From Wikitravel

Tunisia [1] is a country in Northern Africa that has a Mediterranean Sea coastline in the very centre of Mediterranean Africa. Tunisia lies immediately to the south of Italy and Malta. Libya borders Tunisia to the south-east, whilst Algeria lies to the west.

Contents 1 Regions 2 Cities 3 Other destinations 4 Understand 4.1 Climate 4.2 Terrain 4.3 History 5 Get in 5.1 By plane 5.2 By boat 6 Get around 6.1 By train 6.2 By louage (shared taxi) 7 Talk 8 Buy 9 Eat 10 Drink 11 Sleep 12 Learn 13 Work 14 Stay safe 15 Stay healthy 16 Respect 17 Contact

Regions

Administrative divisions 

23 governorates; Ariana (Aryanah), Beja (Bajah), Ben Arous (Bin 'Arus), Bizerte (Banzart), El Kef (Al Kaf), Gabes (Qabis), Gafsa (Qafsah), Jendouba (Jundubah), Kairouan (Al Qayrawan), Kasserine (Al Qasrayn), Kebili (Qibili), Mahdia (Al Mahdiyah), Medenine (Madanin), Monastir (Al Munastir), Nabeul (Nabul), Sfax (Safaqis), Sidi Bou Zid (Sidi Bu Zayd), Siliana (Silyanah), Sousse (Susah), Tataouine (Tatawin), Tozeur (Tawzar), Tunis, Zaghouan (Zaghwan)

Cities

• Tunis - the capital of Tunisia
• Bizerte
• El Kef
• Gabes
• La Goulette
• Nefta
• Hammamet
• Sfax
• Sousse
• Tozeur
• Monastir - Main charter airport for Tunisia

Other destinations

• Djerba — a popular tourist destination on a Mediterranean island in the south.
• Douz — tourist town on the edge of the Sahara where you can hitch a camel ride.
• Jugurtha's Table — a large mesa with a moon like surface and deep crevasses in the north-west (under Get Out section of El Kef).
• Matmata — desert village of cave dwellings where Star Wars's Tatooine was filmed.
• Sidi Bou Said — beautiful seaside town of white houses with blue doors and shutters.
• Sufetula or Sbeitla — a fairly well preserved Roman town in the mid west.
• Skanes pronounced "Scan-ez" Midway between Sousse and Monastir. Fairly quiet resort but ideal as a base for the 2 towns.

Understand

Climate

Temperate in north with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers; desert in south.

Terrain

Mountains in north; hot, dry central plain; semiarid south merges into the Sahara desert.

Elevation extremes 

lowest point: Shatt al Gharsah -17 m
highest point: Jebel ech Chambi 1,544 m

History

Independence 

20 March 1956 (from France)

National holiday 

Independence Day, 20 March (1956)

Following independence from France in 1956, President Habib Bourguiba established a strict one-party state. He dominated the country for 31 years, repressing Islamic fundamentalism and establishing rights for women unmatched by any other Arab nation. In recent years, Tunisia has taken a moderate, non-aligned stance in its foreign relations. Domestically, it has sought to diffuse rising pressure for a more open political society.

Malta and Tunisia are discussing the commercial exploitation of the continental shelf between their countries, particularly for oil exploration.

Get in

No visa is required for Americans, Canadians, EU and some other European citizens. A visa on arrival is available for Australians. New Zealanders must obtain a visa prior to arrival.

By plane

Tunisia's main international airport for scheduled flights is Carthage International Airport (TUN) near Tunis. Its second airport is Monastir (MIR) which is served by low cost charter flights from all over Europe. Monastir is nearer to most of the holiday destinations. Inexpensive charter flights (at least from the UK) are available at sites like www.flightstunisia.com and www.lastminute.com

By boat

Ferry services link Tunis to Malta, Trapani (Sicily, Italy), Naples (Italy), Genoa (Italy) and Marseille (France).

Get around

By train

The national train company SNCFT runs modern and comfortable trains from Tunis south to Sousse, Sfax and Monastir. There are three classes of service, namely Grand confort (deluxe 1st), 1st and 2nd, and all are quite adequate. Example fares from Tunis to Sousse are 12/10/6 dinars in Grand/1st/2nd class.

A good thing to do it's to buy a carte bleu (blue card). It costs around 20 dinars for a week and you can travel all around the country using the banlieu (short distance train) and grande ligne (long distance). For the long distance you will have to make a reservation and pay a small fee (1,50 dinars or so).These passes can also be bought to cover 10 or 14 days. there are rarely queues at the booking office and a little bit of french goes a long way. trains go also to tozeur and gabes in the south where it is easy to access the sahara and ksour regions respectively.

By louage (shared taxi)

Locals use louage where there is no train or bus. there are no timetables, but they wait in the louage station until 8 people turn up. They are nearly as cheap as the walk up train fares and operate with fixed prices so you won't get scalped. eg Douz to Gabes (120km) for 7 dinars.

By Taxi

Dirt Cheap but negotiate a price before you get in

A light railway also connects Tunis northward to Carthage and Marsa.

Talk

Arabic is the official language of Tunisia and one of the languages of commerce, the other being French — a relic of Tunisia's former status as a French colony until 1956. English is of limited use.

