So we have made it back to Stuttgart safe and sound and i am typing away on my own computer again, happy to not be paying out the nose for the bad keyboard. During the middle of our visit we had what were probably our two most interesting days, or least some of the most active. Friday we journeyed south to the city of El Djem, a mid sized place dominated by a massive Roman colosseum from the third century AD. The next day was our trip into the olive groves of the Maghreb where we rode on camels and katy took a horse ride as well. Fun experiences all around, punctuated by other unexpected surprises

El Djem is an hour south of Sousse, our base, by train. The train itself is a far cry from the Bahn in Germany, and even Amtrak runs with better equipment (though it is not so timely as the Tunisian railway). Coming into El Djem there is a main boulevard leading from the station to the colosseum, which is impossible to miss. The place was amazing, not as well preserved as the one in Rome, but also virtually empty of other tourists, and we were able to climb all over the various levels, as well as sink down into the bowels to see the rooms where the animals and fighters were kept.

It was here we also discoverd the chapati. It is Tunisian street food, a pita-like piece of bread filled with fresh tuna, onions and parsley, an omelette with greens, and some spices like harissa, which is from crushed chilis. One was enough to get me hooked on these things, and it will be a long week knowing that i cannot get them in Germany. The way home was similarly fun, as the seats in the train were all full and we were instead seating in the luggage compartment with a pair of friendly Tunisians who shared tea with us and did there best to talk football with me, them in French, I in German. The results were mixed

The next day we went with our new best friend Hauzi Mausi (it does indeed rhyme) and about 40 others tourists out into the sticks to do the camel caravan. For a reference point, it seems that Tunisia is like Mexico for Germans…our hotel was full of young folks, old pensioners, and families with little kids, and all these were along for the camel and horse riding. We shared a camel on one point, but later each took our own. Mine gave me a bit of a bumpy ride, hump nonwithstanding, as he was irritated at being tethered to the other camel in front, and periodically seemed to stumble forward, causing the adrenaline in my system to briefly shoot up.

Katy also took a ride on one of the horses, and was a bit disappointed by the tired old specimen she ended up with. The little guy seemed to plod along with his head hung down, and only halfway through the ride was she told he was a caravan horse, ‘not fast’. A neat-though-gimmicky activity was to get your picture taking feeding the camel a strip of cactus. They had us clenched one end in our teeth and lean in, waiting for the camel to pluck it right on out. Kinda fun. My sister will be disappointed I avoided the horse, but to that I say that a horse ride is much easier to come across than a camel in most parts of the world. Not that I’ll neccessarily go out and do it.