Tunisia: Train journey to souqs and medinas

His name is Aziz, he works in your hotel and he – for some reason, perhaps the birth of a daughter – wants to take you for a coffee and a quick visit to a 'government' carpet shop, because it is the last day of a special festival and there are massive discounts on the carpets.

Aziz will take you up to the roof to show you the fantastic views of the medina – be it Tunis, Souse, Hammamet or any other of the wonders of Tunisia – and then the owners of this 'official centre' will take you to an exhibition of carpets, complete with prices.

To enjoy the medinas of Tunisia, the key is just to get lost.

So as you sneak away from Aziz, just go a-wanderin’, stumble on the local souqs selling food and sheep's heads hanging out of shops, along the tourist markets with stuffed camels and perfumes.

Our journey through Tunisia started in Tunis – hot, stifling and fun – but we quickly headed out by train along the coast and down to the town of Mahdia.

Mahdia sits on the thin Cap d'Afrique with its own medina and souq leading into a narrow strip of winding streets and a grand castle. Further down the coast is the long Zone Turistique, with great hotels and little charm.

The beaches, in contrast, are long, clean and magnificent; with so many shells it seems the local authorities have placed them there deliberately.

What lets Mahdia down is it is a little too small. Although we were there before the main season, word seemed to get round about a Polish couple – our nom de voyage to put off the traders and the next Aziz – but soon the town got to know about us and had brushed up on their Slavic languages.

Heading into the medina under the Skifa el-Kahla gate, the best way to avoid the calls from Aziz – and this is true across the country – is just to move on. They lose interest and you lose a guide who would like to charge you 20 dinar for very little.

As one man shouted: "Get used to it. We are all like that here."

The men of Mahdia seem to spend their time watching football in the tea bars, supping sweet mint tea and strong coffees – to get a real feel of the town join them. No women seem to go to the bars – amid the dense smoke of chain smoking and shisha pipes, because – as my travel partner claimed – they were too dirty.

Heading through the back streets in the evening, it is common to hear the click of weavers making scarves.

We found they were happy to chat, let you take pictures, have a look at the wares, but there was the feel that it wasn't really for the tourists.

Among the usual tourist goods, the click clack of weavers can be seen and heard, while past the medina and towards the town's great fort the narrow streets seem a world away from any tourist trap.

When eating out in Mahdia, along the port front are a number of good tourist restaurants, but the small eateries in the centre offering couscous and fresh fish for a few dinars are far superior.

Ending the night – with sweet mint tea in Cairo square with boisterous youngsters and grumbling old men alike finishes a day firmly entrenched in Tunisian life.

After a few days of small town relaxing and enjoying empty beaches, we jumped back on the train heading north. Staring out the window you get to see a real slice of Tunisia. While the train seemed full of university students with their long conversations and laptops, outside were shepherds with small herds of goats and sheep. At one point I saw a donkey pulling a cart waiting for the train to pass.

While the trains themselves may not win any prizes for cleanliness, the seats were big and comfy, and the punctuality of SNCFT was enviable for those used to UK train travel.


Our next stop was Sousse – a sort of halfway house between Tunis and Mahdia. The city's long beaches draw in the tourists and the large, but not overwhelming medina is fun to explore.

Along the beaches of Sousse, the obese heliophiles of Europe descend to demonstrate their deformities and tattoos – much like any other beach along the Mediterranean.

Within the 2km or so of walls surrounding the medina you can find an 8th century ribat, a grand kasbah and the joy of exploring endless twisting alleys – safe in the knowledge that, if you are lost, you only have to walk downhill to escape.

One of the highlights is the Museum dar Essid. The private museum is the traditional Tunisian home of a reasonably well-off family. The beds for the wife and second wife are amazing, along with the pictures of the former residents, centuries-old toilet and hidden details in every corner – for example, an oil lamp that dictated how long the husband had to pleasure his wife for.

Outside the city, the catacombs are an eerie place to explore and the walk back to town – through wide dusty street past the supermarkets and clothes shops not usually seen by tourists - adds a certain context to your knowledge of the country.

Shopping means it is, of course, time to barter. No matter where you are from the boy selling will have a brother married to a girl from there and will offer you a special price – explaining the inflated price tags are for the Americans.

However, get to know the best prices in the sanitised store just outside the medina entrance. It will give you a good base – but remembering the bartering is part of the fun, so don't just put it all on the credit card in the sterile safety of the Soula Shopping Centre.

Heading back to Tunis you really notice that apart from Aziz someone else is watching you. The airbrushed picture of the president of 20 years, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.His loving glare, with his hand on his heart, appears in every hotel, bar, public building, bill board and, no doubt, on the toilet paper in the ministries.
Tunisia's political situation is something Tunisians do not really want to talk much about – except to claim they were behind their second premier since 1957.

After experiencing the smaller medinas of Mahdia and Souse, you truly understand the immense size of the centre of Tunis. Getting lost in the boulevards of the French-built Ville Nouvelle is easy and short-lived, but getting lost in the medina of Tunis really means getting lost.

Clutching a map with half an hour to get to the airport, after splashing our final dinars in the souq, no-one knew where we were. Each district has its own flavour so it is well worth exploring beyond the tourist sites and getting well and truly lost – just as long as you don't have a plane to catch.

Flying out of Tunis I felt I had only just touched on all the country had to offer, with its massive lakes hidden in the dessert, green hills and, of course, Star Wars sets.

Tunisia is a country to return to, to be welcomed again and explore once more - just try to avoid Aziz if possible.


Daniel Barnes