| Tunise - Anyone been (12 posts) |
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Hey All!
Just stopping by with a question...
I'm heading for a one week trip to Tunise in the end of May and I was thinking if anyone has been there before?
I've heard pretty crazy stories about that country...and mostly the stories are about the local ppl living there. It's an arabic country and they're pretty strict about everything.Their culture is complitely different compared to European.I hope it's safe for me and my friend (two scandinavians) to travel there.
Anyone who's been there..tips are welcome!
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I did have a situation with a knife while haggling, but it wasnt too serious. What happened was that i walked past a shop and glanced at what he had. The guy immediately jumped up and started trying to sell me a knife, it was a nice knife i just didnt want it. He started at saying it was 145 dinars and then ended up at about 20. I was by myself at the time but my little brother joined me to see where i had got to. The seller then took the knife out and held the back of the knife (the non sharp side) to my little brothers neck and smiling. Obviously we didnt find this too amusing and told him that we didnt want it and walked away. Although he did seem to be doing it more to show how 'cool' you can look with a knife to try and make a sale i found it a little too intimidating.
That was the only problem and was in sousse, in the main market area. But apart from that normally the haggles go fine and can be quite interesting, although do get tiring after a while when you realise you have to do it for almost every purchase you make. I think now it is so touristy that they know that if they can't make a sale to you they will be able to to someone else not long after.
Also, i might as well mention the Government Shops. You tour operator will probably tell you about these but they are generally shops that are endorsed by the Government and therefore have set prices for certain items. We went to one in sousse and bought a few things, like a carpet and chess set. I have a feeling that although you pay slightly more in these places for slightly better goods the shop owners are charging more than they should be and our taking some money for themself, but that may just be me.
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I found Tunisia a fairly friendly and easy country to travel in. The Tunisians are mostly islamic, they're pretty tolerant though, but as Chris_Huh says covering up a bit (if you're not on a tourist beach) is a good plan.
Public buses are dead cheap and pretty comfortable, if you can work out the timetables. Pretty much everybody over the age of 20 seems to be bilingual French/Arabic so if you can speak any French that will be dead useful.
The Bardo Museum in Tunis is pretty interesting, particularly if you're interested in Roman stuff as they've got tons of it. Also the suburb of Sidi Bou Said, about half-an-hour from the centre of Tunis (you can get the train there) are really pretty, lots of whitewash building in gardens running down the cliffs to the sea.
Going to the desert is, as Chris_Huh suggests, definitely worth it, you might get a trip that will take you to El Jem Roman colisseum and the star wars sets at Matmata.
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Thanks for the reply.;)
Eek, that situation with a knife sounds pretty scary.I'm glad he didn't continue playing this scary "amusing for him" game...
Can you give me any tips how to haggle?Do you have to hear the price first and after that start haggling or what?I want to know what I'm doing when I go there.
Yeah I've read some stuff about these Government shops.So those are the shops to avoid right?
Can you get any clothing for cheap in Tunise?So the mainmarket area is in the centre of Sousse?
I'm getting pretty excited day by day!
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Hi there, i went to Tunisia about 3 weeks ago, over Easter, so i may be able to dispense with some help.
You're right about them being quite strict as it is an Arabic country but most arabic countries are. They dont mind tourists drinking at all but it is better to stay slightly covered up, particulaarly if you are a woman. They don't mind it so much on the beach but if you are walking around in the town, a long skirt of trousers and a shirt is better to wear. A girl i met out there had some serious problems with locals following her and taunting her because she insisted on wearing hotpants and very small t-shirts.
I went with my family and although we are from london we often had locals come up to us convinced we were swedish, so i think it is nothing strange about scandinavians being out there, i met a few.
The locals will insist on trying to sell you something, even if you showed no interest in buying it. The best thing to do is just walk away or say 'No' quite clearly and they may let you off.
I was staying in a purpose-built tourist town called port el kantouie, which is a bit too full of just tourists although quite a nice place. We went on a two-day desert safari around the inner of the country which was definately the highlight of the trip so i strongly recommend something like that.
Overall the country if safe for travelling around, but just be wary about the locals insistence to haggle with you; we got something from 1200 dinar to 110 dinar and didnt even want it. Although at times it may seem the locals are being a bit pushy, you just have to remember that this is their culture and as long as you are clear things will be fine.
