club meets. We went out for about 9 miles super easy which was nice. We stayed in one big group and took lots of photos because there were some people visiting from Club Run in Manouba. We went by Sidi Bou Said then through the Roman and Punic ruins of Carthage and then back to La Marsa. Everyone was super welcoming! We had breakfast on the beach with music and dancing and went swimming too. It was great. I reeeallllyyy want to go riding soon and I’m looking for some people to ride with. Apparently there is a Wednesday night group ride so I’ll try to make it to that this week. I’ve been scoping some routes on Strava.
Anyways, later on Sunday I went to El Aouina to see Oumaima Fathy and Amil!!! So wonderful to see them after almost 2 years. We had lunch and thé belouz (I’ve still got it when it comes to cracking the almonds!) and then Brik for dinner. My favorite!! I can’t wait for my family to arrive and meet them. Yesterday (Monday morning) I tried to get up early to meet the cycling club for a 5am start, but I really just couldn’t do it and went back to sleep. I woke up again at 8am to head downtown to the Arabic school, but got there late because I took too much time at the bank and then couldn’t find the street address as there were several listed on the Facebook/website. I thought I was signed up for beginner Arabic classes, but it turned out we had miscommunicated anyway so I wasn’t really late for anything. Wissem, the head of the school, was so wonderful and accommodating and we worked out a deal where I joined with another student doing private lessons so now there are two of us working with a teacher named Wajdi. He is awesome and I loved my first lesson. I will be doing 2 hours a day, Monday through Thursday until the end of June. I learned four letters of the Arabic alphabet and tried spelling some words. It’s difficult, but I’m very excited to work on it!
Today was day two of Tounsi and then I spent the afternoon at Sidi Bou Said. It is so beautiful there. I did some sketching and then read for a while in the old café at the top of the main street. Dinner was Ojja with seafood at Café des Delices.
Photos: La Marsa Running Club having a stretch break on the ancient Roman ruins of Carthage, Me with Mohamed and Coach Tiff from Club Run in Manouba, Fathy Amil Oumaima and Me at Wahira Thneen, Brik!, Wissem Arabic Language Institute (Where I am learning Tounsi), Three photos from Sidi Bou Said
I’m pleased to report that I have safely arrived in Tunis (along with the bike) and have settled in comfortably to the Airbnb and the neighborhood. Yesterday was a long travel day with a layover in Rome before finally touching down at Tunis Carthage Airport around 9:30 local time. TSA had completely ripped apart my bike bag which I spent 4 hours meticulously packing on Wednesday, but, although jumbled, everything was in there and undamaged mashallah. I was a bit worried about finding the Airbnb as google maps doesn’t really work here, but there were no issues. Upon arriving to the Airbnb, Hayat, the mother of the host, Nour, welcomed me warmly and showed me my living space. I have a bathroom, kitchen, living room and bedroom (all pictured below) which open onto a shared courtyard with a gate and high wall facing the street. The space is very clean with a magnificently outfitted kitchen and tons of natural light. Hayat is super nice and even made me some couscous à la tunisienne which was bnin! I spent most of the afternoon unpacking the bike and the rest of my stuff and then slept from about 2pm to 5am. Much needed as I only got a few hours during the voyage.
This morning I woke up and went for a run down to the beach and then somewhat accidentally right past the presidential palace. There are several military police checkpoints on the main road near my place which were somewhat confusing until I saw the palace. My body was not ready to be exercising yet despite the sleep, but it was nice to get up and out. I came back to the apartment, took a shower and then went out to explore the neighborhood a bit. There is a nice café located about a block from me and right next to the train station! (pictured below) I do actually hear the train from my apartment, but it did not wake me up and isn’t super intrusive. I used my very limited Tunisian and, with some help from French speaking patrons, ordered a coffee, almond croissant and a bottle of water. Read for a while and watched the kids arriving on the train for school. There’s a school a couple blocks away, maybe multiple. While I was reading I was a group of cyclists go by so I ran over and stopped them in the street to ask about riding with a group. They were super nice and invited me to go for a ride tomorrow morning. I hope it works out! Next was a trip to Monoprix for some groceries and now I’m back at my place. Maybe will see Khaled this afternoon in Sidi Bou Said/Marsa area and then will go to dinner or tea with my host family from 2021, the Fares’, tomorrow evening!
Photos: Boarding in Rome, Bedroom, Living Room, Kitchen, Bathroom, My street (Rue Ibn Khaldoun), Our courtyard at the Airbnb, Carthage Byrsa train station
Welcome to the soft launch of my blog which I will keep updated here on the homepage of my website. This will be a place for me to keep a log of my experience over the next year or so and maybe longer. I’ve recently returned home from a great first year of graduate school at Penn State and am currently enjoying spending some time at home in Boston before I fly to Tunis, Tunisia on June 1st. I will spend about a month in Tunis, taking Arabic classes and conducting research, before travelling to Genova, Italy where I will stay for about a month and a half to do some cycling. In early/mid-August I will make my way to Strasbourg, France. I will be teaching English at the University of Strasbourg during the coming academic year.
It has been super nice to spend some time with family and friends after what was an enriching, but hectic and stressful spring semester. I’ve been riding my bike as much as possible and preparing to fly out next week. The weather has been great and I’m feeling good. I’m looking forward to working at Boston Calling next weekend! More soon.
Photo: The Boston skyline at sunset from Peter's hill
