#Tunis trip

[delusionalbubble]

10 Most Popular Destinations in Africa

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[bugatsu]

Sidi Bou Said

[lutnistas]

Cathedral of Saint Vincent de Paul ( Tunis / Tunisia ) 

[faithhopeloveandtherapy]

I'm so glad to see you get to chillax! Do you have any sightseeing planned? I don't tolerate heat too well and generally am not that good at handling the stress of travelling, so I enjoy living vicariously through you, haha.

Thanks! No sightseeing planned - on a holiday like this, I generally don’t want to leave my sun lounger. Our friends went on a day trip to Tunis and Carthage but we stayed at the hotel. It’s not that hot here, being November, it does get to 26°C for a few hours but cools down when the sun goes off us about 4pm.

[qunaributts]

💪 👍 🤙 🖕 for opportunity, alacrity, and cenotaph!

💪 - would your character be more likely to scoop someone up in their arms, or be the one getting scooped?

Opportunity - Tuni prefers to be scooped, just on her own terms. Unacceptable scooping leads to stabbing. I think under the correct circumstances she would do the scooping... though it would require someone to be smaller than her and she's canonically fairly short lol.

Alacrity - Alacrity takes after their mom in that they like to be scooped!! Love a big strong person to sweep them off their feet! Although a notable exception is their very best drift compatible friend Sebastiano. Alacrity absolutely sweeps him off of his feet. They have scooped him multiple times. They will scoop him again!!!

Cenotaph - Simply because he is eight feet tall, Cen so very rarely gets scooped. Cen LOVES to be scooped. They often do the scooping though, and are happy to do it.

👍 - what (if any) is a good, safe touch for your character?

Opportunity - Considering how paranoid and prickly she can be... safest touch for Tuni is just a hand on her shoulder. If you're one of her various paramours, she will accept a hand hold/squeeze or lower back touch

Alacrity - THIS CREATURE CRAVES ALL TOUCH CONSTANTLY. ALL TOUCH GOOD.

Cenotaph - Cen is happy with all touch. Due to his height, a hand rested on their forearm is always comforting.

🤙 - how does your character's relationship with touch change if they get tipsy or otherwise chemically unbalanced?

Opportunity - Depends wholly on who she is with. Probably gets more friendly with the few companions she trusts. Definitely gets more touchy with her paramours.

Alacrity - Boundaries who? They keep themselves in check with strangers, but Alacrity is draped over/wrapped around/leaning against people when they are sober. This Gets Worse As Sobriety Leaves.

Cenotaph - Probably not a huge difference, but a little more free with touch and affection.

🖕 - someone touches your character in a way that's rude or that they just don't like (i.e. shoves past them, etc). what do they do?

Opportunity - Depending on the offense and how much of a dick the offender is, consequences can range from Swift Death to Get Tripped Idiot to I've Orchestrated Your Week So You Step On A Lego Every Day

Alacrity - Loud callout, and possibly a fight.

Cenotaph - KILLING YOU WITH MY MIND.

[mariacallous]

Last week, Tunisia’s president, Kais Saied, made his first trip to China and signed a strategic partnership with President Xi Jinping. The week prior, Saied made headlines for becoming the first Tunisian president to visit Iran since the Islamic Revolution. And before that, rumors swirled about Russian planes landing in Djerba.

It is too early to tell whether any of these events mark a major, strategic realignment of Tunisia away from its traditional allies in the West. More likely, Saied is playing global and regional powers against one other to secure the best deal, an art form perfected by other leaders in the region.

But Saied has made one major shift to Tunisia’s foreign policy that in turn might help explain his recent outreach to Iran, China, and Russia. Over the past year, Saied has overseen a sea change in Tunisia’s position on the two-state solution for Israelis and the Palestinians. While Tunisia had historically been an outlier in the region for being one of the first to accept a two-state solution, today it is increasingly becoming an outlier for rejecting it.

While popular at home, this shift has strained Tunisia’s relations with both the West and the Arab Gulf states. It is in this context of greater isolation internationally that Saied now dangles the threat of relations with Iran, China, and Russia.