I hope i haven't put you off it in any way, that wasnt my intent, i thouraghly enjoyed it and had no real problems, as i am sure you will too.
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They will usually state a price and more often than not will offer you it cheaper "as you are their friend". The best thing to do is state a price between a thrid and a half of the price they stated. So if they say that some shoes are 30 dinar then you would probably say something like 10 dinar. Don't say something too ridiculously low as you will have to start again, they wont be too offended and will raise the price again. Sometimes you can get it down to a third of the price but settling at half the price is quite good.
If you state the price before they've mentioned it you could find yourself offering them way too much, it is unlikely but could happen.
Sometimes they will suddenly start to offer you it with womething else, which no doubt, you will not want. So you have to be wry of exactly what you're buying. I met someone out there who coulod speak arabic, she was a tourist, and was saying that whenever you are haggling with them they are constantly swearing at you as soon as they speak arabic. Which i found quite interesting.
The main place for shopping in Sousse is called the Medina, and is pretty easy to find. It is enclosed in an old castle-style wall and most buses stop near there.
The government shops can be worth going into, you don't haggle with them so it can be a nice break from haggling. All the prices are listed next to the things so it is clear how much they are. The items in these shops are usually better quality; we bought a shisha pipe from there as they are the sort of things you want to make sure are going to work. I wouldnt suggest staying away from the government shops but if something seems a bit expensive you could probably get it cheaper somewhere else.
When it comes to buying carpets the shop owner will take you into a room with all the carpets and offer you tea, the tea is usually quite nice, it's minty, and it would be nice to accept it, even if you don't drink it all. They then start to take all the carpets out to show you them and often explain to you what they mean. Buying a carpet from Tunisia is nice because they are good quality but can cost a fair bit. They will gladly make up one to your design and size and then ship it home to you. I think we bought a pair for about 900 dinar or something, which is quite high i think, but it was from a government shop.
I think you can get quite cheap clothing although a lot of it is leather, which is good if you're into that but it makes it harder to find other stuff if you're not.
I'm sure you'll have a great time and the haggling can be fun
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It is best not to touch anything unless your thinking of buying it but usually it doesnt matter so much, there's not much they can do if you decide not to buy it.
In April it wasnt that hot, i think one day it did being to rain a bit but by the end of May it should have got quite a bit hotter.
We had no trouble getting alcohol, although i dont think there will be many off licences, but in cafes and bars there was no problem. I didnt try any clubs in town, there was one on the resort i was staying at that i went into but wasnt too great.
The bars at the hotels are usually fine and will offer most drinks, even ones from back home, probably. I'm not too sure about going into a bar that is owned by another hotel, but it should be ok. I can't see really how they would stop you, it wouldnt be worth their while making sure you show your key or something when you go into the bar.
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Hotels don't seem to mind you drinking in their bars, even if you're not staying there.
One con trick that you might run into is the "I'm the waiter from your hotel" one, where they pretend that they remember from the hotel (or wherever) and then offer to show you around. Really they just want to take you to shops that'll pay them commission, so just ignore them, as they're lying.
I find that its easiest to haggle if I decide what I think I want to pay for something and then start by offering about half that, and not going higher than the amount I wanted to pay (this is flexible though). Remember that it's not rude not to buy something if you think it's too expensive, no matter how the seller tries to make you feel!
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Hey guys!!
Thanks for all the handy tips you've gave!So THE day has finally arrived.About 11 hours to go and then I'm off to the airport!:)I'll still have heaps of things to do before that.I haven't even packed yet because I've been working for the last couple of days!!I'll be in a hurry soon!!
Well,I'm gonna go now and all the tips are in back of my ear!!
Take care everybody!
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I have been to Tunisia in December 2003 and I found it quite safe. As in all other countries, there are obnoxious and annoying people, especially the ones that try to sell you stuff.
But if you use common sense you should be fine. I can't comment too much on the cities as I spent nearly all my time travelling to the Desert and in the Desert itself, as I did a 4 day camel trip around Sabria. I only spent one day in Sousse.
Just make sure if you're travelling that you have enough time to wait until the Louage (The mini bus taxi) is full and don't end up paying for all the seats. If for any reason you want them to leave without being full they charge you for the empty seats.
