As my husband, Scott, and I unpacked our bags at this coastal resort, the expansive beaches only a short stroll from our room beckoned our three children.
“Walk on down to the beach,” I told them. “We’ll be down in a minute.”
When we went, what we saw was both amusing and slightly alarming.
My two youngest children, ages 5 and 8, were sitting atop a 9-foot-tall camel while my oldest child, age 11, was in a panic as he hollered for them to get off.
A tour guide hawking camel rides waved to us like we were old friends. But it took some very unfriendly negotiating by my husband to get the driver to finally help our children off the camel. We promised that we’d consider a ride on the beach the next morning.
Traveling in North Africa with three young sidekicks is a lesson in having a sense of humor–as well as in staying vigilant.
Like Italians, Tunisians adore children. In part, they are motivated by money. They’ll stop at almost nothing to try to sell a stuffed camel. But even waiters dote on kids as if they were the most influential of politicians or the richest of guests.
One morning at breakfast at the Sheraton Hammamet Resort, my children chose a strawberry juice from the hotel’s buffet table. When the waiters saw the juices on our table, they practically tripped over each other to warn us that the juice had been made with tap–not bottled–water.
Tunisia, perched between Algeria and Libya and only a short ferry ride from Sicily, is a westernized Arab democracy. It was a French colony for more than 70 years, and you can see the French influence everywhere, from the tall white buildings to the many smart boutiques.
Apart from Arabic, French is widely spoken. However, English is not. As a result, this country may sound like too exotic a locale for an American family holiday.
But for us, Tunisia actually proved to be the perfect escape.
Our children love beaches and snake charmer shows; we love oases, great shopping and historic ruins.
An added bonus is that large chunks of the “Star Wars” movies were filmed in Tunisia–much to the delight of our middle child, Ben, who is a huge fan.
One favorite spot for all of us was Matmata, a village founded more than 700 years ago in the country’s southeast, where some Berber families–Tunisia’s indigenous people–still live in cave dwellings perched high in the mountains that were designed to escape the heat.
One glance and it’s easy to see why these cave homes, surrounded by pitted lunar landscapes bare of any vegetation, were chosen by George Lucas as the backdrops for his movies.
On a trek into the Sahara we took later, there was nothing more bizarre then suddenly stumbling upon an old set from one of the “Star Wars” movies in the midst of seemingly endless swaths of sand.
We started our week-long visit to Tunisia in Hammamet, about 40 miles southeast of the capital of Tunis, spending three days lounging by the pool or on the unspoiled beaches. The parade of souvenir and jewelry peddlers was only a slight annoyance.
We were probably the only Americans there, but the children found a bevy of British kids to tag along with on beachcombing excursions.
With Tunisia being a Muslim country, there are very few bars. Any nightlife tends to focus on the hotels. The Sheraton was no exception, offering nightly entertainment for adults and children alike including a magic show, belly dancing and a somewhat scary snake charming display. At one point a scorpion was dangled in our faces; at another a supposedly enchanted but deadly cobra was wriggling on the cool floor only a few feet from our seats.
With meals served buffet style, we were spoiled for choice when it came to dining. The country is known for its “brik”–a savory pastry generally stuffed with fish or meat and a whole raw egg before being deep-fried. Other staples included lamb stews and couscous concoctions mixed with dried fruits.
Although Tunisia doesn’t really do children’s menus, there were a variety of pastas and chicken dishes to choose from, as well as tuna-topped pizzas–tastier than they sound.
Indeed, you’ll see a lot of tuna in Tunisia. Before every meal, small plates of it, alongside olives and hot chili paste, are served with chunks of bread and olive oil.
Our one and only foray away from Hammamet’s resort area was to visit the medina, or the old part of town. With its colorful souk, where all sorts of wares spilled out into a maze of narrow alleyways, it was a trip that foretold of the good things to come during the rest of our time in Tunisia.
After bidding farewell to Hammamet, we traveled back to Tunis and caught a short internal flight to Tozeur, an oasis town surrounded by 200,000 palm trees that’s the stepping-off point to the Berber villages of the countryside.
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This is where we began our two-day trek into the Sahara aboard air-conditioned four-wheel-drive Land Rovers.
A word of warning: The drivers of these vehicles love nothing more than making their passengers shriek with fear as they careen along bumpy desert roads and up the Sahara’s steep hills of sand until the jeep is in a nearly vertical position.
At the end of each day, we marveled at the fact that the Land Rovers were still running.
One highlight of our desert journey was a one-hour ride on the 1920s-style Red Lizard train across the sandstone Selja Gorge. Standing on the platform between two cars, it wasn’t hard to imagine ourselves as Indiana Jones as we whizzed past impressive waterfalls and canyons.
We also crossed the eerie salt flats of Chott el Jerid before arriving for a one-night stay in Douz, which calls itself the gateway to the Sahara.
We were scheduled to do an early morning camel trek into the desert. But when we arrived at our departure point at just before 9 a.m., it had grown so windy that even the tour guides were concerned about the inhospitality of the talc-fine sand whipping about.
My husband saved the day by remembering the swimming goggles we had packed for the children. With the goggles snugly strapped on the kids, and the adults wearing sunglasses, we were able to protect our eyes as we enjoyed a relaxing journey across large drifts of blowing sand accompanied by a friendly guide.
The final part of our trip was spent on the island of Djerba, which has the unfortunate distinction of having been struck by a terrorist attack in April 2002 in which a suicide-bomber blew himself up at a synagogue and killed 21 people.
After initially taking a hit, tourism here has since rebounded. And with its whitewashed mosques, the island is definitely worth exploring. However, with three children in tow, we spent most of our time on the beach or by the pool before flying back to Tunis and ending our vacation.
Traveling with children, we never did get to see many of Tunisia’s historic sites. For example, we completely missed the famed city of Carthage just outside Tunis, known for Roman ruins that are said to be better preserved than those found in Europe.
But we did come to Tunisia hoping for an adventure. And that’s exactly what we got.
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IF YOU GO
GETTING THERE
There are regular direct flights to Tunisia from all over Europe. Tunis is less than a three-hour flight from London.
BEST TIME TO GO
Between October and May. In summer it can be too hot to stay long in the desert.
VISAS
Americans do not need visas or to take any specific medical precautions to visit Tunisia.
ETC.
Police allow taxis to carry no more than four passengers at a time.
INFORMATION
www.tourismtunisia.com and www.tunisiaonline.com
–S.E.