Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt



Thursday 27th of December

07.02 After a Christmas weekend with just enough snow and food, it is time again. I will traditionally travel to Arlanda airport on this date to join Christer. He has been based with his father in Oxelösund during the Christmas weekend.

08.36 I am in time at Örnsköldsvik's travel centre. Thanks to my parents for the Christmas weekend and the transport here.

08.56 My train is rolling south. It will only be random checks when it comes to tickets. At least that has been said in the speaker system. There will be no control of the ones sitting at a booked seat. Christer will depart with his train from Nyköping at 12.17. He doesn't have that far to travel either.

10.51 No random check has, as far as I know, been made. Now we have a short stop in Sundsvall. The bistro is closed and the coffee machine is out of order, panic! However, the bistro will soon be manned and after all there is coffee in thermoses.

Christer is leaving a cold Nyköping.

11.51 Christer will leave Nyköping within the next half hour. Oxelösund where he has celebrated Christmas has no railway station so he will depart from the nearby Nyköping. I have just eaten a small lunch and will continue reading in the novel "In a house of lies" by Ian Rankin.

13.05 Just over an hour remains before I arrive at Arlanda. There I hope to meet Christer. How many Christmas trees will it be this year? In recent years, it has varied between one and two ones by the bench where we usually meet.

14.22 There are no Christmas trees this year. However, Christer and I have been reunited. A metallic thing revealed itself at the place of the Christmas trees. We have discussed a little what it really is and what it represents.

15.29 Since the reunion, we have been working on structuring the time before we take off in three hours from now. I don't know if we're that much wiser.

15.42 We have, strangely enough, not been able to buy any useful guide book about our destination Tunisia. It doesn't seem to be issued anymore. We have looked at the publishers of the Lonely Planet and Bradt. There are books about Somaliland, South Sudan and São Tomé & Principe, but none about Tunisia. Odd to say the least. We have at least bought a small simpler book here at the airport, no masterpiece but it has some information and some simple maps.

The Christmas trees exchanged for this.

Christer is drinking coffee at Barino.

16.07 The restaurant Alfredos, our traditional food place here at Arlanda, has become finer and more expensive, no lunch offer at all today. Instead, it will be a dinner at Sky Grill. We have eaten here before.

17.09 We have left our bags at check-in. Now we rest before the upcoming checks.

17.31 We are checked and ready. Do we have time for a coffee before boarding? Maybe it's good to buy some snacks for the arrival too. We will arrive at our hotel in the middle of the night.

17.53 As a final farewell to the Fatherland, we enjoy an Americano and a double espresso at Barino. We have during a previous trip been seated in about the same place, although then the café was called Starbucks. Here, the establishments are replaced at a furious speed.

18.32 An Airbus 320 from Lufthansa will take us to an airport known to us, the one in Frankfurt, Germany.

19.57 We have been served the beverages we ordered and a cheese or turkey sandwich. Our aircraft continues towards the big airport by the big city.

GERMANY

21.29 After we landed on the Frankfurt Flughafen, the plane rolled a long time before it reached the right gate. It was quiet a distance from gate A22 to gate B20. I guess it is good with exercise like this in the evening. Now we have been drinking ice tea to quench the thirst that has arisen and we wait to board the next flight.

21.50 The plane is fully booked and the passengers at Economy Class with more than one hand luggage have been asked to leave it at the gate. They will be taken to the plane's luggage space to be stored there. This gives more space in the cabin.

Waiting at Frankfurt Flughafen.

22.16 We have once again boarded an Airbus A320 from Lufthansa. There are really plenty of people on board.

22.50 We have reached our height. On the way up here, a man tried to get up. He was kindly asked to sit down again. He was asked in both English and German. The snacks cart just rolled by, what will it be now? Speaking of food, what kind of food awaits us in Tunisia?

23.46 After eating a sandwich each and drinking juice and coffee, we will now soon fill in yet another arrival card. Is it not time for these to be abolished? What use do they really have?


