( Ghar el Melh and Sidi Ali el-Mekki) سيدي علي المكي ﻮ غار الملح

We had a free weekend, and everyone split ways. I decided not to go far for the weekend, since the week has been so crazy and we are going to be gone for the next few weekends. As of Saturday morning, I had no idea where I was going to go. Several people who were staying in town had plans to go to Bizerte - a touristy beach town about 80 km from Tunis. I wanted to go to the beach, but I didn't feel like sitting on a beach all day and being stared at.

I opened the guidebook (I highly recommend Lonely Planet - Tunisia) to Bizerte and the opportunities around it and found a small, beautiful beach that you could only get to by walking from a nearby town. I managed to persuade a few people to come with me, and we were off!

First, we took a louage to Bizerte with the larger group that was going. A louage is a large van that travels from city to city. They have stripes on the side and leave whenever they are full (8 passengers). They vans park in a louage station and all the drivers yell out their locations.

Once we got to Bizerte, four of us continued on to the next louage. Since we were going to a small town about 45 minutes from Bizerte, we had to pay for the whole louage. We paid a little too much (40 dinars (about 35 dollars) for the whole ride - 10/person, but he offered to come pick us up and take up back to Tunis for 30 dinars at 6:00).

We went to Ghar el-Melh (very difficult for me to say in Arabic - involves a gutteral French r sound, followed by a rolled Spanish r and ending with a silent h). It is a small, quiet town that used to be used by pirates. It means cave of salt in Arabic. There are two abandoned Ottoman forts in the town.

We spent about 20 minutes in Ghar el-Melh, buying bread and using a very sketchy bathroom in a men's cafe. Tunisians can be exceptionally friendly. We asked an old man on the street for a bathroom, and he actually took us to the nearest one, rather than just pointing. Another old man sitting outside the cafe gave us directions to Sidi Ali el-Mekki - the beach.

The beach we headed to was about 6 km outside of Ghar el-Melh. It was a pleasant walk in the 75 degree weather along the coast. The road was narrow and we were occasionally passed by bicycles, trucks, motorcycles, and the like. Our pace was very slow, and it took us nearly an hour an a half to get there.

Once we arrived at the beach, it was definitely worth it! There was hardly anyone there. The mountains ringed the beach. The water was incredibly clear - I could see all the way down to my feet! It was possible to walk out at least half a mile because the water was so shallow. Aside from a great deal of wind, it was perfect. In my opinion, it was better than Nice (*gasp!*). (notice our attempt at a CLS picture...)


To make the experience even better, we stopped at the only restaurant in the area. Since it was about 4:30 (and Tunisians don't eat until at least 7:30), we were the only people in the restaurant. The owner ushered the four of us into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. At first, we were a bit hesitant that this was going to be another "interesting" Tunisian experience, but he started pulling out fresh fish for us to choose. We each picked one, and we were ushered back to the main room, amid etchings of the owner's family and various sea accessories. We could see the fish being fried on the grill outside the window on pine cones. In the kitchen, the restaurant owner and his wife could be heard yelling at each other, as the pots and pans clanged - a very authentic Tunisian eating experience it seems. When our food arrived, it was the definitely the best seafood I've ever had. Hanna (my roommate) and I had ordered the largest shrimp I've ever seen. After getting past my hesitation at pulling off the head and the legs, I tried it - yum! I've had quite a bit of seafood, so I guess it's the grilling over the pinecones that made it so good.

The ride back was fairly uneventful (aside from being stopped by the police to see if we planned to stay the night in Ghar el-Melh - the Tunisian police take very good care of tourists, especially Americans, since 7 million tourists visit this country of 10 million anually, and Tunisia wants to protect it American ties. We are constantly being stopped and asked if we are ok). We took showers, ate couscous and mint tea at a local restaurant, got some gelato, then tumbled into bed. A wonderful experience, and we were very glad we'd chosen to stray off the beaten path.