So WHY did we chose Tunisia?
A question we frequently got when we declared that our first country (after our Chicago stop) would be Tunisia, in North Africa.
Here is the back story…
Shortly after finding out that we had miraculously (given the odds) been selected by Airbnb to participate in their Live Anywhere on Airbnb program, we started to talk and dream of where we wanted to go.
So many choices and decisions to make. Some places were crossed off our list because they were (and still are) closed to visitors due to the pandemic. If not, you can bet we would have been back in Japan, for at least a month.
We created three criteria for ourselves to help with decision making with regard to where to go:
- Places we have never been before.
- Places that are somewhat off the beaten track. Avoid the obvious choices. As we described in our video as part of the Airbnb selection process, we would chose Phnom Penh over Paris, Tanzania over Venice. Now don’t get us wrong. We LOVE both Paris and Venice, but we knew that if we were to be selected for this opportunity, we would prioritize countries with a steeper learning curve and cultural discovery value.
- Weather. We don’t do winter. Therefore prioritizing destinations with mild weather over the winter months.
Chalk and wooden doors become the way that we capture many moving parts during brain storming sessions about our geographic options. So many options and so many factors to consider such as weather, covid, cost and logistics.
We have a cluster of possibles in Africa and a possible cluster in Southern Europe comprised of Greece, Croatia, Turkey, Italy from which we must select. We cannot do it all, we need to down select. Over a few weeks, things start to concretize and we have a starting plan…
Then one day while scrolling through instagram, this photo pops up on my instagram feed:
I say to Ben “This is where I want to go!”
Ben: “Where is it?”
Me: “Hmm, I don’t know. Let me check!
“Tunisia!”
Ben: “SURE!”
“I’d LOVE to go to Tunisia! Don’t know anyone who has been there… It’s not a place I know anything about, so… YES!”
With this, Tunisia goes onto the list of definite/possible/maybe, should really consider Tunisia as one of our choices for the program.
A couple days later, (at our home base in Zipolite, Oaxaca), we go to our yoga class where we meet Alex. Alex is Swedish and lives in New York. We stroll the beach after class together with our dogs. And then we meet her husband, Yannis.
Me: “Yannis, you are not from New York! Where are you from?”
Yannis: “Tunisia”.
One of those moments where Ben and I look at each other and we both wonder if the universe is playing a trick on us. Seems coincidental that we had just been talking about Tunisia being a strong contender on our Live Anywhere journey and then we meet Yannis, from Tunisia.
We know better! The dots are starting to connect themselves… Not coincidence, but serendipity.
Numerous conversations ensue about Tunisian politics, history, and so forth, between Ben and Yannis over goat tacos. Between Yannis’s youth in the Tunis region, and their recent trip to Tunisia, they are a fountain of information and recommendations.
Yosky (our Italian friend and yoga teacher), sensing that the scale is tipping toward Tunisia, starts pitching Italy convincingly. He is from Northern Italy but of course gives us a thumbs up to our consideration of Puglia in the South of Italy.
We decide to do BOTH. it will be Tunisia first for a month and then a short hop to Southern Italy, for another month, after that!
Arrival in Sidi Bou Said
We selected the town of Sidi Bou Said as our base, lured by this small coastal town’s architecture and charm. White-washed buildings with bright cerulean blue and sunflower yellow wooden doors, archways and hidden cobblestone alleys overflowing with bougainvillea and vistas over the turquoise blue gulf of Tunis.
If Sidi Bou Said is a treat for the eyes, it is equally rich to the ears and palate. The smell of simmering couscous and freshly baked bread wafts into the street, as does the haunting voice of an Arabic ballad and the call to prayer which is sung from the minaret of the surrounding mosques several times a day.
(Talking of couscous, one of the first things we do after arriving in Tunisia, is to go and find Yannis’s father’s couscous restaurant in nearby La Marsa. Couscous is the quintessential dish of Tunisia and we are eager to have our first (of many) times eating this dish in the next month. Great to meet Yannis’s dad and savour a superlative fish couscous with delicious fresh salads. Couscous is as prevalent here as rice is for the Chinese and pasta for Italians.)
We are thrilled with our Airbnb. Small, yet charming and very comfortable. The immediate neighborhood has a few restaurants, a market, a juice bar, a bread shop, all the essentials. We have met some of our neighbors and I am finding it easy to speak with the locals, who are quick to chat and talk about their country and their religion, Islam. The two languages that are spoken predominantly here are Arabic and French. Harder for Peta as she doesn’t speak French, and not many people speak English. But as always she finds a way to communicate.
