"Le Lezard Rouge" is one of the most exotic tourist train rides in the world. Take a "louage" (shared taxi) from the desert oasis-town of Tozeur to the dusty phosphate-town of Mataloui some 45 minutes away. Be sure to verify days/times before(telephone 6-241469). Ask to…Read More

"Le Lezard Rouge" is one of the most exotic tourist train rides in the world. Take a "louage" (shared taxi) from the desert oasis-town of Tozeur to the dusty phosphate-town of Mataloui some 45 minutes away. Be sure to verify days/times before(telephone 6-241469). Ask to be dropped at "la gare de train". While the town has a frontier-wild west look, the sight of the Red Lizard will amaze you.It has beautifully-restored wagons circa 1904 and once belonged to the Bey of Tunis. It's painted a deep-red with gold trim on the outside. Inside, the interior revealed brocaded armchairs, overhead antique-globed lighting, brass fittings and mahogany panels. The two-hour return trip with two photo-stops moved at a slow pace through the Selja Gorge near the Algerian border. Wide roll-down windows on both sides offered wide-angled views. Young waiters dressed in colonial-period garb and white gloves passed through with cold drinks. All in all, though geared only to tourists (cost: about $18 USD), it is a unique reminder of an unhurried time and well worth the special detour from Tozeur.

FACTS: The train is owned and operated by Hermes Trave at 4 rue de Damas, Tunis-Belvedere telephone: 799634/891564. If you are going as an individual, verify beforehand and get to the train station early. As 90% of the passengers were in pre-arranged tour groups, the train fills up.

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My Tunisia travel started problematic, the second day in Tunis, I was robbed, my wallet with all my money and my credit cards and my Identity Card disappeared. I believe it was robbed in the hotel, because the night before, I went out to have…Read More

My Tunisia travel started problematic, the second day in Tunis, I was robbed, my wallet with all my money and my credit cards and my Identity Card disappeared. I believe it was robbed in the hotel, because the night before, I went out to have dinner in a beautiful restaurant, as my travel companion had enough money for both, I left all my money in the hotel. The following morning we went to Carthage, and we had to do a huge queue for buying the train tickets. When we arrived to Carthage is when I missed my wallet, but I though that I hadn't taken it from the hotel.

When we came back to the Tunis hotel, I saw the wallet wasn’t there. I talked with the hotel manager, and he untiringly repeated that it was impossible the robbery was done in the hotel. At the end I wasn’t sure of nothing. The following day I went to the police in order to put a formal complaint at the police station. The way the police behaved me was "subrealistic". They were joking all the time, and finally, when I discovered that their only concern was if my cousin and I were a couple (in the sexual sense), I knew that I wouldn't recover my money so I only wanted to come out from there.

Then we had more incidences, normally we tried to go to good restaurants, and in fact in Port el Kantaoui we went to one of the most famous "The Emirs", the following day we were sick (vomiting and diarrhea)… puff. How could we solve that? As we were two days eating plain rice and we followed sick, we decided to buy some tuna sandwiches in the street. It was almost instantaneous we cured of all ours digestive problems.

For ending that trip we went to an island at the south of Tunisia, Yerba. We wanted to rest in those beautiful beaches before coming to Spain. The first day, we saw that Italian people in the hotel were wearing scarves, the temperature was not less than 35ºC, but we thought that it was an Italian trendy. At night I started again to feel sick with fever and with a sore throat. My cousin investigated in the morning, and the majority of clients were sick. There was a bacterium in the conditioning air and almost all of the guests were contaminated. Still in Spain I had to be treated with high doses of penicillin because amoxicillin wasn’t effective.

Apart from that, Tunisia is a great Country and of course it is worth visiting.

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The most amazing aspect of my Christmas night in the Sahara Desert was the converation between my friend and I and our guide Sala. We learned so much about his life and he had so many questions about us, having never met an American…Read More

The most amazing aspect of my Christmas night in the Sahara Desert was the converation between my friend and I and our guide Sala. We learned so much about his life and he had so many questions about us, having never met an American before. Tunisia is definitely off the beaten path for Americans and that makes it a very nice place to visit because you have a sense of being a pioneer.