The first to endorse two states

Tunisia’s founding father, Habib Bourguiba (r. 1956-1987), was one of the first Arab leaders to advocate, albeit cautiously, for negotiations with Israel. While other states in the region were gearing up for war, President Bourguiba in 1965 gave a major speech in Jericho urging Palestinians and Arabs to give up their “all or nothing” strategy, and then told Le Monde that they should accept the United Nations partition plan.

At the United States’ request, Tunisia would later host the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and despite being bombed by Israel in 1985, Bourguiba remained supportive of dialogue until his last days in office. His successor, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (r. 1987-2011), continued his policies, facilitating talks between the PLO and Israeli officials in Tunis that would then evolve into the Oslo peace process. Although those talks faltered and the second intifada erupted, Ben Ali would sign on to the Arab Peace Initiative (API), advocating a two-state solution. Tunisia’s support for that proposition would survive the 2011 revolution, with Tunisia hosting an Arab League summit in March 2019 that renewed the region’s commitment to the API. For almost 60 years, Tunisia at least paid lip service to the notion of a two-state solution.

The first to abandon it

Saied (r. 2019-) has now initiated a major shift to that long-standing advocacy of two states. In his electoral campaign in 2019, Saied argued that any normalization with Israel was akin to high treason, receiving thunderous applause at a presidential debate. While Saied was initially constrained by Tunisia’s semi-presidential system, his power grab in 2021 and subsequent consolidation of control has allowed him to gradually shift Tunisia’s foreign policy.

At first, the shift was subtle. Saied’s new 2022 constitution went further than previous ones by calling not just for the liberation of Palestine but a Palestinian state with Jerusalem (and not just East Jerusalem) as its capital. In August 2023, Saied rejected rumors he might normalize with Israel, saying Palestinians should instead regain their rights over “all of Palestine.”

But Hamas’s attacks on October 7 and the war thereafter have accelerated Saied’s break with Tunisia’s more moderate tradition. On the night of October 7, Saied described the attacks as “legitimate resistance,” saying that “what some media were referring to as the Gaza envelope is Palestinian land that has been under Zionist occupation for decades,” and that therefore “the Palestinian people have the right to recover it and to recover all of the land of Palestine.” In a video published on his Facebook page, Saied re-emphasized “all” of the land.

What had previously been the president’s personal rhetoric then became official policy. On October 11, the Arab League put out a joint statement condemning the killing of civilians by both sides and pledging support for a two-state solution along the June 4, 1967 borders. But Saied had Tunisia put in a reservation, noting instead “the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state on all of the land of Palestine.” Tunisia would continue that pattern over the next few months, routinely issuing reservations to joint statements produced at Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summits, becoming an outlier at these meetings.

In May, these reservations grew increasingly explicit. At the OIC summit in Banjul and then the Arab League summit in Manama, Tunisia expressed its reservations specifically about the use of the terms “June 4, 1967 borders,” “two-state solution,” and “East al-Quds,” emphasizing instead its support for an “independent state on the entire territory of Palestine with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.” For all intents and purposes, Tunisia abandoned its long-standing official position supporting a two-state solution.

Consequences of the shift

This shift in Tunisian foreign policy has played well at home, earning praise from Tunisians on social media and even from the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Tunisian General Labor Union. In part because of their history of hosting the PLO—and being bombed for it—Tunisians express some of the strongest support for Palestine in public opinion polls. The Arab Barometer, for instance, found that only 9% of Tunisians said it was good for the region that countries have started working with Israel, compared to 19% of Iraqis and Lebanese, 23% of Egyptians, and 32% of Sudanese. This pro-Palestinian sentiment in Tunisia has only grown in the wake of October 7, with the Arab Barometer finding support for normalization with Israel falling from 12% to 1%, and open calls for armed resistance growing from 6% to 36%.

But although Saied’s rhetoric on Israel has garnered him popularity at home, it has also left him even more isolated internationally. He had already complicated Tunisia’s relations with the United States through his coup and continued rejection of what he calls foreign interference. This was simply another nail in the coffin. By November, U.S. State Department officials were telling me they were highly concerned that Saied had become “an outlier in the region,” no longer supportive of a two-state solution. They feared that his “radical rhetoric against Israel” might contribute to extremism, recalling that Tunisia sent the largest per capita contingent of fighters to the Islamic State.