Friday 28th of December

TUNISIA

00.37 We have landed at Tunis airport, Carthage International Airport. Next awaits the classic chores. We just hope everything goes well.

01.10 There were no problems with entering the country, nor getting our luggage or exchanging to local currency, Tunisian dinars. I hope it might go just as well getting a taxi. We're not going to take the offers of a desperate man circling in here, nagging us.

01.20 We did our best to get hold of a sensible taxi. We went to the official taxi queue outside the terminal. The taxi driver wants 30 dinars for the trip, a little more expensive than expected but we know it is more expensive at night. It is not that much if you are two who share the cost. Right now we've stopped along the way, unclear why.

01.50 The stop may have been due to problems in traffic or some road that was blocked. Upon arrival at the hotel, 30 dinars suddenly became 40. The man blamed his poor English and that he had said the wrong amount. We are tired of taxi drivers around the world who constantly spoil our good mood. It is especially frustrating to make an effort to find a decent taxi but still fail. At least we're checked in at Hotel Carlton (http://www.hotelcarltontunis.com) and stay in room 132. Here the staffs are nice and it should probably be possible to sleep. The hotel is located very centrally, at the main Avenue Habib Bourguiba.

Time for sleep in room 132.

It was a long time since we saw a test picture.

08.24 It was possible to sleep in this capital too. This gives us a total of 90 capitals that we slept in during our travels. We need more sleep but it'll have to wait for another night or if we have time for siesta later today.

10.13 We start slowly today. There's no panic. However, panic was close at the breakfast buffet. It was difficult to get the juice- and coffee machines to bring us their noble drinks. The trick was to have the right pressure on the buttons.

11.34 It's time to leave room 132 before the room coma sets in for real. Despite some fatigue, we need to get out and get things done. To get light in the room, you stick the key into a lock frame on the wall, ta-da, fiat lux!

12.15 There are plenty of cars here in Tunis. Most of them honk. We are in search of the railway station where we need to acquire tickets for rides later during the trip. During our current bench break, we have realized that in the direction we have walked, we can look until he with cloven hoofs joins us. We've advanced in the wrong direction. We've walked north instead of south. Thoughts went completely wrong when we went out of the hotel. It's time to go right. We are now at the Place De Droits de L'homme, the human rights place. We would never have seen this park if we hadn't gone wrong. It's all about thinking positive.

12.40 It's tricky to walk across the street here in the city. The cars continue to drive for a while after we got green light. Now we have unsuccessfully looked for a cafe in the mall Central Park.

Peter is having breakfast at Hotel Carlton.

We are walking along Avenue Mohamed V.

Peter is taking a look at Tunis.

Christer in Le Jardin des Droits de L'homme.

People on Avenue Habib Bourguiba.

13.05 Finally we found the railway station Gare de Tunis. It is so much easier to find if you walk in the right direction. Here we have bought train tickets for the trip from here on New Year's Eve and also tickets back.

13.30 It is indeed possible to order lunch in this city. We are at the restaurant Le Caire (http://restaurantlecaire.eresto.net) where we will order from their lunch offer. Here there are lots of guests and the service is quick and friendly.

14.10 It's nice to come home to our small room again. In Semmering, Austria, the women's giant slalom is underway. It's the second run and there are eight ladies left. In terms of cost, I owe Christer 15,50 dinars after our expenses in connection with lunch and purchase of tickets.

14.45 The winner in Semmering was Petra Vlhova from Slovakia.

15.25 The quality of the air in this room could have been better. It feels like we're breathing the same air over and over again. There is no replenishment of energy.

16.00 Now that we started humming on old Swedish songs, the truth is obvious. We suffer from a lack of oxygen, need a change of air and coffee. Other news, the author Amos Oz has passed away. I don't think the air in our room can be blamed for his death.

Restaurant Le Caire, today´s lunch place.