An unexpected surprise was the timing of our being here for the festivities around the birthday of the prophet Muhammad, which is a holiday celebrated throughout the Arab world. In Sidi Bou Said, drawing on the town’s key role in the spread of Sufism, (which is the mystical expression of Islamic faith), we had a rare opportunity to experience hypnotic Sufi music and dancing in the local palace. This alone was worth coming to Tunisia for.
Given that we are now creating videos for our youtube channel, and hoping to maintain our blog as well, the bulk of efforts, for now, will go into the creation and production of our videos. We invite you to subscribe and follow along with us. Feel free to leave comments either here on the blog, or directly underneath the video on the actual youtube channel.
Episode 6: Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia
Episode six on our Green Global Trek Youtube Channel introduces the beauty of our seaside, hill top city of Sidi Bou Said. Stroll the streets of Sidi Bou Said, and experience an Arab ballad with the brightly colored doors and whitewashed buildings as our backdrop. Rare footage of the Sufi celebration with dance and percussion instruments in the palace.
Episode 7: An afternoon in Tunis
This episode has us taking the train into Tunis and its sprawling Medina and souks. We discover the lablebi dish ~ a humble chickpea stew over torn bread. The narrow streets of the Medina, the colorful doors and the hauntingly beautiful calls to prayer. You can also see Ben getting a shave and a Covid dubious shave massage combo.
We take a five day road trip, with a rented car and make our way South toward the UNESCO world heritage city of Sousse, and the ancient capital of Mahdia. Sousse is an absolute treat with hidden narrow streets taking us deep in the old quarters, with the discovery of the fish market, vegetable market, the Great Mosque of Sousse and the Archaeology Museum.
Episode 8: Roadtrip to Sousse & Mahdia
Balancing work and play
Our nomadic lifestyle presents the challenge between work that must get done and the lure of discovery that beckons beyond our arched Tunisian doors. Fortunately, the time zones of North Africa work well for my purpose but it remains a juggling act that requires some careful choreography between work and play (and patience on Peta’s part.)
By now the reality of juggling work and play is coming into focus. I am having to manage a surge in work obligations for a large scale reforestation initiative in Southeast Asia at the same time as we also launch our Live Anywhere on Airbnb adventure. Amazing that technology has so changed global work practices to allow such smooth global co-operation at a distance.
Hope you’ll subscribe up to our Youtube Channel and leave your thoughts after discovering Tunisia with us, through these first three videos…
(One thing to mention re Youtube: Once you have subscribed, you need to activate the small bell at the top right hand corner of the Youtube channel, so that when we post new vides you will be alerted. Not as good as getting an email, but apparently Youtube does not do that. We will as well, continue to post our videos here on the blog.)
For the most uptodate news of our travels, follow us on Instagram: @greenglobaltrek as our most current photos will be posted on instagram before the videos are made and before the blog is written.
Enjoy and thanks for reading!
Ben & Peta
We also know nothing about Tunisia, so we’re enjoying your videos. Aside from the blue and white colors, Tunisia reminds us very much of Iran. Many of your photos capturing the markets, shops, eateries, buildings, tiles, “bread!” etc. show us that you could be walking through the villages of Iran. It’s very interesting.
In all of our travels we have yet to visit Italy. I have no idea why but there you go. So… we will be looking forward to your travels to the region and bookmarking ideas for when we once again begin to travel internationally, hopefully, 2022.
Safe travels!
Thanks Patti for your comments. In a month, we have learnt SO much about Tunisia, its people, history, Islam and the culture. Huge learning curve! Very interesting to read that Tunisia appears so remindful of Iran. But then again, the Fatamid Empire (mentioned in the video on Sousse and Mahdia), which was anchored in Mahdia, was a large empire which practised Shia Islam and perhaps there is a connection there?
We have only been to Northern Italy and have spent much time when we are in Europe in Holland, France, and Spain. So we are very much looking forward to deepening our understanding of Southern Italy, or at least, Sicily, where we are headed. And, while we have loved Tunisian food, we are definitely ready for Italian cuisine!
Thanks for reading, watching our video and leaving your comments Patti.