Saied’s positions have also complicated his relations with the Arab Gulf states, who have pursued normalization or are on track to do so. Many had expected Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to openly and financially support Saied’s takeover much like they did Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. But they have instead been more hesitant, preferring investment over aid and loans, and allegedly insisting on normalization, or at least toning down Saied’s criticism of it.

Managing isolation

This has left Saied with few strong allies, primarily Algeria and Italy. It is in this context of isolation that we should view Saied’s recent outreach to Iran, China, and Russia. On the one hand, these countries more naturally fit with Saied’s worldview, both on the Palestinian issue as well as on his broader critique of Western imperialism. Saied’s meeting with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, for instance, reportedly centered around Palestine, with Khamenei praising Saied’s “anti-Zionist stance” and emphasizing the need to develop more such stances in the Arab world, and Saied agreeing, saying “the Islamic world must exit its current passive position.”

At the same time, Saied has thus far been careful not to push too far and elicit a rupture with Tunisia’s traditional allies. In November, for instance, Saied quashed a bill in parliament that would have criminalized normalization with Israel, on account of it endangering Tunisia’s external interests, presumably with the West and the Arab Gulf states. Indeed, a full realignment or clean break with the West is near impossible, given the strong links Tunisia’s military has with the United States and its economy has with Europe. A more likely scenario is an attempt to balance between these global and regional powers, securing what it can from each.

Still, whether or not relations with Iran, China, or Russia develop further, it is clear that Saied has already initiated a sea change in one aspect of Tunisia’s foreign policy, departing from its decades-long endorsement of a two-state solution.

[botswanatravel]

#trip, #JourneyOfGirls , #SandAndSun Follow our amazing trip from Tunis to Cape town in our van. Jump directly to Botswana◄

[dknuth]

Last Day in Tunisia

Today is our last day in Tunisia. We drove back to Tunis with a couple of what I thought were minor stops along the way.

We stopped at a spring that fed an 80 km Roman aqueduct to Carthage. They built a small temple over the spring.

Along the way, we saw more groves of olives and hedges of prickly pear along with wheat fields.

The big stop of the day was the ruins of Roman Thuburbo Majus, apparently a major Roman town, but not much of a ruin. Of course, by now we have seen enough temples and baths that they need to be spectacular to make much of an impression; these didn't.

I spotted a brilliant Glandular Globe Thistle.

I have been using the Seek App regularly to identify plants on the trip and it says I've added 40 new plants to my list. But since I didn't have a huge list before it's still pretty small compared to Steve Balling's. Since the information in Seek is crowd-sourced there has to have been knowledgeable people there before to make the identifications, and often that's not the case on my trips. This time I suspect these are all plants found around the Mediterranean. Often it can't identify plants at all.

Finally, we went to a very touristy neighborhood of Tunis. It was very pretty but in a Disneyfied way and full of tourists. So not really interesting.

We have a last dinner tonight, then I have a 1:50 AM flight to Frankfurt on the way home.

[flirting-with-psychology]

What does your town’s name begin with?

Nope

What number house do you live at?

Haha funny

Are you a seafood fan?

No

Do you prefer dark, brown or white chocolate?

Dark

Give me a random word in another language. Tell me what it means.

Pomme de terre, french for potato

Can you cook Thai food?

No, I can't even eat thai food

Do you get easter eggs at easter?

When I was a kid I went to my friend's house for easter and we did, but I am jewish

How long does it roughly take you to do the weekly or bi weekly shopping?

Like an hour

Who taught you the most valuable lesson in life and what was that lesson?

Idk

Which city would you like to visit- Rome, Tunis, London, Madrid or Paris?

Madrid because I haven't been there yet

Would you rather visit Australia, Germany, Croatia or Jamaica?

Germany

Have you got perfect vision?

No, I wish

What colour bedspread or blanket is on your bed now?

Blue sheets, plaid bedspread

What colour is the door to your house?

Blue

Would you prefer a pet rat, mouse, snake, lizard or spider?

Snake

What song(s) do you put on repeat often?

Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, showtunes

How many letters long is your last name?

9

Can you play the violin? If not, would you like to?

No, but my mom can. I am not really interested in it

Can you keep a pokerface and not show your emotions easily?

Not even a little bit

Are you a good liar (tell the truth this time)?

No

Are you wearing shoes, just socks or nothing on your feet?

Nothing

What word or phrase is disgusting in your opinion and you hate hearing it?

Daddy as a sexual nickname

Do you like the smell of a barbecue or bonfire?

No

Do you prefer to write etc, ecetera or something else?

Etc

Do you think rainbows are pretty or overrated?

Pretty

Are your lips chapped?

A little bit

Have you ever fallen into a hole or crevice whilst hiking?

No

Ever been quad biking? Was it any good?

No

What is different about you than others you hang out with?

I don't have a lot of the generic interests that "everyone" likes, unfortunately

Are you more skeptical or gullible?

Skeptical

How often do you drink sodas or fizzy drinks?

Pretty often, like most days

How many cups of tea or coffee do you have a day?

Usually none but I'm sick this week so I'm chain drinking tea

Has anyone ever called you apathetic or unemotional?

Not those words but similar sentiments

Favourite crisp/chip flavour?

Regular or cheddar

Do you put salt and vinegar on your fries?

No

What accent is the sexiest?

British

Do you currently live in the same country you were born in?

Yeah

What’s your current mood?

A little stressed

Do you struggle to articulate your thoughts and feelings?

Sometimes

A romantic meal, a trip to a theme park or go to a concert?

Romantic meal

Prefer being in control in a team environment, helping out or taking orders?

Helping out if my team knows what they're doing, otherwise taking control

Do you like carrot cake?

Yes

Don’t you hate it when people say ‘I don’t mean to be rude but…’? Especially considering 98% of the time they ARE trying to be rude?

Idk

Would you say yes to a drink from a friend of a friend?

Sure, why not?

How good is your memory?

Not as good as I would like

On a scale of 1-10 how was this survey? Did you enjoy it?

5

[mariammohamed21]

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FAYOUM.

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SHARM EL SHEIKH.

Let's briefly discuss the preferred location for scuba divers. don't miss the great offers at 4 Days in Cairo, Alexandria, and a white desert safari tour with the best prices, Sharm el Sheikh is not just a favorite among divers but also for nature lovers. You can swim, sunbathe, dive, snorkel, take a boat trip, go on day trips like safaris, or visit fascinating neighboring locations in Sinai, such as the Sinai Mountains, St. Catherine's Monastery, and Ras Mohammed National Park .explore Egypt through 10-day Egypt Itinerary Nile cruise and desert safari tour to go through the magical experience. the new year EVA is on doors so make it a unique year through Egypt best Christmas tours to make it an unforgettable day.

@cairo-top-tours

[tomsflavorfusion]

Cairo: Unforgettable Koshari, culinary tips and a trip to the Tunis ceramic oasis in Faiyum

It’s that sound of shattering clay that takes my breath away for a moment. The bag with the ceramic bowls slipped out of my hand after the security check. I touch the bottom of the bag in a panic. Shards. I have brought earthenware from distant countries so many times and they have always arrived home safely. Not this time. At least not everything. I got most of it in the pottery village of Tunis…

[bugatsu]

Sidi Bou Said

[roses-and-elixir]

My bucket list is Tunisia, and Croatia. Sort of the Mediterranean countries. Croatia seems underrated and I’m curious about the Balkans. There is a blue & white city in Tunis that looks wonderful. Of course Saudi Arabia is included and maybe other gulf Arab countries. I want to go to mostly affordable and not super touristy places .

May Allah give you the opportunities to travel anywhere you like. Enjoy your travels sister🎀

Tunisia is amazing!! Its hard to find english speaking people though from my experience I don’t think they’re used to having much tourists around

The white and blue city is sidi bou said i think! Alhamdulillah i had the chance to go there 2 years ago - thoroughly enjoyed it - it’s so pretty. The hills are super steep tho and the stone they used for the road is quite slippery (I nearly fell 🤣🫣) so try to pack sandals for the beach and keep your trainers on in the town.

