Thursday 25 May 2017

A taste of Tunisia: Sidi Bou Said


The most famous thing about Tunisia for me has always been those pretty white houses with blue trim...Blue doors, blue windows and sometimes some extra decoration, overlooking the sea.




The (rather loose) plan we had for Tunis definitely included those. Some googling revealed that this is the trademark of little town or suburb of Tunis: Sidi Bou Said.


This is an area of small streets and alleys where all the houses are painted in white with most of them (like 98%) having blue doors and windows. There are orange trees and loads of bougainvillea around, all this on a hill overlooking the Med. In short: picture perfect!


As you enter it there is quite a number of souvenir and traditional crafts shops that will invite you to take a look but won't cling, which is really great. One seller invited us in to look at the house he set shop in as it was historical and indeed very impressive on the inside! "Come in, you don't have to buy anything, just look at the interior"...Not something I'm used to. Tourism hasn't damaged this country yet.👍


Sidi Bou Said is exactly where we spent our whole first day in Tunis. Just walking around admiring the views, all the blue around, in breezy sunny weather, had a good dinner in one equally white and blue building there and bought some local sweets on the way back home around sunset.


I had couscous with fish for dinner and it was really good! I didn't know couscous was a Tunisian specialty as well, I thought it came from Morocco. Well, you travel you learn 😀





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