Author Archives: Michael

Tunisia’s telecommunications network is definitely still developing — there’s still no 3G, although a French operator has recently acquired the contract to make it happen. The best Tunisia can offer presently is EDGE, but there’s good news: Tunisia’s first private telco, Tunisiana, offers a freaking awesome prepaid mobile Internet package: 9 Gb per month, for 27 TD (about €14).

This happened just after we arrived back at Nettle after wandering the Sfax medina. I stuck my head out of Nettle’s door with the iPhone out to record it. [Audio clip: view full post to listen]

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

We got up “early” (about 8-9) and left Samaris and Hammamet for the last time (probably). Completely forgot to ask the manager if he knew of any caravan parks to the south. Bit of an information drought on places to stay; probably because there aren’t any… We hit the motorway and drove south, stopping to fill our LPG tank at … Continue reading

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

Katherine has done days and days of travel research, and has identified the places we want to see here in Tunisia. We’re going to spend the final three-and-a-bit weeks travelling, before we catch the ferry back to Italy. Our first foray out into the world was a day trip, out to Kerkouane near the tip of Cap Bon. Kerkouane is … Continue reading

We awoke outside the docks in La Goulette, Tunis, to the sound of the call to prayer from the nearby mosque. How exciting! We breakfasted, and prepared to head out. The first mission was to obtain some SIM cards so we could gain access to the Internet. We walked down the nearby main street — it was very foreign! Lots … Continue reading

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

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

We met Nuccio again the next day, along with Graziella and Nuccio’s mum, who we took an instant liking to, although she didn’t speak English. She had a friendly, playful demeanour that was very disarming. Our plans for the day this time were to visit Etnapolis, a shopping centre south of Etna — Italy’s largest shopping centre, Nuccio told us … Continue reading

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