Croatia has been on my bucket list too but the other day I was looking into flight durations and it seems like it quite hard to get there? Couldn’t find any direct flights. But the scenery from what I’ve seen looks fantastic.

I get what you mean, the arab countries can get expensive- especially dubai if you’re there on holiday. I’ve been wanting to go to oman for ages but inshaAllah maybe in the future - it seems like it’ll be an expensive trip.

Ameen, I pray the same for you too!

[chrysaliseuro2024]

Istanbul Day 1

18 June. Turkish airlines from Tunis airport to Istanbul All went fine. Turkish airlines one of the few that still serve you food and drinks on board without forking out more money which was handy as our flight was late in the day.

We actually arrived at Istanbul 30 minutes earlier than scheduled and bags were collected and customs were navigated in a timely way. Istanbul airport absolutely enormous so we trekked around a bit to get to where the transfer car booked thru booking.com was due to pick us up. Found the location and then probably a 25 minute wait ensued waiting for the car to arrive. All good in the end but now 10.45pm or so with a 30/40 minute drive ahead. Anyway after navigating a maze of side streets our indefatigable driver found the Galata Rasso hotel our home for 4 nights which was in a great spot in town very near to the Galata Tower as you might expect.Not much to do but grab a couple of peaches from the neighbouring fruit stall and head to bed given the time.

We had determined that having been to Istanbul in 2018 and seen the classic sights - Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia , Topkapi Palace and lots more that this trip would be more to nose around and soak up the atmosphere. We had also stayed on the Sultanahmet side of town where the sights above were but were now in the suburb of Beyoglu with restaurants, hubbub and general crowded mayhem. Good fun if you like that which we mostly do.

No breakfast at our place so we followed the recommendation of hotel staff and went to a nearby restaurant. Liz on the muesli and yoghurt and I went the Turkish breakfast salad, cheese, cold meat, bread - tasty but a lot. This was the routine for the next couple of days but I changed my breakfast order to something more manageable sizewise.

First day we just walked around town. Firstly down the lengthy pedestrian mall. Crowds daunting after quiet old Tunisia. Absolutely jam packed. Obviously a lot of tourists but plenty of locals. A lot of mainstream outlets and fast food stores with the odd embassy thrown in. Also an occasional extremely crowded mini tram with people hanging off the outside. The maelstrom of life was interesting but we soon dived off into the side streets to look at the small local traders with their local bric a brac for sale as well as more localised restaurants.

Liz went one way for a while and me the other and we caught up again at the hotel for a short rest and then headed out again towards the spice market as we had promised to get a particular potato spice for our niece Lucy.

We had to cross the river and did so by the Galata Bridge which was full of fishermen. Underpasses have to be negotiated in that area to get across/under busy roads and reach or get off the bridge with more traders flogging stuff underground and crowds pushing and pressing their way in both directions. It was a stinking hot day so good to get to the other side of the river though crowds in the spice market area still large.

Much to our amusement/chagrin we discovered after making the trek though the crowds and heat that the spice market was closed for four days in celebration of the Eid festival. After a further trek uphill through more heavy crowds we found the Grand Bazaar was also closed for the same reason. Today was the last day of Eid and both would reopen the next day. Nothing to do but smile. There were certainly plenty of stalls with all sorts to see on the way to and from the bazaar so a bit of fun.

To reward ourselves we stopped for a beer and coffee at one of the numerous cafes along the underside of the bridge and generally watched the passers by, looked at the city and the numerous absolutely packed ferries and relaxed. We also realised that with Eid there was an explanation as to why so many locals were in town. Certainly we noticed the next day that the ferries were nowhere near as crowded.

That night we had a pretty special experience for dinner with a recommendation from one of the hotel staff. A meze at a very local restaurant Bilice Kebap. Meat and lamb Shazliks, lots of vegetarian style dips. All served on a large round platter with meat in the middle and the dips on the perimeter. Very tasty, great atmosphere, locals eating there. Nothing not to like. We felt very adventurous.

[botswanatravel]

#TravelDocumentary , #TravelCouple , #Beachy Follow our amazing trip from Tunis to Cape town in our van. Jump directly to Botswana▲

[dknuth]

England

We are in England for some independent travel in Yorkshire and a historian-led tour of Hadrian's Wall.

