Tunisia: Tabarka

We are starting our spring travel! From Raleigh, a direct flight to Frankfurt, another to Tunis, taxi to Tunis North Bus Station, a 2.5 hour louage (shared taxi) ride, and we arrived at Tabarka, on the Mediterranean Sea, a mere five kilometers from the Algerian border.





Since its founding by the Phoenicians, Tabarka has seen countless civilizations, though not much architectural remains can be seen other than the 16th century Genoese Fort.





Before this visit to Tunisia, we had some experience with Ramadan in Egypt and in Jordan on the one end, and Central Asia on the other. Tabarka is rather different. There is a lot of bustling during the day, except there are absolutely no open restaurants or street food, save for bread and pastries. When the sun starts to go down, the streets empty out. Since we are still rather jetlagged, we couldn't stay up more than two hours after sundown, by which time men fill the cafes to smoke and drink coffee or tea; and a few families begin to stroll in the streets.







Sun-Ling stands in front of our apartment at lower left (1st below). The street ends at the harbor, about 700 meters in the distance. And our kitchen. ;-)




The Art Nouveau Hotel Les Mimosas, circa 1896, has views to the Mediterranean Sea and the Genoese Fort.








Market Stall.