Tunis - Cafes and sheep heads

Tunis was a culture shock for me at first, but I found myself slipping into this place after a while. Walking the streets of Tunis at night was a great experience - stopping for Chawarma (a chicken pita in my case, with sauces and chips thrown in the top of the creation). We walked down the main street of Tunis (Avenue Bourguiba) taking in the sights and smells. The first thing you notice is that the cafes are a) full of smoke, and b) full of men. Women do not congregate in these venues which are for men only - this is not a hard rule, but seems to be a cultural one.

One meat shop we walked past had a couple of sheep heads hanging on hooks - a common sight, however these guys had gone the extra mile putting sunglasses and cigarettes in their mouths. We stopped to take photos and a passing couple of lads laughed at us saying "pretty arent they?".


We took a quick look in the Medina, but at night this is a dark place so we decided not to push our luck too much. The next day we went back for a more detailed look. The Medina is the city center, at the end of the Avenue Bourguiba, behind the Porte de France (a doorway monument). We did not explore the Medina as much as we would have liked.



Tunis began the ritual of drinking from bottled water - so we grabbed a couple of bottles on the way through - 450 millimes (about a half Dinar) for 1.5 liters.

Logistics:
- Tickets from Rome to Tunis on Air Italia were €464 - we found that return tickets were actually cheaper than one way, so we booked and discarded the return sector. Booked on Air Italia site.
- Taxi from Tunis airport to city was about 10 Dinars. This was a drama because we were originally told 5 Dinars, so we climbed in, then were told it was 5 per person, plus a surcharge because we were at the airport, plus a baggage fee! The driver actually tried to get 15 Dinars from us - when we handed over 10 he said "but I thought I was getting 15" - our response was "well we thought we were paying 5"!! Our mistake was not demanding the counter be turned on - making everything a negotiation. If you pickup a taxi from Tunis airport, you should always demand the counter (the meter).