Letter from the Med- Six hot days in Monastir

by Ian and Andrea Treleaven on 29 Jul 2006 Hi Everyone

Monastir has been home in the marina for six days and has been a pleasure to stop and get to know this very special Arab town while Ian maintains ‘Cadiz’.

A day in the life of cruising, as we slowly work out how to deal with the mid day heat. Up early we take the lauage to Sousse 20 miles away for a tourist visit. A lauage is a mini van that leaves from a depot going in different directions and when they are full they leave. They have hundreds of them and a very good system that’s very cheap.

The entrance to the catacombs is hard to find even though they are a 5 kms maze of underground tunnels beneath Sousse. Only 100 metres is open to the public to see this burial site of thousands of Christians in the 4th Century AD. The tunnelling is magnificently built and a few crypts have been excavated to reveal the skeletons behind glass. You learn something every day, we didn’t know that Christians where buried like this.

Outside the Medina is the Museum housing the famous mosaic ‘The Triumph of Bacchus’ which predicts the Roman god of wine riding in a chariot drawn by satyrs. Then the accidental tourists stumble onto the red light area, we didn’t even know they existed and made a quick exit as the big ladies where more than anyone could handle.

Visiting the home of a typical 19th-century gentleman’s home of ornate velvet red curtains and beautifully tiled who had 2 wives. Each wife has her own bedroom and the husband a separate one all leading off a central court yard. Beside his bed is a lamp with the inscription of a couple making love.

The lamp is a light and he is not allowed to finish until the flame goes out. I wonder who fills it with oil!!!!

All too much and taxis back by mid day. Its 6pm before you get any relief from the heat so we sleep and go for swim in the nearby hotel pool to cool off. Only then making the most of the evenings, when everyone comes out, you don’t go to bed much before 1am.

The movie ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ and also 'Life of Bryan' were filmed here in the Ribat next to the marina. A Ribat is a fort with a maze of stone walls that has been added to over the centuries. They are very proud of the movies made here in Tunisia so I will make mention them as we go.

Ian continues to clean under floor boards and change oil while I go reluctantly wondering on my own. I feel that no one is going to harm me but they are continually over friendly at times. I don’t want to be rude but sometimes being friendly is taken the wrong way.

George and Sabrina are now on board as we sail south in anticipation of the unknown. Nothing ventured, nothing gained when we start to wonder if all this is a mistake. Mahdia set on a peninsular; I have the camera out in anticipation that what we have read is going to be of interest. No marina, no power for the fans and a fishy smelling habour, I have thoughts of turning around and going back up the coast. The vote is to venture south in shallow waters to the Kerkennah Islands 70nm away, looking like a good option away from dirty ports and medina’s.

The islands reached; thank goodness for GPS charts and Ian’s navigation, we are often in only 4 metres of water way out to sea and changing course to stay in deeper water. The area is covered in weed grass and it is like sailing on top of a garden. Stopping for refreshing swims and dolphins are a great welcome as it’s a boring motor-sail in perfect conditions. The islands are surrounded in weed and a very dirty port, rubbish everywhere, we are the only yacht and by the fascination of the kids on the rocks we are starting to wonder if many yachts ventured this far south. We still don’t turn back.

Sunrise and we out of here very quickly to go south to the island of DJerba, we can only hope it’s worth while. Once again nearing the island it’s very shallow and the only way we can get into the port is by a dug out canal 4nm long. Desperate to see another yacht there is one other small one and they are French but we are surrounded by pirate ships doing the tourist Ulysses trip. Ulysses came to this island of the Lotus Eaters and his crew never wanted to leave but after two hot nights all our crew want to leave.

DJerba is now a major holiday resort area with hundreds of hotels along a white sandy beach where our swim was less than refreshing. Jews and Muslims live side by side here and to see the different costumes worn in the town of Houmt Souk, I found interesting but with no relief from the heat the best place to be is in an air-conditioned car and head for the Sahara.

Our destination is Chenini where the Berber people live in the mountains and its 50 degrees in the sun. Date palms dot the dessert but it is very dry and rocky as we cover 300 miles in one day. Remote villages and the site of the movie ‘Star Wars’ made our day a long one but well worth coming south.

To quote George; no beer, no pigs and no naked women, it is time to head for the Italian island of Lampedusa 130 nm away to the north and then Malta.

Cheers Andrea and Ian