ElaTunis

Woke up with a big panic, assuming I have overslept and therefore missed my ferry ride! It was around 7 am, it was the day I would finally depart Europe back to Africa, but this time to Tunisia! I was lucky to find a ferry that reduce my long riding time in Europe like how I used to whenever I wanted to travel to Algeria, this time I chose Genoa which would be less than a 1000 KM from Bonn. I woke up in my panic couple of hours before my actual waking up time, but I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I have decided to shower and leave early to the port. Being the first time traveling from this destination, I wasn’t aware of the procedures needed to depart or check in from that port, as every port has its own policy, I wasn’t sure how it would work with Genoa! I have ridden towards the check in point until I got stopped by the immigration control, asking for my ticket, I had to go though my tank bag to show him my confirmation code, which he refused to accept, telling me to ride back out to the shopping center, and I would be lucky if they are open, there only I can issue my ticket and then ride back to the same point.

Speaking of different procedures in ports, this was a totally different one to me, I didn’t have a clue that I need to go to a shopping center a day before or on the same day to issue the ticket, thanks for the panic wake up I had earlier which enabled me more time, after getting my ticket, I had plenty of time to get a quick breakfast and coffee at the shopping center. After riding back to the port and waiting for couple of hours, I was told that I needed to walk into the immigration building to stamp my passport, pay a traveling fee, and issue another voucher for the ferry. It was a good thing the wait for too long as I got to network with lots of Tunisians and some motorcyclists who were heading to ride around Tunisia. compared to Algeria, Tunisia is more tourism friendly that Europeans feel more “Secured” in roaming and free to travel around the country without any issue or the feel of “being watched”! however, it is always an added value to take the decision and see Algeria!

I got into the ferry with lots of energy that I didn’t want to spend a second into the cabin, the moment I got my room key, I got rid of my gear, zipped on my shorts and started exploring the huge Italian ferry! It had a café area, a self-service restaurant and another luxurious one, I had a voucher which allowed me to eat wherever I wanted and chose to start my journey with the self-service lunch. I have spent most of the afternoon walking around the ferry, chatting with passengers and walking on the outdoor deck, I felt I would spend the whole day not wasting a second in the cabin except to sleep. The good thing about GNV ferry that it had a very good WIFI unlike other ferries, so I managed to kill some time, eat good food, walk around, having good cappuccino and finally having good talks.

It was around 2 pm when the announcement of arrival started and instructions to evacuate all the cabins, I put on my gear and spent around an hour chatting with a German motorcyclist who was returning to Tunisia after 40 years, he was traveling solo and spending most of his 2 weeks in Hammamet area. As I rode out of the ferry, I was told to ride my bike near the passport control office where I was doubled checked if I would continue to Algeria or stay within Tunisia, the whole procedure of immigration was a bit confusing, yet, staff were welcoming and friendly, until I have reached the customs section! They were telling all cars to open their bags empty their trunks and make them ready for inspection and to be searched. The whole thing with all stuff laying on the ground, suitcases opened and officers searching the 600 vehicles sounded like it would take forever to be done, I was on the front of all, yet I was completely ignored by the main officer “C-Mohammed” who told me to fill up the forms and wait for his assistants to be searched.

The assistant officer was very nice and friendly, he didn’t even bother to check my items assuming I am on a motorcycle and nothing would be in my panniers except my clothes and maybe dirty laundry! He signed my paper and told me I need to see the boss to get approved. The boss was walking around me ignoring my existence completely, I even called him twice with no luck, whenever he walked around me he would be smoking his cigarette and pretend to be on a break. Two hours later I had to walk to him begging to get my paper approved, then he said: oh, you are still here? I thought you left already!

I was waiting for you C-Mohammed, I said

C-Mohammed: I watched a video of Qataris beating a poor Tunisian guy in Qatar during world cup and I didn’t appreciate that!

I said: that’s not true and must be a mistake, Qatar has over 20,000 Tunisians and im pretty sure they are happy, anyway whatever behavior you would see doesn’t means we are all like that. He then approved my paper and I was out by 17:00 and luckily, I managed to get some Tunisian Dinars while I was waiting at the port, all what was needed is to stop for fuel and continue to Hergala.