And one thing I discovered about the people who try to sell you Desert Trips or anything similar, it works if you tell them that you already booked one and you already paid for it. After I said that, they lost interest quite quickly.
Hope this helps.
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Oy everyone!
I'm back!!!:)
Had a brilliant time in Tunis!The whole week was warm,well except two last days were bit cloudy but it was still warm compared to Finland!!It's been raining over here for days now.
Sousse was great,on our first morning we ate good breakky in our hotel's dining area.The sun was pretty hot even if it was 9 in the morning!After that we went to the beach and stayed there for few hours..got pretty good tanning now!
After the beach we did a small walk in the nearby areas but didn't go too far...
Then on next day we walked to Port El Kantaoui which was about 5km's from the place we stayed Hammam Sousse or something like that.Our hotel area was nice.There were heaps of restaurants and stuff near us and the beach was just one step away.
Port El Kantaoui was beautiful.The beach was brilliant.We saw a zoo,saw camels.;)After the walk beach was calling again.After that we went to look for a bar where we wanted to go in the evening..it took almost 1½ hours to find it but we found it..whopee!!We ate spaghetti in a restaurant in the city of Sousse.The night we went out partying to the biggest club in Africa!LOL..it wasn't the biggest!It was just the advertisment to get people there.We got flyers which said that entry free and biggest disco,but after all we had to pay in.
We went to Medina (the bazaars) almost everyday.And after the first day everyone knew us..it was bit terrible cos they knew who we were..they were yelling "Hey Finnish girls,hey finland..etc..."I found the bazaar-area bit scary cos the men were pulling us into their shops.We drunk mint-tea in a small cafe in medina..it was yummy!Mint-tea is a tradition tea in Tunis!I brought one packet to home aswell.:)
One day we went for a camel-ride to a village nearby.It was great!Although I got sore buttocks after that...It was worth it.I liked it.We got to "kiss" a camel and we also soldered a camel-baby with a coca-cola!All the camels are drinking cola,fanta,sprite etc...pretty crazy huh?
I took heaps of pictures..over 100 of them!Had a great time!!I definitely recommend Tunis to everyone
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Hi everyone! I also went to Tunisie this May and enjoyed my time there! It was so nice to read the topic and brush up on some memories. Chris_huh - you're guru of haggling! My own record was to drop the price from 145 dinars to 30 That was the last Tunisian money I had in 1 hour before the flight and I was forced to buy the bird case (!) at that price. It was so big! And so useless!
As an advise for everyone - your trip to Tunisie must certainly include that 2 days Safari to the desert! That's incredible! You're going by small bus or by jeep as per your choice and you're stopping in so many interesting places that no other trip can you offer. First we stopped in El Jem - where there's the Colisseum almost like in Rome but with the difference that you can get into every caves and climb on any stages! Very beautiful and exiting! You can even visit the underground dungeons where slaves where kept - the light there goes through specially made lattices in sealing.
Then we've been to Gabes - spices market. No comments! So many colours and smells!
Then the stop at first oasis where they offer you to taste palm "juice" - no way!
Then- Matmata, as they say the troglodyte houses. The entrance looks like small cavern in rock but only few steps - and you're at the big internal sunny hall... The "inhabitants" are surely justfor turists but it's interesting anyway. Here I saw the small baby of camel - so cute!
Oh, forgot - in Matmata you also see the views which are very familiar - that's Star Wars VI Not far from here there's also Tatuine - the planet from episode IV.
And after that you're arriving to the desert! Lot's of camels pasture here like horses. And lot of sand..... We stayed there until sunset and it was perfect... unbelievable...
Next morning (very early - at 4) our trip continued to the salt lake Shott el Dzerid where we met the sunrise and took small crystal salt pieces as a souvenirs.
And after... Oh!!! Few oasises - Chebika - mountains and palms - perfect. Then waterfall in the mountains. Then the stop somewhere very high in mountains, close to Algeria border - where "English patient" was made.
Oh, and in the end we also were at Keiroin - familiar to fans of Indiana Jones...;)
If you're not tired from that tale I can also tell more about Tunisie. I've been in capital, in "blue city" Sidi Bou Said of coarse, on the rests of Carthagen... And through the whole sea-shore : Hammamet, Mahdia, Monastir, Sousse... Is it interesting?
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