After dinner, as we smoked strong cigarettes and drank tea, Sala's friend came out to the oasis on a motorbike. His friend, whose name I don't remember, was deaf and to be able to "read" his signing or pantomine, we had to throw more palm fronds onto the fire. He told us, just using his hands and a little help from Sala, about how the Italians love to come to the desert on New Year's to get drunk and act silly in the desert.

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Tunesia, the most northern country in Africa has an ideal climate and a long and gentle seacoast. Tozeur, in the center of this country is a nice place to visit. My best memory is, besides the city tour, having lunch in one of the beautiful oases.So…Read More

Tunesia, the most northern country in Africa has an ideal climate and a long and gentle seacoast. Tozeur, in the center of this country is a nice place to visit.

My best memory is, besides the city tour, having lunch in one of the beautiful oases.So in fact an open area restaurant in the middle of the desert.

Sitting on the floor,covered by berber carpets and in the shadow of palmtrees we degustated an exotic "bric".Paper thin pastry,enclosing a mixture of egg, parsley, seafood or meat. The Tunesia's national dish "Cous-Cous"(grain steamed stew with lamb) made it complete.

Wine was served too(a chilled but spicy "Blanc de Blanc")and than the final (do not read this weight watchers)-irrestable pastries of nuts and honey.And than a perfect final to the meal - a glass of fragnant green tea, served with fresh mint- AND A SMILE of the local Berber people.

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Having crossed the giant salt-flat called the Chott-el-Jerid to get to the desert-oasis-town of Tozeur, I didn't want to retrace the same route by land to get back to the island of Jerba for some R&R. So, the perfect solution was a 50-minute Tunisair…Read More

Having crossed the giant salt-flat called the Chott-el-Jerid to get to the desert-oasis-town of Tozeur, I didn't want to retrace the same route by land to get back to the island of Jerba for some R&R. So, the perfect solution was a 50-minute Tunisair flight from Tozeur to Houmt-Souk, Jerba's main town. For $24 USD, I didn't expect much of a plane. Lo and behold, it was a Tunisair 737 jet service which was continuing on to Europe, bringing home vacationers from both destinations. The scheduled time of departure was %:55 p.m. but the flight left EARLY at %:15 p.m. and I seemed to be the only individual, non-package tourist.

The takeoff and flight over the fringe of the Sahara was beautiful as it was sunset. The colorations of the desert below changed from pinks and mauves to purples and burgundys during the first part of the flight. There was even a nice snack service during the flight.

After a perfect landing at the modern airport on Jerba, I was esconced in a small hotel in the old city of Houmt-Souk called the "Hotel Sables D'Or" (Golden Sands).

An all too brief and scenic view of nature from above!Close

To carry one suitcase is the sign of the a person who has mastered the art of travel. This strategy works well for short trips and longer trips. One of my recent trips was for three weeks in the Tunisia. During our travels,…Read More

To carry one suitcase is the sign of the a person who has mastered the art of travel. This strategy works well for short trips and longer trips. One of my recent trips was for three weeks in the Tunisia. During our travels, we visited Adel and his family. Our activities were many and varied: We explored the cactus-lined country roads leading from Carthage to Sbikha and El Jem, museums, shopping in the souk, a visit to the zoo and fish market, a cruise and and the beaches of Hammamette, celebrated birthdays, a Hammouda family reunion and circumcision, and attended our friends' wedding. I realized the tremendous value of my habit of packing only one suitcase. Because we each had only one piece of luggage, we could get up and go whenever and wherever we wanted--even on short notice. If lines were too long, or we didn't like the prices or service we were offered, we could move on to find a better situation.

Taking only one carry-on size suitcase is a discipline that takes some planning and forethought. I mastered this discipline early on in my travels--well before the airlines levied all of their horrendous excess baggage charges. With all of the airline fees, this strategies leaves money in your pocket to do other wonderful things on your trip.

To accomplish this worthwhile goal, locate retailers and online sources that specialize in travel apparel. Their styles should be constructed with fabrics engineered to keep you warm or cool (depending on your destination), light weight, washable, quick-drying, wrinkle- and spot-resistant to travel well. Reversible items are also nice to reduce the required number of items you need to pack.

Some good sources of travel gear include: Travelsmith.com, scottevest.com, exofficio.com, packinglight.net, magellans.com, orvis.com, enjoy-europe.com, .and rei.com.

It may take you a few times to get it right, but try it. I'm sure you'll like!Close