Hergala

It took me around an hour and half of riding on the Tunisian Highway from Tunis, through Sousse reaching Hergala, it was confusing the amount of fees the toll officers were asking, some were decent and asking for 2 Dinars maximum, but at some kiosks they asked for 20 which got me unclear about it. I have reached Hergala at around 7:30 pm, and it was a quiet city over the sea which had all white buildings with blue doors surrounded by trees that produce pinkish flowers and they were spreaded all around the place. The city itself is small and I couldn’t see a single person on the streets! I have stayed at a guest house called “dar Khadija” which consists of 5 rooms, a swimming pool and a cosey living room, I showered and walked around the ghosted city to look for a restaurant to eat, apparently all the restaurants in the city were already closed by 8:30! I had to walk back to the center of the city were there was only one pizza restaurant opened and had dinner there.

I was trying to avoid using the bike as long as I was in Hergala which was 3 nights, using public transport, taxis and walking around was my plan and I enjoyed it the few days I was there, the only struggle I had was to find a good tasty restaurant! The next day I wanted to see the old Souk of Sousse area where I have spent the noon and early afternoon, it had lots of touristic boutiques and cafés which was interesting to walk around, I was also told about the museum which was closed at that time, when I failed to find a good restaurant, I walked to the Marina area which was called “Kantaoui” which had lots of variety of bars, restaurants, hotels, cafes and a huge amusement park!

Next morning, I was craving for some good cappuccino so I googled where the nearest place where I can find it, apparently there is a new mall opened in Sousse which, as per google, had a Starbucks and I felt like having a large cappuccino from there, however the only good café I found there was Paul, where I am familiar with their coffee, then spent the whole afternoon and evening there in the mall until dinner time. One good thing about Tunisia that they have all international restaurants such as Chilies, MCdonalds, KFC, Papa Jones etc. Credit cards work everywhere there too and ATM machines, so I found it a waste to bring with me around 2000 Euros where I could have just used the ATM wherever I was.

Tamezert

I had a lazy start to leave Hergala towards Tamezert, which is around 280 km ride, Tamezert is a Tunisian Berber village located in the south-east of the country, about ten kilometers from Matmata and forty kilometers southwest of the capital of the governorate of Gabès . Ridge village built on the four slopes of one of the highest hills of the Matmata mountains. I have checked into a guest house called Dar Ayed, it has a swimming pool, few rooms and a restaurant, many of the hotel guests stop there to spend the night as a stopover to continue either further south of back to the north. I have stayed there for 2 nights, where the first day I spent the afternoon by the “dirty pool” which I have jumped into without hesitation and had dinner in the hotel’s restaurant. One of the reasons of why I chose to stop in this little town is because it is not so far from Libyan border, which initially I was supposed to ride to attend an event in Libya, but since the plan was cancelled, I chose to stay and relax in Tamezert.

On my way to Tamezert, I have stopped at the entrance of Matmata after riding on challenging curvy roads, I spotted camels and a tea stop, I got off the bike and rode a camel in my full Klim gear, moment later a local man approached me to ask where I am from, I told him Yemen, then he asked if I need a tour guide to show me the underground houses in Matmata and Starwars village, I apologized saying I would see him next day after I check in and relax, he gave me his card to call him next day. The reason why I said I am from Yemen because we “Qataris’ whenever we say we are from Qatar, prices jump triple the amount should be given to everybody, and this happened to me in many countries.

Next morning, after having breakfast at the guest house, I checked what would be available to visit in the town, there was only the old village and Berber Museum, I first drove back to Matmata just to enjoy again the curvy road and to visit the tourism center to get more information on where to go, I was thinking I would do everything by myself without the need for any tour guide. I walked into the tourism center where lots of touristic videos were playing on big screen, a charming welcoming lady and lots of tourism magazines. The lady spoke very good English in giving me direction on where to go, and handed me some city maps too, the moment I walked outside the center, I found the same tour guide guy where I met the day before and he offered to show me around for only 40 Dinars. I walked with him around to see their houses that were built in a unique way, or let is say were digged in a uniqie way! These houses were constructed under the ground and rooms were more like caves into the muddy ground. Gates are long corridors from the main streets and it reminded me of the old Turkish or Syrian houses. This is how Berber people used to live to survive the heat in the summer, cold in the winter and floods the whole year.

With every family we visited in those houses I was served dates, herbal tea and local bread, and whenever I leave their houses the guide whispers to me if I would tip them something! Then when we reached the Star Wars hotel, I told him: I didn’t pay you 40 Dinar to keep tipping the others, 40 is inclusive everything, he apologized and claimed that he wanted to help those families. The Star Wars location is actually a hotel, it’s the same location which they filmed parts of the film including the rooms is now a hotel where tourists and Star Wars fans can choose their favorite rooms from the movie! We then drove to a last location where I would have a chat and tea with a Berber family, by reaching there, the tour guide introduced me to the lady and had to leave claiming it is the last location to see, I knew the trick that he didn’t want to be there when time to tip the lady. She was a welcoming mid aged local lady who said lots of facts and historical events happened in Matmata, she was generous to serve bread, tea and delicious tea, I didn’t regret giving her a good tip for the hospitality, although 2 German families entered the house as I was leaving and gave them a good tip as they got inside the house!

