The port city of Bizerte lies at the Northern-most tip of Tunisia.
Not just the most Northern tip of Tunisia, but of the African continent.
That, in and of itself, was reason enough for us to visit Bizerte and the surrounding region, for a few days. (We hope to get to the Southern most tip of Africa as well, with the Live Anywhere on Airbnb program.)
The beach and Lake Ichkeul
The port of Bizerte
The port of Bizerte, once a thriving hub of Mediterranean commerce, about three thousand years ago, is today a quaint, charming fishing port known for its seafood. For centuries, this port town worked as a shelter for commercial ships escaping the pursuit of pirates. The port is flanked by large fortresses where cannons once stood, protecting the city, the port and its inhabitants.
Our Airbnb in the Medina
Our Airbnb for two nights, is right in the heart of the ancient Medina. To get there, we need to park the rental car near the port and meet the host at the ancient gate to the Medina, in order for her to show us how to wind our way through the tiny walking only streets to her home. No way could we have found the place with just directions. In fact, a few times when we returned from our day, we get lost in the maze.
The Market in Bizerte
The small market nearby the port is uniquely appealing. In addition to the indoor section and some vendors lining the streets outside, trucks are lined outside the mosque, with vegetables spilling out from the vehicles onto the side walk. To each truck, one vegetable. The carrot truck. The onion truck. The dried fig truck. All beautifully and carefully arranged and displayed by the farmers.
Conversations
We had some interesting conversations with locals who were generous with their time and their thoughts about the state of politics in Tunisia and the results of the Arab Spring, which started 10 years ago in Tunisia before it rolled through North Africa and the entire Middle East. You can hear featured highlights of these conversations in our YouTube video (below).
And to counter balance all the intellectual stimulation, we had a near constant parade of friendly cats. The streets of the Medina are like an ancient “cat cafe” (which originated in Japan). No need for a cat cafe here, felines are all around and while they are street cats, they are well cared for by the local community and therefore welcome the human touch. Very different to the cats in Sidi Bou Said that need to fend for themselves for the most part.
As a result of Peta feeding cats on our way home one night with our fish scraps, we come upon a cluster of cats outside a small boutique shop run by a cat lover. The owner makes it her mission to role mode the feeding of the neighborhood cats. She explains how expensive it is here in Bizerte to get animals neutered and therefore the population keeps growing. (Excerpts from our conversation are in the YouTube video.)
All this and so much more is in our latest and final YouTube video on our month in Tunisia ~ “Conversations from the Northern Tip of Africa”.
Hope you enjoy watching and leave us your thoughts, comments, questions on the vlog!
We are currently midway through our month in Sicily, Italy. Trying to keep up with our blog and vlog. In the meantime, you can follow us on instagram @greenglobaltrek for more up to date posts about our experiences on the Live Anywhere on Airbnb program.
Thanks for reading! And thanks for watching!
Don’t forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel (it only sends updates automatically if you click on the bell icon at the top right).
Ben & Peta
How exciting! I love how the vegetables are displayed so artistically at the markets.
Yes, not only are the vegetable displayed so beautifully and carefully, but at the fish market as well. We watched in Sousse, I think it’s on that video, how the fish vendors lined the shrimp, the sardines, one by one all perfectly laid out. Thanks for reading and leaving your comments.
Peta
Love seeing all the fantastic produce. Glad you made the point that it gets cold in North Africa.
Hi Peggy
We are wondering which point we made about it getting cold in North Africa? While we were there in October we had very good weather with an occasional chilly evening and or morning… But as soon as the sun came out it was very hot actually during the middle of the day. Perhaps you are referring to the comment about the Mediteranean being too cold to swim in. Yes, for us it was, probably because we are used to tropical weather and for the locals it is also cold in comparison to their very hot summers. It is Fall season, the start of winter, so typically there were very few people on the beach at this time of year.
Peta
These are absolutely gorgeous photos, and make me feel as if I was right there beside you.
BTW – Very impressive stretching, Ben! 😀
Thank you for the lovely compliments on the photographs! And Ben says “gotta keep up with my girlfriend!”! Truth be told he is way better at doing the “almost splits”, than I am. Not an easy pose for most men actually.
Peta
It would be easy to wander for hours through the market and very tempting to buy all the fresh produce. Your accommodation looks wonderful.
We always buy fruits and some leafy greens to make salads in whatever markets we can find. In Tunisia we constantly replaced our supply of fresh dates, olives and nuts as well. The Airbnb for two nights was really perfect for a short stay and we enjoyed meeting and talking with our host.
Peta
I’m sure I would love this place! fascinating.
Alison, I can’t imagine anyone not enjoying Bizerte. It is small but has so much to offer. We spent a lot of time just strolling around exploring the Medina and watching the fishermen. The market was fabulous too. One of the most memorable ones, for us.
Peta
Hi Peta and Ben!
I’m still following along, but will watch the video later, when I have more time. Looking forward to that as it will be my relaxation one evening. I really like how the vendors display their vegetables – art and purpose. Speaking of art, have you been able to paint at all, Peta? Maybe while Ben is working? Time is flying as always. I can’t believe you’re already halfway through your Italy stay as well.
Hi Liesbet,
I am not painting on the go, but rather doing some sketching. I am accumulating a lot of inspiration to use at some later date when I have more time and we not moving around as much as we are now…
It IS interesting when one “measures” time by the month, how quickly that month goes by. Here we are already in December and the year is about to finish even though it really feels as though it just got started!
Thanks for reading and leaving us your comments.
