TechnomadicsVagabonding Europe

Tag Archives: People

Sbeitla

Posted on by Michael

We left Gafsa today and drove a couple of easy hours north to the town of Sbeitla, a town beside a far more ancient Roman town, Sufetula. Sufetula is now ruins, but quite well preserved ones. Along the way, and for our drive afterwards, we were amazed by our treatment as we drove through little towns — everywhere, people waved … Continue reading

Douz Market

Posted on by Michael

Every Thursday, everyone who lives anywhere near Douz swarms in from the surrounding villages to join the weekly market. There’s a square underneath the palm trees where animals are bought and sold; lining the sandy streets there are stalls selling second-hand socks, shoes, belts, clothing of every kind, radios, cellphones, kitchen accessories and whitegoods, furniture, generators, satellite dishes, hoses, tools, … Continue reading

Camels in the Sahara

Posted on by Michael

After some back-and-forth between Brahim, the helpful guy at the Douz Camping Club reception with the very throaty Arabic-accented French, and our knowledgeable German friends Birgit and Dieter, we came up with a plan to spend a few hours out in the Sahara on camels. We had the option to do an overnight trip (or even a week-long trip), but … Continue reading

Towards Douz

Posted on by Michael

We woke in our ksar, and I walked down to the main street in search of bread and a few other bits and pieces — I ended up with three crisp, fresh baguettes, which we set upon eagerly with Saïd chocolate spread, honey and jam. I filled up our freshwater tank and said farewell to our friend who showed us … Continue reading

Gabes and Medenine/Metameur

Posted on by Michael

We drove southwards from Sfax, past many dirty little towns strewn with rubbish, and along the little highway with frequent 4WD forays off the edge of the road due to road works (travaux). There were lots of little stands by the road with piles of plastic containers filled with something-or-other, funny men standing beside them waving at us frantically. Turns … Continue reading

Sfax

Posted on by Michael

We survived the night, without getting broken into or abducted, had breakfast and waved to our security guard friend. We got back on the road, and drove the 50 km into the city of Sfax. We inched our way through the city traffic, weaving around pedestrians and motorbikes (not the other way around, of course), and with minimal pain found … Continue reading

Down-time in Hammamet

Posted on by Michael

We arrived at Camping Samaris near Hammamet with the intention of staying put for a few weeks, and having some time off travel. We got so caught up in projects during that time though, that a few weeks turned into two months. I finished off a project, Talkie, and got it on the market, as well as working on some … Continue reading

Sicily to Tunisia

Posted on by Michael

The Schengen visa arrangement under which we are able to travel without any prior visa-seeking — which is a brilliant thing to be able to do — has the caveat that we’re only allowed within the Schengen area (most of the EU) for 3 months out of every 6. For the rest of time, we must be elsewhere. Three months … Continue reading

Roveto wetland reserve, Noto

Posted on by Michael

For the final time, we met Nuccio and Graziella in Linguaglossa in the morning — Our plans for the day were to visit the Roveto wetland reserve way down to the south, a spot Nuccio was fond of. It’s quite near the south-east tip of Sicily, and just a short hop over the ocean was Africa (!), and many migratory … Continue reading

Taormina-Messina Rally, Forza D’agro’

Posted on by Michael

We met up with Nuccio again for the next rally, this one outside of a town whose name I never ended up discovering; Carmelo couldn’t make it, but we picked up a friend of Nuccio’s, Salvadore, who we had met briefly on St Martins’ Day, and his son André to join us. Salvadore was a meteorologist, interestingly; the language barrier … Continue reading

Taormina, Taormina-Messina Rally

Posted on by Michael

With some time to kill before we were to meet up with Nuccio and Carmelo again, we decided to see if we could find a caravan park to spend some time hooked up to electricity to do some work. I spent some time finding possibilities online, then we proceeded to spend the next five hours or so driving around being … Continue reading