I remembered that I still needed to see the Berber Museum in Tamezert and it was still around 11 am, I drove back again on the curvy road and walked up the abundant old village to reach the museum where I felt for a second it was closed, until I heard some talk inside, I walked in and the museum staff was asking me if I speak any English, as there was an English couple that he struggled with them. I accepted to translate if he exempts me from paying the ticket which he accepted! It was interesting how they built their fortresses, secret entrance and evacuation back then; they could trick their enemies by showing a fake chimney and they could survive in their shelters for years with lots of storage of food and water supply! After that, I walked back to the hotel and spent the whole afternoon by the pool.

I didn’t want to have the same dinner at the same hotel so I have decided to drive back to Matmata to look for any interesting restaurant, I drove around for around 15 minutes but haven’t seen anything convincing, therefore I have decided to drive back to catch the dinner time at the hotel before its late. Unfortunately, I took the wrong turn and I got stopped by the police at a security check, they knew I was a tourist being on the bike, he was making any excuse to delay me then I have explained to him that I am in Tunisia to promote tourism on social media and I didn’t pay attention to the wrong turn, then his assistant whispered to him saying: I am following him on Instagram and he has many followers, then he simply turned into nice  and friendly and welcomed me in Tunisia, he excused if he could write my details and let me go! I assume by such a behaviour that he wanted me to slip some Euros in my passport so he let me go, and when I didn’t, he wanted to give me hard time, until his assistant told him not to do so, thinking I am famous on social media and could talk about it and put them in trouble!

Tuzeor

The road to Tuzeor would require lots of curvy bends, lots of crazy drivers with Libya plates and drifting sand, that’s why I decided to have an early start to try and arrive by noon time, Tuzeor is a very touristic city by bottom south of Tunisia, the best season to be there is Autumn to end of winter, and majority of tourists are locals, Libyans and Algerians, due to the location of it that is not far from the Algerian borders. I did the right decision when left early as it was getting extremely sandy, sticky and hot by 10, and I had to do multiple stops to drink water and rest. On one of the last rests, I bumped into couple of Italian riders on a KTM and another on an Africa Twin bikes who had a flat tire, I was trying to help them find a solution but it was Friday noon time which is prayers time and therefore all the shops were closed. I had to call a Tunisian friend who forwarded me to another repair shop that is 40 minutes away. Luckily, they reached the shop and got their bike repaired. By that time, I was already in the hotel in Tuzeor checked in, showered and having my lunch.

The touristic city of Tuzeor had nothing much would attract my eyes, except the Star Wars location around 30 KM southwest of the city, and nothing much other than that, most tourists wrap their faces with piece of cloth and ride on quad bikes, camels, or just spend the whole day at the pool. I drove the next day my bike to Star Wars village which was more exposed to the desert, full of tourists and also full of kids begging to be my tour guide, a lot of them offered me camel rides, and others offered to take a photo with a “Fennec”! I chose the fennec idea since I did Algeria 2 years ago and fennec was the name of my bike. I have enjoyed the curvy desert road more than the Star Wars village in a way that I was looking forward to leave just to enjoy the return cruise.

Riding back to Tunis!

It was a very early start to ride back to Tunis with a straight forward ride back to southeast and then ride back up through Sfax, Sousse until I reach the capital. As it was a straight forward ride, it was also very boring and lots of times I had to stop at the toll gates on the highway. I wasn’t in much hurry to reach as I had a plan to reach by evening, therefore I decided to stop once every hour for at least 10 minutes. Once I have reached Tunis, I checked in at the Sheraton hotel, to have my final relaxation before the ferry journey in 2 days, and had a wonderful dinner at the Asian restaurant. Next morning was a bit challenging to find a decent cappuccino in the city, the taxi driver suggested me to visit mall of Tunisia which wasn’t convincing at all, I then took another Taxi to visit another mall which was on the entrance of the city, the coffee wasn’t convincing too but I had to accept it to avoid spending the whole day looking for a cappuccino!