Peta
Makes sense, Peta. I was just wondering about the painting, since I believe I saw you select and pack brushes and small paint supplies in one of the early videos or the AirBnB movie segment. 🙂
Loved the video and learning more about the Tunisian culture, religion, and Western progress. Two observations, although I wouldn’t know how to fix them – sometimes the different clips within the movie are quite abrupt or cut off. Secondly, the music parts are usually louder than the voice parts, which has me adjust the volume a lot. All sounds tricky to me. You two are doing an amazing job with the videos!
Thanks for all this good feedback Liesbet. Yes, I have my supplies but have used them less than I thought I would.. a tad over ambitious haha. However, you can see a few of my sketches that I posted on my @petakaplan instagram page.
Yes, the sound is something that is very tricky and we are yet to master. Reason being that the music is obviously prerecorded whereas the scenes in the street on the go pick up surrounding sound and is also more muffled. Learning as we go….
Peta
It sounds like it’s a good decision to visit Bizerte for it’s different from Sidi Bou Said. (And as someone who loves cats, I love the fact that our feline friends are treated in a much better way in the former than in the latter.) What a great way to end your Tunisian leg of the journey!
Hi Bama, we greatly enjoyed our visit to the North. Everywhere in Tunisia there were so many street cats. I tried to feed as many as I could along the way, it was quite heartwrenching actually. I just wanted to adopt so many of them. Bizerte was definitely the exception although clearly they need some kind of a sterilization campaign there to keep the population from just expanding and expanding.
Thanks for reading us and leaving us your comments.
Peta
Charming in so many respects! The produce trucks with their single-item loads seem pretty unique to me, but they did remind me of the streets of shops in some countries where everything on any one street is the same kind of merchandise. All I can think is that people have more time to shop as I can’t imagine most westerners being able to tolerate multiple stops for a full load of groceries. (I, on the other hand, am a slow shopper and this would be quite all right!). Tunisia overall is very appealing, and I hope to get there someday.
Thanks Lex for your comments. We were totally charmed by Tunisia and would love to have had more time there. The market in Bizerte was actually quite small and easy to get everything one needs, although here of course people go to the market much more frequently than Westerners therefore buying less produce at a time.
Now that we are here in Syracuse Italy, and living around the corner from the produce market, we notice the same thing. Locals come to buy a few things they need and then probably return the next day.. just part of the rhythm of life to incorporate going to the market in one’s daily routine.
I do hope you get to Tunisia one day, It is full of gems.
Peta
Must have been nice being there in the off season despite it being a bit cold. I love the look of that long, deserted beach. And look at Ben doing the splits! Your port and market photos are stunning. I probably told you that I’m a cat lover so I’m very glad to read that they are cared for by the local community. I made shakshuka for dinner tonight so reading about Tunisia is perfect (wish I was there right now).
Hi Caroline.. yes, there are definitely benefits to visiting places in off season. In summer Bizerte and other coastal spots get a lot of European visitors. It wasn’t warm enough to swim but still we got to enjoy the beach.
Thanks for the compliments on the photography. I got a new phone in Chicago specifically for the benefit of a higher quality camera. Glad I made the investment.
Ah from one cat lover to another… It was a nice change to see the street cats being so well cared for. Wonderful to see how one passionate person can have impact on a whole community. Outside the shop where we met the woman who organized all of this, she had at least four or five permanent cat houses made for street cats and plenty of food stations for them as well.
We did have shakshuka a few times. It was delicious.
Peta
Wonderful you’ve made your way to Bizerte at the top of Tunisa. It sounds like quite a ride so far with the Airbnb program and lovely to follow along. Stunning views along the coast and of the sky, and of course the ports rich in history. I hope you didn’t get too lost going around and going back to your rental over the two nights you were there! What an array of fresh produce and spices at the market. So many choices and there is only so much you can buy – but so much to admire.
It really did seem like the streets are like a cat cafe, and the felines are every part of the community. Very kind of you Peta to feed some of the cats like the locals do 🙂 Safe travels.
Thank you Mabel for your enthusiastic feedback. If you didn’t watch the video yet, I think you will enjoy that as well. We did lose our way in the narrow streets of the Medina quite a few times, but it’s so tiny that one easily can retrace the path back. We had a wonderful time there.
I always try to save some of our food if I have noticed stray dogs or cats, no matter the country, and if I see many of them, then I actually buy food to give them. I know it is not consistent feeding but I figure that one good meal is better than none. In Nicaragua where we lived, we fostered about 30 cats over six years, got them back to health and then found them forever homes. It was so very satisfying a process.
Thanks for reading us.
Peta
Hi Ben and Peta: we have been fans since your Sri Lankan days, and got a lot of inspiration for our brief trip to Sri Lanka from your blog.
Thanks for including “conversations from Tunisia” including discussion and news about the new government and its gender diversity. This is good news, and a welcome diversion from main stream news which always tends to focus on the negative and disasters, etc. Yes, the Arab Spring has not yet succeeded full stop, but great to know positive momentum exists in some places.
We would love to visit North Africa and the Southern Coast of the Mediterranean; thanks for shining a light on this region!
Steve and Trish thanks for your positive and encouraging feedback.
The media’s consistent focus on bad news does tend to provide a rather warped image of most places we visit. Of course in a month we just scratch the surface, but for sure we felt an energy of optimism from the young people we observed and or spoke to. Tunisia should definitely be high on your travel list as it is a fascinating country to visit.
Glad you enjoyed this post.
P&B
P.S. We just posted a new video on our stay in Tanzania, East Africa. More to come.