Port el Kantaoui 7 June 2008

 

We weren’t in a great hurry to go anywhere. It’s Saturday morning, and the Rep isn’t coming to book our selected excursions until Monday. So, we walked a short distance the tree-decorated, white-painted resort to the port itself, and were most impressed. The marina contains everything from ‘pirate ships’ to miniature submarines, as well as a working fishing fleet, tucked away in a discreet corner. These ‘submarines’ are really more in the nature of glass-bottomed boats. I think they can submerge completely, but aren’t licensed or insured to do so.

We took, instead, a cruise on a modern catamaran , because, unlike the Red Sea or the East African Coast, I don’t think there’s a lot to see under the Gulf of Hammamet.

They advertised that the trip was to see the dolphins. We did see them, but didn’t close enough to make good photography. And, the camcorder decided to have one of its hissy fits. I never did get it to work this time, so I’ll more likely just produce a slide show.

For lunch, we fancied a panini. Of the many restaurants around the harbour, quite a few are Italian-themed. But, our ‘panini’ turned out to be merely a toasted bun, containing a feta-like creamy cheese and tomatoes. It wasn’t bad; in fact, it was quite nice. It just wasn’t my idea of a panini. And, although the restaurant did have an Italian feel, the many cats around gave it more of a Greek atmosphere.

But, although the Italians occupied neighbouring Libya at one time, Tunisia was a French protectorate. And, even though it became independent over forty years ago, there’s a French air about the place too. Most signs are in Arabic and French, and almost everyone speaks French … very useful on the very rare occasions that you meet a Tunisian who doesn’t know English (or German or Italian, ad.inf., etc.)

Selma, over at ‘Selma in the City’ devised a little game. She was going to write stories around prompts which caused users of search engines to be directed to her blog. I’m not going to write stories, but I will attempt to answer any questions posed. I do feel a little guilty when someone asks a question, and doesn’t find the answer in my post. So, for the person who asked for an aerial view of the Hotel Kanta, where we stayed … have a look at Google Earth. The hotel is at 35°53’38.97″N 10°35’34.45″E