We left Madison at about noon and flew to Chicago and then to London. Our flight arrived in London at 5:55 AM. We took a train into the city at Paddington Station, a taxi to Kings Cross Station, and a train to York. That all worked well, although it didn't need to as we arrived in York about 10 AM and couldn't get into our little apartment hotel until 2 PM. So after an overnight flight and Cathie being really tired, we were hanging out for over 4 hours. That's a really difficult time to arrive. It's way too early to check in for that night. If we had gotten a hotel in London we'd have checked in at 7 AM and had to check out at 11 AM. I guess we should have gotten the room in York for the night before too and paid over $200 for the 4 hours.

I will look closer at the arrival times on flights in the future and try to arrive at a reasonable hour. In Tunis I arrived at 1 AM and paid for that night, which seemed reasonable. But this was too late for an extra night to make sense and too early to check-in.

That day Cathie was wiped out and slept for the whole day. I got out and walked around a bit.

Our hotel was just a couple of blocks from the train station, which made it an easy walk with the bags to get there.

Between the station and the hotel was the old city wall. But it was only about a one-block detour to get through the wall. York decided in the early 1800's to preserve the walls for a pedestrian promenade. It was a great decision and it works well as a loop around the old town.

The wall near our hotel leads right down to the river with a view of York Minster the background.

Between the wall and our small hotel there is a large deluxe hotel we walk past all the time. How fancy is it? The topiary beside the front door is trimmed to match the doorman's top hat.

He and I agreed that it really needs a yellow band to match the one on his hat. I check the prices for The Grand. It's £400 and up per night. We have a very nice apartment for less than half that, although no doorman.

York is a very nice town. It's has a river running through it, which they put to good use, with riverside dining, riverboat tours, and parks.

The town is over 1,000 years old and so there is a wide range of building ages and styles.

One small street has some quite ancient buildings and is known as The Shambles. If you work at it and frame the buildings just right it can look like something out of Harry Potter, which the store owners have taken full advantage of. But I really wasn't interested enough to create an illusion.

Near The Shambles is a very short street with an unusual name.

Apparently it was originally spelled Whitnourwhatnourgate, which doesn't really help that much. There is debate about what it would mean, possibly "Neither One Thing Nor Another" or "What a Street" it only has three addresses on it # 1, # 1a, and # 1 1/2. Clearly theyv'e kept it around for the novelty. SPeaking of novelty, the shop at 1 1'2 is a Fantasy Gaming store.

When the Normans conquered this part of England they built many Abbys and several were in York. Of course when Henry VIII abolished all the monasteries in England. That left grand building complexes abandoned. Most of them are now in various stages of ruin. We will see several of these in our travel around the area. As elsewhere, abandoned stone buildings were recycled into everything from barns to castles.

Just across the river is Museum Park, a nice park along the river on the grounds of St. Mary's Abby. A part of the apse of the main chapel still stands in the park.

This park is only a third of a mile from our apartment, so it was an easy destination for Cathie.

It was also the location of our first splurge restaurant of the trip, The Starr in the City. A restaurant founded on local ingredients and local cuisine, but modernised and improved. The location was equally inspired. You enter through a tunnel in the old city walls.

Into a new glass and wood dining room in the park.

We had an excellent dinner, but one where we needed to look up many of the words on the menu. It seems that British food words are quite different than Americal ones. But it was a good meal. (I neglected to take food photos, sorry.)

Since most of the city walls are intact, the next morning I headed out to do a loop of the old city on the walls. It was a lovely walk of a little over 3 miles and had a good view of ancient and modern York.

Of course the old gates into the city were way too small even by the 1800's. What is pleasant to see is that rather than just blowing out that section of the wall they built new gates. They aren't much good for stopping attackers but they handle the traffic and maintain the spirit of the walls. Here you can see the original gatehouse in the center and later openings for pedestrian and vehicular traffic on either side.

Many of these gatehouses are now coffee shops, a nice break for a wall walk.

On the north side of town, the wall abuts the wealthier neighborhoods around York Minster.