Photo Essay and YouTube video
Knowing we only have a few days for this road trip, due to Ben’s work schedule, we have to choose carefully which places we go to. Anything that entails a five or six hour drive is out for us, which means the desert and the site which originally enticed me to select Tunisia are sadly off the table. We have long ago given up trying to do it all, or see it all.
The model for our nomadic travel with Live Anywhere on Airbnb, is to live sequentially and commit to one location ~ one Airbnb for a month. This arbitrary choice of a month is useful because it is long enough to settle into a place and incorporate domestic travel as one might when living anywhere “permanently”. Specifically, it means that visits within the country need to be planned with the constraints of starting from home base and returning to home base. It is not the way we have travelled in the past, which typically had us always moving forward and onward.
As we consider our options for this road trip, Ben is adamant that Kairouan, the holiest of all cities and the most ancient in Tunisia, is top of his list. The importance of Kairouan in the Islamic world, gives Kairouan unique appeal.
The road trip starts off with two coastal destinations en route to Kairouan.
Founded in 670 A.D., Kairouan flourished in the 9th century. Despite the transfer of political capital to Tunis in the 12th century, the city of Kairouan remained the Maghreb’s principal holy city.
Kairouan’s medina is particularly unique in that the selling of wares has been confined to one street and there are very few tourist shops. Kairouan was a center for Tunisian carpet making, but aside from the carpet stores which are housed in gorgeous settings, most of the shops serve the needs of the locals.
Outside Barber’s Mosque, (once a monastery), which is an architectural gem. The walls are tiled from floor to ceiling!
Even though walking around the Medina is treasure enough and reveals all the richness of centuries of accumulated Kairouan history, we are eager to see the Islamic calligraphy, housed in a local museum.
Thanks for reading us and for watching the You Tube video below. We are still amazed at how much time, work and energy it takes to put these videos together, so we hope you enjoy them and look forward to reading your feedback and or questions on our You Tube channel.
One more video on Tunisia to come… We did one more short road trip to Bizerte, a port town in the North.
Beautiful photos. I know little about the history of North Africa so thanks for the lesson. The intricate patterns everywhere are most unique to my eyes. I like them.
Thanks Ally.
If you enjoyed the ceramic tiles on our post, you will love the YouTube video if you didn’t see that already.. Thanks for reading us and for leaving your feedback.
Tunisia has a long history of carpet making, ceramics, tiles and marble work.Kairouan really gave us an infusion of all of these!
Peta
Has a timeless feel to it. Such great tiles, and the calligraphy wow!
Do you know what the Medina buildings are made of? Is it adobe, and wood?
Thanks for letting us all tag along with you, as always.
Johnny, yes, it does feel timeless. We were very conscious of the fact that most people who live here have probably lived in the Medina their whole lives and their parents, grandparents etc before them, as well.
Islamic calligraphy combines three parallel tracks. The story and poetry of course, then the actual calligraphy in the traditional sense of how the letters are shaped, but importantly there is a third track which is the artistic creation positioned on the page and use of different color inks to make the written text also a graphic representation/painting/design.
Not sure what the buildings are made of but most likely a combination of bricks and plaster. But that’s a good question.
Thanks for reading and leaving us your thoughts.
Ben
Your Youtube video made me feel like I was in Kairouan with you! Your photography is brilliant. Thank you for taking us with you.
Donna thank you!
We will take “brilliant”!! Moving around so much makes it harder to have time to paint and therefore the photography is my current art. It IS so much easier than drawing and painting which takes more time and more focus and logistics.
Thanks for watching our Yourube video and for your lovely feedback.
Peta
I love your photos and your videos of your time in Tunisia! Like Ben, I’m enamored of calligraphy and I saw somewhere (maybe Instagram) how he couldn’t resist buying some bowls with calligraphy. So many times I’ve resisted buying things, especially heavy things, that would be hard to carry. When I was in Morocco, I was heading for two weeks to Italy next, so I didn’t buy many things I wish I could have. I regret not having those things (rugs and ceramics mostly), but there was no way I could have carried them throughout Italy. It seems it might be easier for you since you stay in one Airbnb as a home base each month.
I studied Arabic for a time and learned to write it, and I loved writing it, although I wouldn’t call my writing calligraphy, lol!
Also, we’ve always traveled from one point to another too, and never settled into one place to “live like a local.” The settling in one place really appeals to me. I could see that if one had work to do remotely (as Ben does), it would be so nice to settle in. Someday I’d like to figure out a way to do that. But then of course you want to travel outward in a spoke to see the various places outside of your home base. It’s a dilemma. 🙂
Cathy, we have actually settled into a few places to “live like a local.” We started our Green Global Trek in Nicaragua and one year turned into six years. While in Nicaragua we traveled in Central and South America and the returned to home base in Nicaragua. After a period of traveling SEAsia moving from one point to the next, we settled on Sri Lanka as home base, and that became three years. And then Viet Nam, and then Mexico. It’s all in the archives should you be interested.
Yes having a home base and then traveling outwards sometimes even for 1-3 months and then returning is a formula that works well for us and that we like.
Ben was very eager to study Arabic while we were in Tunisia, however with his job, there just is not enough time. He is very jealous to hear that you did that and that you learned the writing. What gave you the opportunity to learn Arabic he wonders?
Decades ago when we first travelled to Morocco we bought and shipped items back home to Chicago. It cost a ton of money and moving forward we decided if we cannot carry it then we don’t buy it. And then we became nomadic so we are extremely careful about acquiring possessions. Ben currently has a bag with a few carefully selected pieces with calligraphy and hopefully they make it back to Mexico safe and sound.