I remembered that I needed to issue my ferry ticket a day before, as I was told so, so I drove to the port and the moment I have arrived, there were two men telling me that it wouldn’t be possible to issue the ticket a day before, and they would open next day from 5 am so I would be safe to arrive on time and get my ticket sorted out. He then told me: come here tomorrow you will find me waiting for you and I will take care of your ticket even before anybody else. I felt relieved and drove back to the hotel for lunch, and I felt like trying the buffet of the lobby, the whole restaurant was almost empty except 2 tables, mine was the second, and I craved to have the pasta with muscles, although there was something inside of me telling me not to go for it, but my belly cried for it and I had it.

Just an hour after my lunch I started getting exhausted, and felt my crying belly started crying louder, and getting bigger, I was hoping I didn’t have food poisoning, but it looked like it was getting there, I tried to convince myself that it wouldn’t be possible because the Sheraton food must be in top quality, but reality was the opposite, I was getting tired, my belly was inflating more and more and I had the worst feeling of getting food poisoning ever. I didn’t want to stay in the hotel and feel worse, so I ordered a taxi and drove to Sidi Bousaid, which is the most touristic attraction in all Tunis, the moment I got off the taxi I started getting chased by locals who wanted me to check their shops out, or others with little falcons for a photo, they would just lay the falcon on my shoulder then ask for money, with my food poisoning situation I found this act very disturbing that I had to shout to him not to touch me ever! I have enjoyed the wonderful view of the Mitterrandian with a refreshing juice and great Oriental music before I headed back to the hotel again.

Back to the ferry

In the evening I met with my friend Walid and his girlfriend for dinner, the dinner was very delicious but I couldn’t eat much of it due of my sickness, I had to pretend normal until I got back to the hotel. I was hoping to get better next morning with a good quality sleep at least. However, It was getting worse and worse, I had to check the ferry timing to change to another day, the nearest schedule would be in 6 days, which I didn’t wish to stay all that time in Tunis! I work up at 3:30 am to reach the port at 5. The moment I reached, I found a man in a yellow vest telling me to give him my documents, I knew he wasn’t working there and he was just another fixer who would do it for few dollars. I simply ignored him and walked towards the building, and by the entrance of the building a Tunisian lady in a yellow vest too approached me and asked: are you the Saudi guy on a motorcycle who was here yesterday? I said maybe yes, maybe not? then she offered to fix and overtake the queue. I ignored her and walked alone to be stopped again by the same guy who I talked to the day before, and that guy was shouting at me saying: didn’t I tell you to come to me? I said loudly: listen, I don’t have time for any of you, and I don’t need your help, I will queue here and get my stuff done like everybody else, I heard him swearing at me while leaving!

Getting through the passport control and custom was easier than getting into Tunisia, I was the first one who got his paper done and the first who entered the ferry. I got into my room at around 7 am and went into a deep sleep. I woke up imagining that I would be in the middle of the Mediterranean, unfortunately it was 10 am, and the ferry didn’t even move yet! I walked into the main hall on the highest deck, to find everybody smoking inside, I got myself a cup of coffee and browsed my phone to kill some time. The boat had moved at around 13:00, by that time lunch was served and I had some, which was the biggest mistake I made, the pain of my stomach went worse and worse, the deeper we got into the sea, the sicker I got! I wondered how it would be the next 27 hours, I couldn’t sleep because of the pain, and I spent the whole day and night in bed, the cabin didn’t have any window, I didn’t have any network signal, and all what I did was stating at the ceiling and waiting for the arrival time.

By midnight, the Mediterranean got more aggressive and wavier, I could hear the banging of the waves on the boat like a tank bombing, the boat was flying up and dropping hard on the sea so loud and hard. I was worried the most about my bike as I didn’t have any straps on it. normally I don’t get seasickness easily, but with the food poisoning situation and storm, it went worse and way worse. I didn’t leave the room at all since lunch, except in the night to look for something sweet to eat and to look for a shower gel if any would sell on the ferry. I then tried to sleep until next day with no luck, my belly was inflated like a pregnant woman, and I was throwing up every half an hour cursing the moment I decided to get on that ferry! The storm didn’t stop until the morning, when I had a bit of sleep.

By 13:00 next day, the ferry has arrived and I zipped my gear on and ran to check on the bike, luckily my bike was still standing and proud, unlike some other bikes I have spotted dropped and leaking fuel. As I left to Marseilles, I couldn’t ride any further and decided to check into a hotel to rest until next day. i had the most delicious dinner since Tunisia and warm bath, then had the longest sleep since months. By reaching Europe, the adventure of Tunisia has reached an end and I think I have seen a lot of it, I wouldn’t want to go back again, unless if taking motorcyclists there through my work.