Carthage, the Antonine Roman Baths and Bardo Museum.

On the second day of our holiday in Tunisia we went on an organised trip to Carthage, we knew about this place before we travelled and had looked for a hotel nearby so we could visit. The journey still took a couple of hours to get there and the trip took in visits to the Bardot museum and a Berber village.  The journey enabled us to see a lot more of Tunisia and the many olive trees that grow there. Many of the olive orchards had boundaries of cactus plants which I thought was quite clever and a very effective way of keeping people out, with the large spiky plants creating a very intimidating barrier. 

For some reason both me and David thought the ruins at Carthage were on a bigger scale, more the size of a small settlement whereas it is just the ruins of a bath house that the Romans had built. I must admit it is a very big bath house but still it is just one building. There is a model there that shows what it would have looked like in its heyday and illustrates the amazing skill, effort and technology that the Romans had. 

It was interesting to see but in a way ,with its large columns it reminded me more of a factory from the Industrial Age, with the remaining columns reminding me of chimneys soaring into the sky. 

There were a couple of slabs of masonry showing writing and these large stone balls which were used in large catapults by the Romans to attack the enemy.  The balls were so big it would have taken at least two if not more men to put them in place. 

On the trip we went to a couple of museums that had mosaics in them. The biggest museum and the one that has the most mosaics in Tunisia is the Bardo Museum. The mosaics are very interesting and show a lot of detail, a lot of hard intricate work has gone into them. They vary greatly in size too, some are the size of small rugs and were often fitted just like that on the floor while others were huge taking up a vast floor space. 

As you can see some of their statues were really big, once again David comes in handy to show the scale. Apparently in Roman times the bodies of statues in their togas and cloaks were often made without their heads and you could just slot on the head you wanted. Very clever, I think and that way you could reuse a statue as people fell in and out of power. 

Some mosaics showed a story or scene depicting everyday life often related to the area or owner of the building and their interests and hobbies. 

Carthage was founded by the Phoenicians in 814 BC and was once home to Hannibal but it really raised in status during the reign of the Roman Empire. 

Port El Kantaoui

After a few days in Scotland, David got very itchy feet and was in the mood to set off again. We couldn't go for very long as we needed to be back for the pups arriving from Bulgaria and of course there was the all important Hibernian versus Arbroath football game that could not be missed. We wanted to go somewhere in Africa as this meant we would have been in the five main continents during our year off. We looked at both Morocco and Tunisia, we heard good reports about both although Tunisia did come out best overall and there were flights from Glasgow to there, so that settled that. 

This was the first package holiday we have done in a long time and there was very much a holiday atmosphere on the plane, it was a lively crowd which actually seemed very strange. There was constant noise, chatter and dare I say it quite a bit of drink being consumed.  

We arrived at night time so couldn't really see what the place looked like but the hotel was beautiful and our room was lovely. In the morning we woke up to this amazing view from our room. As you can see it was quite cloudy on the first morning but we still braved a walk along the beach. 

There was a meeting for new guests on the first morning which gave us choices of what was available in the area. We booked three trips, Carthage, El Djem and  a vist to a local animal park followed by an African culture evening. 

At the meeting we were told of local scams to look out for, these included locals pretending to know you, saying that they served you at your hotel the day before and offering to show you around but taking you to their relatives shops. Another was that they pretend to pick up a coin, usually an euro and asking you what it is worth to get you engaged in conservation. We were also told that when haggling we should aim for 25% of what they originally ask for. 

After the meeting we headed off to the harbour. It was nice wandering around there and the sun came out to make it even more pleasant. It is winter in Tunisia so it is not their busy season which meant all the stall keepers and boat trip companies were out to grab any passing tourists. I really don't like that when you can't walk along in peace, I have to keep reminding myself that they are just trying to make a living. 

There are lots of pirate ships vying for business. When I told them I suffered from sea sickness I was kindly offered a free plastic bag, I declined. 

It was lovely and peaceful there due to being out of season. You can either walk down to the harbour  by road or along the beach . On the road walk there are some fixed price shops, perfect for me as I don't like haggling. We did it as a circuit, the beach only had a few people on it, we did see men in wetsuits going out with spear guns but I am not sure what they were catching. 

When we returned to our room the housemaid had made these lovely creations from our bed sheets and towels, what a skill to have, I wish I could do that.