Stop! Hammamet Time!

This blog title reminds me of a guy I dated in college. He had an absolute beater of a car- the doors couldn't latch closed, so when he took a sharp left turn, the passenger-side doors would swing open. On his dashboard, he kept a wooden mallet, which he used for "percussive maintenance" : His electrical system would seize up if it idled too long at a stoplight, and he would hit the dash with the mallet to restart it. I will never forget the first time I saw his car seize up; he grabbed the mallet, yelled "STOP! HAMMERTIME!", and pounded the mallet full force onto the dashboard. And then we calmly proceeded through the intersection.

Anyway! Good times.

So today was a travel day, giving us plenty of time to chill after the frenetic pace of yesterday.

We left Sidi Bou Said on the 10am train to Tunis- WHICH WE PAID FOR, thankyouverymuch- and then puzzled out the Tunis transport system enough to catch a tram to the bus station, communicate in our shit French that we wanted to go to Hammamet, figure out their byzantine coin assortment to buy the tickets, and then push through a scrum of passengers to snag two adjacent seats. Wheee!

The hour-long bus ride to Hammamet drove through Tunisia's Cap Bon winelands, whose existence is a bit of a paradox: While Tunisia is Muslim and sort of dry (to buy booze at a grocery, you must enter via a special shame-entrance, and only during certain times and days), its centuries of Carthaginian, Roman, and French rule resulted in a strong winemaking and distilling heritage. Tunisian wines are surprisingly good, specializing in rosés. Who knew?

We arrived in Hammamet in the afternoon, and found our little guesthouse down an alley in the medina (old town). The guesthouse is a classic Tunisian "dar"- much like Moroccan riads, dars feature Moorish tiling, rooms surrounding a central courtyard, whitewashed walls, a hammam (a Tunisian sauna), and a rooftop terrace and pool with views to the sea. It's quite luxurious, and not at all how we're used to traveling. Did I mention that Tunisia is really cheap?

We spent the majority of the afternoon relaxing in a café, and walking along the beach. Hammamet is Tunisia's beach resort capital; Brits and Europeans who visit Tunisia are pretty much only coming here. But it's for good reason- the Mediterranean water is even warmer than in Barcelona, and prices are a fraction of France's Med resorts. I love the strange mix of Barcelona beachy vibes and Middle Eastern coffeehouse culture.

We spent the evening on our dar's rooftop, just reading and drinking a Tunisian rosé (we braved the shame entrance to purchase a €3 bottle). Tomorrow we plan to spend all day on Hammamet's golden beaches.Read more