Tunisia: Sidi Bou Said
Sidi Bou Said is on the East coast of Tunis, on a cliff overlooking an adorable yacht harbour. It looks a lot like Santorini in Greece and was the most tourist-focused place of our trip. We’ve never been to Santorini, so we can only compare based on photos, but Santorini seems to look just as white and blue as Sidi Bou Said.
We only took a quick walk through the main road where some of the sellers were more persistent than in the Medina. Then we quickly escaped the masses and walked down to the harbour which was calm and breezy by comparison - and included kitties hanging out in the shade!
The street vendors offer quick and dirty Henna tattoos at, naturally, elevated prices for the tourists.
The streets are incredibly charming with blooming flowers and the overwhelming brightness of the houses.
We got a wonderful view from the top of the hill onto the marina and the beach right next to it:
We recommend to only walk this road down, and then take a cab back up as it is quite steep and does not provide much cover from the sun.
We also saw a bunch of strays at the harbor, probably as it provided shade and a gentle breeze. Usually, the cats kept to snoozing in hidden, shadowy corners during the days. They were skittish and didn’t come over unless you offered food or water (which we found the locals to do a lot, tbf!):
A mother cat we found nursing her kittens in the middle of the street.
In Tunis we didn’t see many stray dogs, but in Sidi Bou Said we found a small pack sleeping under the cars.
The commercial part of the marina is fenced off, but we snuck a picture anyways of the small fishing boats and the nets drying in the sun.
Sattelite dishes as a little connection to the outside world.
Surveillance cameras are a frequent sight around the pricey looking private estates.
After our refreshing break in shade and breeze with local cats and humans, we quickly popped by the beach beside the marina. But for nerds like us that usually spend their days in front of a computer, this beach had nothing more to offer than an ice cream and sand in all of your gear, so left by cab fairly quickly after that.
Sidi Bou Said definetely was a pretty sight, and especially the fresh air from the ocean was refreshing, but overall it was not the main attraction of the trip for us. To be fair, apart from a quick walk through the main road and drinking coffee at the marina, we did not explore much and probably missed a lot of beautiful places that even might not be as touristy as what we saw.