Tunisia! Wow, you certainly have picked some amazing places to visit. Your criteria is perfect. Ben’s knowledge of French has certainly come in handy. (how many languages can he speak?) I love your place. The pictures and videos are fabulous and make me want to go there. i am so attracted to the middle eastern/North African culture. And I love the food. That garbanzo bean breakfast looks so good. Having a lot of fun following these adventures.
Thank you Darlene for all your lovely comments! Oh yes, traveling with a polyglot comes in very handy. Ben speaks English, French, Spanish and Japanese. I’m hoping he can triangulate his French and Spanish to allow easy navigation in Italy for our upcoming stay there.
Our Airbnb has been perfect for us. Well located, super cute, comfy, full of charm and even has a bathtub!
Love that our photos and videos make you want to visit Tunisia. There is much to be attracted to and just from a historical point of view, the base of Carthage in Tunis, the type of Islam practice in Tunisia and the birth of the Arab spring here… there is a lot of depth.
The food has been incredible! The chickpea stew is a humble dish as the base is bread, and it is SO good!
Thanks for following our blog and video and for sharing your feedback with us!
Peta & Ben
Lovely! I so enjoy being an armchair traveller with you both. Loving this adventure you are on.
Deb
Thanks Deb, so glad that you are enjoying the ride, we are enjoying sharing it. We don’t know anyone that has been to Tunisia (other than the couple we mention) and so it has been very fun to see how many people would now consider it as a future trip as it is on their radar and definitely was not before! Good ripple economic effect.
Peta & Ben
I sense a strong connection in you both for Tunisia. So many off-the-beaten-track places do that, don’t they? Those blues too! How beautiful.
I have a friend who showed me how to make traditional couscous, it was sooo good.
She spent a lot of time with Berber families in the Atlas Mountains. At mealtime everyone gathered around a big pile of tender couscous, on top of which were piled grilled lamb & grilled vegetables (zucchini, eggplant) and some juice from the family stock-pot. Everyone ate from the pile just in front of them, but if the grandmother matriarch had a particular liking for a certain family member, she might push a tasty chunk of lamb or eggplant their way.
Johnny, we do enjoy discovering places that are “off the beaten track” but in particular enjoy the continuation of understanding of the Muslim world. For me, Peta, I DO like to go to countries that no one I know has been to. That way I go with a very open mind and no preconceptions. Most people travel to Morocco and tend to not even consider Tunisia. While we have been here, the travelers we have met have been visiting from Mauritania, Libya, and other parts of Tunisia.
Ahh, we barely touched on the food here but it has been incredible and we certainly have never had such delicious couscous. Thank you for sharing your lovely story and description. It is a good skill to have! The ability to make a good couscous. You never know when a Berber girl might cross your path and that becomes a critical skill set! Love the part about the grandmother favoring certain family members… Haha.
Ben & Peta
I like how your blog enhances your videos. Love hearing about your selection process in greater detail, and about juggling work with exploration. The blog feels more intimate and the videos more public, and both are endlessly fascinating. Thank you!
Thank you, Sharon!
We are in process of figuring out how to proceed with both the blog and the videos. We were thinking perhaps that the blog should be primarily photo essays and links to the videos… but we are open to feedback just don’t want to duplicate work. It’s good to know that the blog serves a purpose in giving more backstory which in video format would probably detract from what is happening real time.
P&B
Peta and Ben, everything that you do it is always so beautifully done. Loving how the blog and YouTube channel are now so seamlessly intertwined. You are both great presenters. I have subscribed, but not sure I have pressed the little bell, so will have to check it out. I am glad that you have all the videos here in the blog.
I don’t know much about Tunisia, so I am enjoying learning about it with you.
Gilda that is such a wonderful compliment, thank you.Well, we are at the end of our months stay and there will still be two more videos on Tunisia hopefully, and we have both learned so much from our time here. Will be hard to say goodbye to this fascinating culturally rich country. Wish we had more time here, but Sicily awaits us!
Peta
Oh I am just smitten. Tunisia has definitely been put on the list thanks to you two. I would never have thought of it, but it looks absolutely fascinating. Wonderful photos!
Alison, so glad to have delivered Tunisia to your doorstep, so to speak. We knew it would be interesting but we were not expecting the multidimensionality of everything from politics to architecture to music…. to food! I hope you get to visit here.
Thank you for your comment on my photos. That means a lot, coming from you!
Peta
Mais la Tunisie, c’est pas loin de la France ! Vous pourriez faire un petit saut à Bagnolet sur le chemin du retour !