Peter is having his lunch at Le Caire.

Rue du Caire, Tunis.

Horloge De L'avenue Habib Bourguiba.

Habib Bourguiba on a horse.

16.48 As soon as we had left the room, we saw a great equestrian statue of the country's first president Habib Bourguiba and another horloge, that is, a clock tower. Now we have ordered coffee and crepes at Big Coffee, a cafe that we managed to find using Google Maps.

17.17 The coffee was served quickly and it was strong. We have slowly consumed it. We haven't seen any crêpes. On the TV it is a draw in a football cup for African club teams. Ah, here comes the crêpes. We take the opportunity to order more coffee.

18.18 That was really good crêpes. We made a small detour on our walk home. This was to find and buy beverages. Now we are at home with two one litre boxes of juice each.

19.57 Now things are looking brighter. Well, not outdoors due to the darkness that has fallen, but at the dinner front. We have two options to choose from. We will shortly go out to examine these in more detail.

20.45 The first option, Steak Haus, was to say the least filled with smoke. To avoid nicotine poisoning, we went instead to La Mamma. Here we have ordered meat dishes and half a bottle of Tunisian wine, Magun. Now the bread and the starters were served. It is olives, white cabbage and harissa, a chilli pepper paste, with among other things, different peppers, garlic paste and olive oil.

22.11 It was great food and wine at an affordable price. We are about to take it easy. Not that it's necessary, but what else can we do? Unfortunately, there were smoke inside the restaurant and now we smell smoke. During the walk to and from the restaurant we have been watched by cats. On previous trips there have been dogs that stood for this. Have the cats been put in as substitutes?

23.42 Something is leaking in our bathroom. It is, to say the least, wet on the floor. Is it from the toilet, the associated shower or another source?

Christer has arrived to Big Coffee.

Crêpes, a light meal.

Peter is writing down some thoughts during dinner at La Mamma restaurant.


Saturday 29th of December

08.17 Yet another year is coming to an end. Today we intend to have breakfast, cover the older parts of Tunis and hopefully something more.

10.06 We sit here in the room with mixed feelings and experiences. The breakfast is tasty and varied but provides nothing lasting. The air inside the room seems to stand completely still and makes us incredibly tired. We can get fresh air by opening a window but then it gets cold in the room.

11.13 The air is decent in our room as long as our AC is running, but we can't stay here much longer. There are plans for the day. We'll look at Tunis's oldest district, the Medina, where there are some places we think are fit for coffee and lunch. Who knows what else we will see along the way.

11.35 We have left the safe world of Hotel Carlton behind us and wandered west along Avenue Habib Bourguiba. A first stop has been made at a church, maybe even a cathedral. The Cathédrale Saint-Vincent-de-Paul de Tunis is the name of this religious building.

11.42 Pretty soon after the cathedral, we arrived at a chaotic intersection with a large gate, Bab Bhar. We're at The Place de la Victoire. We are at Tunis's oldest city centre, the Medina (Mèdina Tunis) with its narrow streets and intensive trade.

The entrance at Hotel Carlton.

We leave the hotel and step out into the real world.

"In love Tunis" with big letters in the background at Place Ibn Khaldoun Square.

The catholic cathedral in Tunis.

Bab Bhar, here is the beginning of old Tunis.

Inside Mèdina Tunis.

11.58 There are really plenty of people in the Medina. We have walked along one and another souk street where what is sold is similar goods everywhere. Each street looks about the same, all offering different kinds of stuff. If we hadn't had the help of our little blue point in Google Maps, we'd be lost in no time in here. We're taking a break at El Ali, a cultural centre and café. We sit on the sunny terrace and wait to order.

12.19 After a little wait, we finally got to order. It took a few orders before we found something that could actually be ordered. The first attempts were not available. Now we are waiting for mint tea and pralines.

12.23 Once again we feel like batteries put on charge. The warm sun shines at the winter pale bodies, replenishing them with energy. It's nice up here on the terrace.

