First let me apologise for the lack of news! A mixture of circumstances has meant that I have only now have the right combination of time, wifi and head space to put fingers to keyboard!

We are now in Trapani, Sicily on the last leg of this inaugural trip for us and Mossy Joe and it seems incredible that our 7 weeks are nearly at an end!

Let’s go back a week or so! The days between arriving in Tunisia and arriving in Sicily were packed with adventure, misadventure, laughter and a small amount of drama.

Our first fully awake day in Bizerte was a quiet one, Jacques and Bernard fixed various things and I worked courtesy of the portable wifi that Kais had provided to us. Our European wifi we switched off as the cost would have been astronomical and our own phones decided that we had exceeded any possible limit that Vodafone could regulate. This kind of challenge was part of the trial for how this lifestyle will pan out full time.

As an aside we are looking at Starlink – one of Elon Musk’s services. There is a product they offer that is specifically for boats out at sea. It will be weird though to have a satellite dish on Mossy Joe!

Starlink Maritime Adds A Cheaper Plan Option

This was our hottest day so far at 27 degrees and we had all of the portholes open to ventilate. Despite the wonderful temperature, the forecast for the coming 5-6 days was not in our favour so knowing that we would not be moving for some time we made plans to be tourists for a few days!

Our first tourist visit was to the old port in Bizerte at night. Very charming, yet oddly quiet due to the time of year and Ramadan. Bernard had been here before a few summers ago and did not recognise the place compared to the vibrancy, noise, smells and colours he had experienced. We had food at the only place that was open and although we were pleased to eat a proper meal for the first time in 3 days the meal was of a dubious quality.

We found out the following day that our timing to go to the old port was completely out of sync. We had been there around 7.30 and what we had not realised is that most families eat at home as soon as the sun goes down around 6.30 and afterwards venture out to meet friends for coffee, sweet treats etc. Had we been in the old port after 9.30 it would have been buzzing!

For the weekend we hired a car so that our tourist exploits could go further afield. We had also heard a rumour that the bigger supermarkets in the capital, Tunis, would allow tourists to buy alcohol and that there would be tourist restaurants open serving food (and wine!!!) during the day!

Tunis was another place that Bernard had visited before so Jacques drove the 70 km trip and Bernard and I navigated. Some of you may know that I am not known for my ability to map read but between us, we would be fine I thought – especially given Bernard’s in depth knowledge of the area.

It was as we got closer to the multitude of exits for Tunis that Bernard confessed that he may have mixed up his knowledge of Tunis with Casablanca or possibly Algiers!!!

We found our way to the city centre and what madness that was! I have been to Medinas before with seemingly endless crowds of families, babies in pushchairs, guys on bicycles, loud fuming motorbikes, carts selling colourful plastic objects, clothes, shoes, bags, police blowing whistles, the noise and the tightly packed people giving the impression that no one is making any progress unless they push, jostle or just step out in front of moving traffic!

My previous experience of Medinas or similar in Morocco, India, Turkey have all been on foot so to try to move through one in a 4 door Chevy was something else!! How no one was injured I have no idea! We were lost (it certainly was Casablanca that Bernard was thinking of!) and desperate to park the car and get around on foot but at every turn the road became narrower and packed with more people who had no fear in walking straight across our path – the saving grace was that we could only move at 5 mph!

We gave up and headed out of the city to the coast and a fabulous tourist restaurant with magnificent views and fabulous food. The Cliff.

We decided to move back to Tunis to see the night time Medina and the weaving lanes of the Souk but this time with advice from Kais for parking!

It only took us 3 times around the centre to find the car park and on entry our car was searched by security. It seems there is still a high level of potential terrorist threat as well as civil unrest due to the President having dissolved Parliament and now ruling by decree.

We had a wonderful evening! Our push through the Medina was brief but our walk through the city, a stop for a tea and visit to the Souk just after sundown was magical.

We were told by Kais that visiting the Souk Cafe was a must. When we (eventually) found it, the doorway was tucked in a corner, nothing special and very easy to miss. What a joyous, unexpected and huge place it turned out to be. Floor after floor (I lost count but at least 5) of room and nooks and cubbyholes, all beautifully if somewhat eclectically decorated, offering comfortable spaces to meet, have coffee, tea, chocolate drinks and treats! When we entered is was almost empty but by the time we had gone up to the roof and returned to the ground floor it was packed.

We left Tunis centre for a quick trip to the biggest Supermarket in the area – alas, although they would normally sell booze to tourists this was not the case during the entire duration of Ramadan. We were desperately low on red wine so we just consoled ourselves by buying more chocolate and headed home.

Another short aside. I had been to Tunisia a very long time ago (30ish years?) with my dear friend Bob! After our night out in Tunis I was racking my brain to remember any aspects of my previous visit to Tunisia so I turned to Bob to see if she could recall where we had stayed, what we did etc. as I had very little recollection. Bob was not too sure but knew that we had taken a train north to visit Tunis for the day and kindly sent me these photos as a reminder! What a surprise! Hope you can see the surprise too and acknowledge the evidence that my memory is shot!

This has been a very long post and I still have not given all the news about our time in Tunisia. We saw some other places north of Bizerte, due to my navigation nearly drove off of a cliff edge and had some fabulous chilled time on board.

The sad news is that Bernard had to return home just before we left Tunisia as he had a medical emergency and the doctors agreed that the procedure he needed would be best provided in France with home rest. Latest news is that all is well. Although he was only with us for a week we had some great fun and we miss him very much.

Hugs and kisses to Bernard for a speedy recovery.

Back soon with our departure from Tunisia and Italy here we come (again!)