Chez Moi

In search of a trip outside of the Tunis area, we headed for Hammamet for the weekend.  Being outwith the main tourist season, we got a very cheap hotel.  It cost us €30 for the room, with breakfast AND dinner!

Hammamet 12/04/08 - 13/04/08



    

To get to Hammamet, we took a louage from Tunis, a sort of shared taxi.  There are 3 louage stations in Tunis, travelling to different destinations.  The taxis take 8 people, and as soon as one is full, it leaves for its destination.  From a big place like Tunis, you hardly have to wait, however coming back can take a little longer.  This was a chance to discover the Tunisian countryside, and I was lucky enough to be sitting in the front, where the view was the best.  By now, I was immune (outwardly anyway) to the local driving style.  At this time of year, the countryside was a beautiful, lush green, and olive trees reminded us we were in a mediterranean country.    

I had visited Hammamet before as a child, and even though it was a long time ago and my memories are somewhat distant, I could tell it had changed a lot.  The main change is the new Yasmine Hammamet, a concrete jungle for tourists, where hotels try to outdo each other in the ugliness stakes.  Most of them are still being built, and with the economic climate and the impending demise of budget airlines, one wonders if they will ever be finished.  There are also a few palaces there, including the Hasdrubal where we had a wonderful lunch, as our friends had discovered it before and wanted us to experience the sheer luxury of the restaurant, as well as the lovely food... 

The old Hammamet still has a Medina and a Kasbah, and these are well worth a visit.  The souks are not great, most of the stuff you can buy is tourist tat, or counterfeit Prada (and it looks counterfeited!).  One shop had beautiful ceramics, but they were quite expensive.  Again, I am sure the medina is an completely different place in the summer.  Although I was glad I went back to Hammamet, I wouldn't have wanted to spend much more than a weekend there.  Maybe the bad weather we had (the only time it rained during our stay) was partly to blame.  As soon as we got back to Tunis though, the weather was once again wonderful.