12.58 The pralines that we thought were some small pieces of chocolate each turned out to be gigantic slice of cake each. The mint tea and the "pralines" were delicious. They were also incredibly satisfying. Now we plan the next move. Moving on to lunch after this does not feel relevant, maybe it will be tea or coffee again? We'll see.

13.31 It became a little more souk sightseeing and we passed a great mosque, Zaytuna mosque. Now we have sat down in the courtyard of El Mrabet Café.

14.05 While we ate our crepes and drank our coffee, we were courted by a black cat. Now there is no doubt anymore. The cats have temporarily taken over the role of FIDO. FIDO is an organization that seems to keep track of us on our travels. It is an abbreviation of Federated International Dog Organization. Or are we imagining it?

Not much space inside the medina.

Peter writes down some notes while waiting for the menus.

Christer is enjoying mint tea and accessories at El Ali Resto & Coffee.

We have found the way out!

Peter at Café Mrabet.

A mosque can be seen behind the walls at Café Mrabet.

14.37 It went well to find our way out of the Medina. Will it go as well to find our way home? We're standing right now at Boulevard Bab Mnara, observing the people's lives at the western border of the medina. We have found a route that relatively quickly should take us back to the hotel.

14.48 It's exciting to walk in Tunis. In addition to all the interesting people you meet and streets to be crossed, we walked past lots of street vendors who sold everything you can imagine. Various freshly slaughtered animal bodies and assorted animal heads hung at a large crossroad. Soon we'll be at the railway station again.

15.12 It went fine to find our way home. The maid left our room as we entered the corridor.

16.47 Without the supply of fresh air, you will easily be rather tired in our room.

18.41 I just woke up from my powernap. I needed to get the tiredness out of the body. Now we are looking on the internet for somewhere to have dinner. There must be more steady lunches to come. We cannot walk several kilometres on a light diet.

19.55 We have found some nice options for our dinner tonight. It's just that there is a risk that too many people will find it before us.

Beautiful pillars inside Café Mrabet.

Under a tree on Boulevard Bab Mnara.

Christer is looking for the shortest route back.

Hotel Carlton, we are back again!

Peter is waiting for dinner to be served at Steak Haus.

The dinner meat.

20.24 All the planned Turkish restaurant Way Way offered was a metal jalousie. it was closed, so we went to Steak Haus. They smoke here tonight too but after all they have cheap entrecôte and Celtia, local beer. On television, Liverpool plays against Arsenal. It's really bad for the away team.

21.24 The table neighbours wondered if we had a lighter, we did not. They later wondered about our origin, were we possibly Russians? The food with side orders was tasty. When we left the restaurant, an older gentleman followed us. He started the conversation by saying excuse me in Swedish. Then he asked in English if we were from Stockholm. He ended the conversation with the German farewell phrase tschüss.

23.28 In lack of other things, we sit and look through previous travel journals on our site online. I've forgotten much of what we have done. Thank God we've chosen to preserve what we've been through.


Sunday 30th of December

08.49 There is only one morning left to wake up to this year. The plan of the day is a small excursion. We're going to an old but still new town.

09.52 We are starting to get routine on this with eating breakfast here at Hotel Carlton. We have learned what tastes best and where to find it. We can even handle the buttons on the juice machine. Let's see if we can figure out how the day is going to be.

10.49 There seem to be changes to the plans around this day. We are most likely waiting to go to the ancient Phoenician and Roman city of Cartago. The city was founded in 814 BC and the name means the new city. That's why I wrote both an old and new city earlier. The question is now what we do instead. The maid is eager to come in and do her job here in the room. She may have said something about check out but we hope it is tomorrow.

11.06 New plans have now been put in place. The reason why we postponed the visit to Cartago is that we will be nearby on the last day here in Tunisia, one day we still need to fill with something. It is now time for us to start wandering the streets of Tunis again.

