Nefta - Red Lizard train - Kairouan

Fonzi was able to get us some of the Deglet Nour dates at local rates and didn't want us to leave but we had to. We were hoping to take a trip on the Red Lizard train, a journey through the Seldja Gorge, but lack of tourists meant that it wasn't running that day so we'll have to save that for another time. Instead, we headed over to Nefta - which we have renamed Nafta because it was. Our guidebook talked of a deep palm-filled gully as the highlight of the town. We found a deep rubbish-filled gully instead and so turned around and headed for our next destination of Kairouan.

It was quite a long journey there which took us through varied landscape, all the time getting greener and greener as we headed away from the desert and back to the vast olive groves. A sudden torrential thunderstorm cleared the air, washed the car and filled the sides of the roads with rivers of brown water but was much needed by the vegetation. The guidebook refers to Kairouan as being the fourth holiest site in Islam and the most holy in North Africa. From what we saw, we can confirm that Allah is not bothered about mountains of rubbish littering the streets and walkways. We were so looking forward to visiting the town but were so disappointed at its grimy character. However, our time there was made interesting by visiting the Governor's House, now home to the carpet-making association where we saw and participated in carpets being made, were served mint tea and sat in the Governor's chairs where Chris proclaimed various decrees. When we got back to Monastir, we asked some locals what has happened to Kairouan. They simply said that it had once been a fabulous place but had now gone down the pan as the locals just didn't want to work. Our timing wasn't helped by arriving there at 2pm on a Friday when the market and shops were closing as everyone got ready to go to the mosque and start their weekend but it's not somewhere that we can recommend, which is a great shame.

For photos of Kairouan, click HERE

And so, we returned to Monastir and reflected on our great trip. We were only about 100 miles from Europe and yet we were in an altogether different world. The lack of tourism has had a big effect on the country but everyone we spoke to was very optimistic that the Revolution (the 'Arab Spring' started in Tunisia) had been a good thing and that the General Election, due to take place next year, will be the turning point for everyone here. We were made to feel very welcome and our taster trip has whetted our appetite for further travel and experiences here.