Tuesday
At night at anchor in Tunisia. It took half an hour before we had a visit by the police but they said it was OK to stay. Swimming was a bit limited as there were jelly fish around. There was a nice bright moon which is why perhaps the dogs and donkeys were howling in the night!
Sidi Bou Said
Lovely sail across an azure sea to Sidi Bou Said - the port nearest Tunis. We heeded the warning not to go to close to the Presidential Palace! Initially the port said they were full but just managed to get a spot moored alongside a French Yacht. Spent the evening exploring the souk and shops in the town above the port - very attractive with the white houses.
Thursday
Today was culture day. Carthage is a suburb of Tunis and the remains of the Phoenicians, Greeks Romans and Byzantines are everywhere. Carthage was the largest of all the Punic Cities that covered most of the Mediterranean around 800 years BC. We saw Punic houses and graves at one site along with Greek columns. We visited the Carthage Museum and the French Cathedral dedicated to Thomas a Becket! By the sea was the Roman Baths and Gymnasium complete with (reconstructed) columns to show the original height of the buildings. We then walked to the Punic Ports - I had read about this in novel and was keen to see how it really looked. The ports consisted of two communicating basins - one was commercial and one military. Ships entered through the first gap that was about 20 m wide and could be closed by chains. They then could move through the first basin and then into the second basin was entirely semi-circular with an island in the middle. This is where the Punic war triremes (galleys) would be moored and repaired. I could just imagine it as it was 2000 years ago fully of slaves and soldiers. Now it is a bit smelly and full of water bottles - but the structure was still clear. It was just too hot for the Roman Villa - hope to catch this in Sicily.
Managed to blag our way into the Yacht Club (members only) as visiting yachtsman and had a good Tunisian meal.