La Dordogne, c’est pas aussi exotique, ais c’est aussi beau !
Mille bisous
Lolo
Lolo!! Quelle plaisir de te lire ici Lolo! Ouais, bon, Bagnolet vs Siracuse, Sicile… Hmmm… Tu auras du mal a me convaincre… Mais je retiens la notion Dordogne, on n’sait jamais…
Milles bisous de Sidi Bou Said…
BenJAmin…
Everything about this sounds so amazing that J and I just researched airfares to Tunisia for next month! Unfortunately, they are sky high, so we will wait. Definitely a new entry to the travel wish list! I will look for that button on the Youtube page. I subscribed a while ago but assumed it would alert me when there was new material – good to know I have to be more proactive!
PS Do you still have plans to be in Oaxaca over the holidays?
Wow, I love that our post and videos have inspired you so much that you actually were ready to book tickets! Keep watching those fares… The only caveat I would say is that most people only speak French and Arabic. So the fact that Ben speaks French has made logistics and everything that much easier than it would be without having a common language of course.
Yes, we will be returning to our home base for the holidays and I have to say, I am super excited! It doesn’t make sense from a practical stand point, but we had made plans with the kids over a year ago to meet up there and everything was booked etc. A rare event!
I speak French! We thought we might be in Mexico in late December but that is looking less and less likely. You’ll be super busy with the family anyway! Enjoy Italy!
Hi, Peta and Ben – I love your selection process. And I agree that the Umiverse was sending you direct messages. Sidi Bou Said is an amazing feast for the eyes. The white and blue contrast is stunning!
Donna thanks for your comments. We have already been here a month, the time has just flown by and the interesting thing is that the visuals just don’t get old. Soaking up as much of the colors and vistas as we can before we fly to Sicily in a couple of days! What a month it has been.
Peta
What a gorgeous country! Beautiful, rich colors and friendly people… it’s great to see you in your bright, flowy togs again, Peta. I love the doors and the food looks so yummy… yeah, I think I could stay there for a while.
Thanks Janis! A month was not nearly long enough, especially as Ben is also still working full time so it is not as though we have a month in reality. Normal life in that he is working all week and then we get the weekends to explore.
The doors… they are absolutely magnificent. No better doors anywhere en masse like this and such incredible saturated colors. Also love the metal studs that decorate them. Initially we thought the beautiful colorful doors were just in Sidi Bou Said, Once we went on the road and by train to Tunis, we realized that the doors are everywhere. A national treasure as far as we are concerned!
Thanks for reading us and watching our videos and for your feedback Janis. I am way behind in reading blogs as I am just trying hard to keep up here!
Peta
I am in awe of how the two of you move about the world, experiencing different cultures first-hand. I may not be able to travel freely at this point, but I sure enjoy reading your blogs and seeing your videos and photos!
Thanks Janis! A month was not nearly long enough, especially as Ben is also still working full time so it is not as though we have a month in reality. Normal life in that he is working all week and then we get the weekends to explore.
The doors… they are absolutely magnificent. No better doors anywhere en masse like this and such incredible saturated colors. Also love the metal studs that decorate them. Initially we thought the beautiful colorful doors were just in Sidi Bou Said, Once we went on the road and by train to Tunis, we realized that the doors are everywhere. A national treasure as far as we are concerned!
Thanks for reading us and watching our videos and for your feedback Janis. I am way behind in reading blogs as I am just trying hard to keep up here!
Peta
What a great backstory! Loved hearing it.
Glad you enjoyed the back story Steph, thanks for stopping by to read us.
Peta
Prior to your time in Tunisia I never would have considered a trip there. Now I think it is a hidden treasure. The videos really bring it to life and am so enjoying seeing and listening to each of you. No wonder you were chosen by AirBnb! Well done!
Sue, we are thrilled that Tunisia is now on your radar. It really is a hidden treasure, with most travelers going to Morocco and frequently ignoring Tunisia. We really enjoy going to countries that are off the beaten track and not obvious choices. When we first traveled to Nicaragua, GASP was the most frequent reaction from people. Fast forward six years of our living there and by the time we left, Nicaragua was solidly on the map for way more travelers, a wider demographic not just the backpacking adventurers.
Ben speaking French is a huge asset and I am not sure what it would be like to travel here without that advantage. But that said, I would highly encourage anyone that has the opportunity to travel here, to do so and for as much time as possible. Even though Tunisia is not a large country, it still takes time to move around of course and we found that even a month was not enough time for us
Thank you for the lovely compliment! So grateful to have been selected by Airbnb as this feels like a once in a life time opportunity for us.
