A Trip to Kairouan - القيروان

This past weekend, we took a Saturday day trip to Kairouan. It is the 4th holiest city in Islam (after Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem). It is also the hottest city in Tunisia (even more than the southern ones most of the time). It was founded by the Arabs in 670. The picture of me has the minaret of the Great Mosque in the back. The Great Mosque is very beautiful and very old. When it was built in 670, Kairouan was the center for the Arabs in North Africa. Over time, it lost its power, but the Great Mosque is still considered very holy (and it's easy to see why).

We had lunch at a ritzy restaurant (we seem to do that when we travel). It was followed by a visit to the medina. I saw a camel drawing water from a well (see picture below). I bought orange and green scarves for anyone who is interested in one when I return to the US :).

We were supposed to go to Sousse after Kairouan, but no one was very interested, especially in the heat. I was starting to wish I'd brought a short sleeved shirt.
It was definitely upwards of a hundred degrees. I slept on the bus on the way back.


That was the end of Saturday. Sunday was the first day I'd had off in two weeks. (trip to Monastir + homestay). On Sunday, I was definitely ready to relax. A couple friends told me they had found an amazing beach within a taxi cab ride from Tunis. I was a bit skeptical, because most of the Tunis beaches are a little too seaweedy and filled with sketchy people for my personal enjoyment. But...they were right! The beach was pretty great (not as good as you can get several hours away, but it was no time to be picky). At first there was a lot of seaweed (I got blamed for being bad luck since there wasn't any seaweed any other time they'd gone), but it gradually washed away, and the water was very warm. We left the beach around 2:30 and took a pretty crazy taxi ride back. The driver didn't have any gas in his car, so he kept stalling and drove on the shoulder most of the way back to avoid getting stuck in the traffic. Luckily, we made it back ok.

After a relaxing shower, we rejoined at 4:00 for couscous at a nearby restaurant. Coucous is the customary Sunday afternoon meal because it is so filling and it makes people sleepy. I went back around the corner to the hotel and took a nap. I had a sugar crepe for dinner at about 8. (pretty much an ideal food day!)