After much searching, we finally found a suitable restaurant.

Spaghetti lunch at Vabene.

Parc Zoologique de Tunis (Zoo Tunis).

11.27 We are now ever so slowly heading north on a long walk towards the City zoo in Parc du Belvédère. It would also be good to have a lunch before we see all the animals.

12.12 The planned restaurants for lunch have been disappointing. One, the acclaimed El-Walima, was closed and the other, an Italian, we did not even find. Is it still there at all? Another imaginable had an open door, staff on the move and music was played. However, they were also closed.

12.53 After passing half a dozen closed or sloppy eateries and, moreover, temporarily gone astray, we suddenly found the small restaurant Vabene. Now we have ordered Spaghetti Bolognese with beverages. Finally we get food and get to sit down for a while.

13.26 Pasta is a safe card for just enough food. The meat sauce was also spicy and tasty. Music, songs in Arabic are played in the speakers here. Phrases we found to hear in the songs are "Ida is going riding","Ingegerd lives on top of an Arab" and "my Saab has fallen asleep". Someone possibly also sang "Polly ate a Home Secretary". We may have misheard.

13.59 We are, after many ifs and buts, at the zoo. On the way here we talked to an annoying man who followed us, wondered if we were Russians, if it was cold in Sweden and what had we seen during our stay in the city. He also wondered if we left our wives at home. We're at the zoo in yet another country. It is for the first time in Africa if we ignore the bird park in Cape Town. We have, in total, been at a zoo, in I think, nine countries.

14.15 A male baboon is guarding his territory, his kingdom. It's not that big, but it's his.

14.48 There are plenty of children here at the zoo, children who almost climb into the cages. There might be an accident, poor animals, if that were to happen. The animals are quite calm and receptive. It is more than can be said about the visitors. It can happen a bit of each at this zoo. In 2017 it was closed for a while after a crocodile got stoned to death by visitors.

We said hello to an ostrich.

Children meet animals.

A dromedary is popular.

Lots of activity here.

Not only animals at the zoo.

A lion family.

15.17 We leave the children and animals at the zoo behind us. It became a fairly quick visit, mostly because there were so much people everywhere and nowhere to sit. It has become time to set the steps towards home.

15.36 We have, almost at home, stopped at Art Café, a large café/tea house along Avenue de Paris. The lemon sorbet I intend to order is all out. But there's coffee after all.

16.02 Surprisingly two sparklers were placed in Christer's pastries. Since a few minutes "Happy Birthday to you" has been played in two different languages in the speakers. Now it's another song with the same message. The "Happy Birthday to you" thing was also heard by us at a restaurant in Marrakech, Morocco.

16.23 It's kind of nice to come home to good, old room 132. Too bad the air is so stale and poor. The time has come to let in some fresh air.

18.05 We enjoy some reading in the books we have brought with us.

20.05 We will need some dinner this evening as well. Looking online is one thing. However, the best thing is to go out and look in reality.

20.32 You never walk alone can be read on a banner that some in the audience holds up. It is a match between Liverpool and Arsenal on the TV. It's a replay from yesterday's game. We are at Pizzeria Capri for pizza and again Celtia, no wide range of beers in this country.

21.28 There was no coffee but it was tasty anyway. Now as well as yesterday Liverpool won by 5-1. Next to us was a guest who sang beautifully.

23.06 The day and week are coming to an end. In 24 hours, it is December and 2018 that will end. Then it's time to pack up another year of travel. First it will be a night's sleep. We will be leaving Tunis tomorrow.

There was a surprise when receiving the order at Art Café.

Before the pizzas arrive at Pizzeria Capri.


VIDEOS


You can see 10 photos from December 27 in this photoalbum.
You can see 34 photos from December 28 in this photoalbum.
You can see 51 photos from December 29 in this photoalbum.
You can see 32 photos from December 30 in this photoalbum.


CONTINUE


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