It is about 15 years ago I was last in Tunisia. The reason to go was that holidays are really really cheap there and after all those expensive holidays a cheap destination was a good idea.
For the first time since many many years I chose to go with a package holiday – horrible – but the easiest way to get there. Very unusual for me.
The destination in Tunisia was Sousse, a really nice town at the Mediterranean Sea. I chose a hotel which was very close to the Medina (old city) so there was no need to stay in the Hotel and we could go and hang out in the city without depending on any transfer.
I was really surprised that almost no one of the other tourists did the same and mostly we were the only ones around the locals. In Sousse we visted the Ribat (old fortress), the main mosque and the Kasbah (which is an even bigger fortress with a museum). Also we walked around the old city (Medina) a lot. Narrow streets, lots of shops with spices, carpets or lots of souveniers.
Of course we did not only stay in Sousse. A quite adventours tour went to El Djem. We took a local minibus (Louage) for about 2€ each from Sousse. Everything was written in Arabic and we just trusted the people to put us in the right minibus ;). It worked and lots of people tried to help us. El Djem is easy to describe – a big amphitheater (a little smaller than the Coliseum in Rome) and a small village around. The amphitheater is very impressive – they shot the movie Gladiator here – unlike Rome you can walk around everywhere. And almost no people – fantastic. We spent a lot time there.
The other tour lead us to Kairouan – the 4th most important islamic city in the world (and the most imporant one in Northern Africa). Because I wanted to be there early we rented a Taxi for the day (was about 45€) – it took about 1,5hrs to get there. First we visted the main Mosque which was very impressive. Then we visted the Aghlabid Pools and another Mosque (with 3 doors). Somehow we got dragged into a carpet shop and I could not resist… Finally we spent some time walking around the very nice and old Medina.
Well it was a good relaxing holiday – of course the Hotel in Sousse very touristy, but we only used it for sleeping and eating (and the food was surprisingly good). But also we tried some local food from the streets of course. A good destination for 1 week in the winter especially and you can easily escape the tourist crowds by just leaving the hotel…