Thanks so much for your lovely feedback and for reading and watching our youtube videos.
Peta
Wow! The Islamic calligraphy is amazing… so beautiful! I love the kitties too. I think I’d just spend my day going from cat to cat giving ear scratches. I will miss Tunisia when you leave.
Janis many of the cats were scared of people, real street cats, just trying to get by on scraps of food and of course I started buying cat food and distributing it to feel at least that I had done what I could. Other cats that are being fed by locals tend to be more friendly as those cats know that humans can feed them. I enjoyed all the cat interactions.
Thanks for reading us and for leaving your feedback. Still one more video to come from Tunisia. Stay tuned…
Peta
Those tiles are so beautiful. And I love the feel of the medinas of the Islamic world and the old towns of Europe – the way they have grown organically, and the way that history seems to rise up from the ground beneath you.
You may not have been able to find an Airbandb in Kairouan but the hotel looks pretty sweet.
Alison the tiles were incredible. Such a visual gem. This medina was particuilarly appealing to us as it has not been “beautified” in any way. It has paint peelilng and has only a tiny section that could be considered “touristy” but barely. It mostly just caters to the locals and is focused around prayers at the Grand Mosque every day.
The hotel was as you say “pretty sweet’. Beautiful architecture and the lcoation right next to the medina was perfect for us.
Thanks for your comments.
Peta
What a place I knew nothing about! Each time I read your posts, watch your YouTube videos and click on the photos in Instagram, I realize my ignorance and lack of knowledge of the world. You two open up the world for many of us who are unable (for many and varied reasons) to explore and travel to different destinations. Ben and Peta – you’re wonders of our world! Thank you. I enjoyed this so much.
question – do you have any difficulties with language differences?
Pam, the truth is we are learning as we go. Neither of us knew much about Tunisia if anything at all, and that is the whole point of travel for us. The learning curve in terms of intellectual stimulation is very high. So pleased to read that our blog and videos allow others to travel vicariously. That is a nice reward fore the effort and time it takes to update our social media.
Language is an interesting thing. Communication is mostly non verbal as we all know but of course there are many times when one needs practical communication. The fact that Ben speaks French made travel in Tunisia very easy for us. Most people in Tunisia speak French and Arabic but many do not speak any English. Without French it would undoubtedly be more difficult. The same was true in Cuba for example. Without Spanish it would have been a very different experience. And yet, when we had zero language knowledge in a country, Viet Nam is a good example, we had no problem communicating using pantomime and other inventive ways. I don’t think it should be a reason NOT to travel, but that said, some countries are easier than others.
Peta
Each post is more lovely than the former! Like you and other readers, I am so attracted to the tiles and the calligraphy. There was so much beauty in the ancient world, and I always especially enjoy the art and architecture that grew up around the Mediterranean, regardless of the specific cultural or religious identities of the various countries. I will check out the latest video!
Lex if you enjoyed the photos of the ceramic tiles, then you will love the video footage. We had to seriously edit ourselves here as we had so much footage, it could have been a video devoted solely to the tiles!
Thanks for the positive feedback and for watching the video. One more post on Tunisia coming up!
Peta
Woohoo! Another great post, and the video took me right there! Except I couldn’t smell or taste the bread. My only complaint, really. LOL!
Looks like you guys are having a great time and I am so happy for you.
Deb
Deb, I have always wondered why the sense of smell is so ignored by technology. Nothing quite like the smell of fresh bread baking is there? We did have a great time in Tunisia, went all too quickly. Amazing how a month flies by.
Ben
Just lovely! Thanks for continuing to share your journeys with us. I am really rather ignorant about that area, and your posts help.
Thanks for reading us Ann and leaving your comments. We knew very little about Tunisia but after a month of being in country we feel like we have learnt a lot. One of the best things about travel is the opportunity to be exposed to new cultures and to expand our horizons.
Ben
Another wonderful video and awesome photos that made me feel like I was in Tunisia with you. Well done, you two. If it wasn’t for all that work and time involved, creating YouTube videos, we might consider doing this as well.
Thanks Liesbet for the compiments. Ben is in charge of most of the video work and I take most of the photographs.
Yes,you got that right, making videos is extremely time consuming. The way we see it is that it is part of our intellectual and skills development as we are forced to make sense of new tools. Not always pleasant, but we are pleased with the learning curve. So we plod on!
Peta
Lex if you enjoyed the photos of the ceramic tiles, then you will love the video footage. We had to seriously edit ourselves here as we had so much footage, it could have been a video devoted solely to the tiles!
Thanks for the positive feedback and for watching the video. One more post on Tunisia coming up!
Peta
I’ve been all over Africa, but never to Tunisia. Thanks for the temptation.
Ah great, well, happy to introduce Tunisia to you. Hope you make it to the Northernmost part of Africa some day.
Peta
This is probably the first time I read a blog post about Kairouan. I’d love to see the Great Mosque of Kairouan one day. And speaking of mosque, that photo of (probably) a mosque with domes that are painted in colorful Arabic calligraphy is unlike anything I’ve seen before. Mosque domes are usually very uniform and geometrical, so I’m pleasantly surprised to see one with such a modern twist.
Kairouan was a great visit. Not only for the Great Mosque, but also for the extensive and well preserved Medina. So glad you picked up on that beautifully decorated dome. I think it may have been mosque once, but no longer to be operating as a mosque. In fact there were two such decorated domes. Very cool.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting Bama.
Peta