Peta
Wow, this is absolutely exquisite! I was so excited to read about Tunisia. One of our son’s best friends is from Tunisia and he has been talking it up. Now that I see your gorgeous photos, videos and read your descriptions I’m totally sold. Thanks for the short break from the Pacific Northwest November gloom.
Caroline, how cool that one of your son’s friends is from Tunisia. There is much to be talked up here! We have absolutely loved our month here. When we left Chicago, I had no set expectations and very little knowledge about Tunisia, so it was very much a case of being open to seeing how things would play out…
So very happy to read that Tunisia is now solidly on your radar. Interestingly, my youngest son Adam had a best friend in elementary school who was from Tunisia. He was the first person we had ever met from Tunisia and since then have not met another, until we met Yannis at our home base in Mexico. I hope you both get to visit one day. We feel as though we just scratched the surface.
Peta
I thoroughly enjoyed your Tunisia videos! Good to see you had an amazing and varied time. As always, I’m impressed with how you can combine work and play, especially Ben! I once went to Tunisia for a week when I was in my early twenties but I don’t remember all the colors and cultural impressions. The doors with their different knockers are so cool! Have fun in Italy!
Thanks Liesbet, another one has just been posted! We will share it on our blog sometime soon but if you are impatient to see it, you can always go to our youtube channel before we post it up here.
Combining work and play requires constant choreography and patience on my part. We would be able to do a whole lot more road trips if Ben were not working full time. But he is… Not complaining haha, just noting.
The doors were such a treat. We had assumed at first that they were just in Sidi Bou Said but then discovered that there were cool doors in each city we visited. How interesting that you were there in your twenties. Wow.
Peta
You make Tunisia a bucket list destination for sure, I have totally enjoyed all your videos, and photos! The white and the blue are incredible!! I think I will talk my husband to start practicing his French LOL
Combining work and travel might be tiresome, but I see you manage somehow to enjoy all the places.
The people don’t really look to wear masks and stuff, I guess all is safe there!
p.s. I seem to not receive your replies, wondering if I need to do anything on my end..
Christie, glad that we have put Tunisia on your bucket list! That’s great.
We definitely are not seeing “all the places” and not even trying to do that, as we know it would be impossible. We are taking more of a French bouquet of flowers kind of approach… a few yellow, a couple of red, a tall one, a short one. Just a smattering, a taste of the culture. We only really have weekends to explore but we certainly make the best of the time we do have.
Very few people wear masks. About 5 out of 100 and there seems to be a total oblivion with regard to Covid. I think people are weary, because, many of the shops and restaurants have signs that say masks required but not that many follow through on enforcing it. We were very surprised at the non chalance. One day we got on the train end of day and so many unmasked people got on behind us that we jumped off at the very next stop and just went home. It felt way too risky for our comfort.
P&B
Thanks for this tour. Tunisia is high on my must-visit list.
Most welcome Peggy. Wondering when and how Tunisia got onto your must visit list. Not anyone that we know has visited there, which kind of added to the attraction to be honest. 🙂
Peta
I love the fact that you chose Tunisia, a country that is often overshadowed by Morocco among international travelers. I have always wanted to visit the former, but unfortunately for some reason Indonesians need to provide quite a lot of documents to apply for a Tunisian visa (on the contrary, we are able to visit Morocco without a visa). It’s funny how that single photo convinced Petra that it is Tunisia that would be your home for a month, and what a great coincidence to meet Yannis! It sounds like you had a great time in this north African country.
Bama, We are SO glad we tipped in favor of Tunisia. I can see how Morocco has captured more of the market share of North African-destination travelers. But this is a bit like people who travel to Indonesia and only go to Bali. While it may make sense to go to Bali as a first step, we loved visiting Flores for instance. So I think the take away for us going forward is that we need to be alert to this pattern of big bright shiny lights that obscure less obvious nearby destinations. Hope that metaphor makes sense to you.
As for the one photo, that’s the way things go sometimes. One photo, one conversation, one chance meeting and our travels and lives take a slightly different trajectory.
Now we are left thinking — shouldn’t we consider Libya as a destination? What about Mauritania? And so it goes – a never ending travel domino situation where every domino we play creates a new set of opportunities.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your always stimulating thoughts.
Peta