Buy

The national currency is the Tunisian dinar. US$1 = 1.3235 dinar (23 Jan 2006). GBP£1 = 2.33 Dinar (1 May 2006)

Eat

Tunisian cuisine is very much in the Northern African Maghreb tradition, with couscous and tajine stews forming the backbone of most meals. Distinguishing characteristics are the fiery harissa chili sauce and the heavy use of tiny olives, which are abundant in the country. Lamb forms the basis of most meat dishes. Local seafood is plentiful.

• Shorb Frik - lamb soup
• Coucha - shoulder of lamb cooked with turmeric and cayenne pepper
• Tabouna - traditional oven baked bread
• Brik - very crispy thin pastry with a whole egg (Brik à l'oeuf), parsley and onions and e.g. minced lamb or tuna. Very tasty as an inexpensive starter. Eat it very carefully with your fingers.
• Berber Lamb - Lamb cooked with potatos, carrots in a clay pot.
• Merguez - small spicy sausages.
• Salad Tunisienne - lettuce, green pepper, tomato, onions, olives, radishes mixed with tuna.
• Tunisian cakes - sweets related to Baklava.

Drink

Being a Muslim country, alcohol availability is restricted to certain licensed (and invariably more expensive) restaurants, resort areas and Magasin General shops.

• Beer - Celtia is the popular local brand, but some places also carry imported pilsner beers.
• Wine - Most places that serve alcohol will have Tunisian wine.
• Boukha - is a Tunisian brandy made from figs.
• Coffee - served strong in small cups. Tunesian cappuccino is also served strong in small cups.
• Tea - is generally taken after meals.

Sleep

Learn

The Bourguiba Institute of Modern Languages is known throughout the Arab World for its language courses. They offer intensive summer sessions in July and August for anyone interested in learning Modern Standard Arabic or Tunisian dialect. In the 2005 summer session there were over 500 students of all ages from throughout the world. This included students from the USA, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Norway, Croatia, Turkey, Japan, China, etc.

On the first day of class, there is placement exam. The levels range from absolute beginner to advanced, with 15 to 25 students per class. Only Arabic is allowed in the classroom. We used both a course book developed by Bourguiba Institute and also music videos in Arabic with the accompanying text.

The courses are daily from 8:00 AM to noon. In the afternoon there are activities and tours of the medina and museums. They also offer optional weekend excursions to sites in Tunisia. At the end of the one-month course there is both a written and oral exam.

Several students complained about the lack of cleanliness in the student dorms. Some students stayed in a hotel and then rented a beach-side apartment for the month. It's usually easier to negotiate rental prices once you are in Tunis.

The school is located in the city of Tunis. It's about a 20 minute metro ride to the beach. If you go to the summer school, be prepared for the hot temperatures.

Work

Stay safe

It is apparently not considered rude for a man to stare at a woman's body which should indicate that modesty will attract less attention.

Travellers report problems being pestered either to buy something or for other purposes. Persistence is a major complaint. Some say that a refusal often results in a bad reaction, "being hissed at" is one example, but those who have been advised to refuse politely with a smile rarely complain. This seems to be borne out by the reports of sole female travellers who you would expect to receive the most attention, but who often report the least problems (from an admittedly small sample), perhaps because they are more cautious than accompanied females. It certainly seems to be the case that sole female sea bathers attract a good deal of unwelcome attention (even molestation) until a male friend arrives.

Theft of belongings, even from hotel rooms and room safes, is widely reported and the usual caveats apply - keep valuables in a secure place (e.g. supervised hotel safe deposit), do not flash too much cash, and keep wallets, purses and other desirable items where pick pockets cannot reach them. A good recommendation is only to carry enough cash for your immediate requirements and only one credit or bank card, provided you can be assured of the security of your reserves.

Stay healthy

Have all the injections needed for you to travel and stay safely (see bellow) in Tunisia without contracting unwanted diseases or infections etc...

Recommendations vary, but it would appear the following are recommended, We would recommend always checking with you Doctor/GP 8-4 weeks before travelling (The 8-4 weeks is important, as some vaccinations take weeks to become effective, and with Polio you can be contagious for a while too):

Hepatitis A - HIGHLY RECOMENDED (Tip: get Havrix injections - two - one now and one in six months time then you are protected against hepatitis A for 10 years!)

Typhoid - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Polio - RECOMMENDED

Hepatitis B - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED if likely to have imitate contract with locals or if visiting for more than 6 months.

Yellow fever - REQUIRED for all travellers arriving from a yellow-fever-infected area in Africa or the Americas.

Malaria - There is NOT much of a malaria risk in Tunisia, but we would recommend some insect repellent.

SKIN CANCER - Please remember that the sun is frequently your biggest enemy, we would recommend frequent application of a high (factor 30 or better) sun screen. We would recommend the big brand stuff, it goes on easier, and stays on longer, without being sticky. It is usually cheaper in your local super market than at the holiday destination.

Be careful what and where you eat and drink (remember the ice cubes too); diarrhoea is frequently enjoyed by those not being careful.

NOT HAVING THE RECOMMENDED VACCINATIONS COULD RUIN MORE THAN JUST YOUR HOLINDAY...It's not worthy the gamble, and in some cases you might not be covered by your holiday insurance if you don't have the recommended vaccinations. Make sure you discuss any potential side effects with your advisor before the vaccinations are administered.

Respect

Tunisia is a Muslim country, and dress code is important, particularly for females. Whilst a lot of skin (even topless) is tolerated on beaches and within hotel complexes, a modest amount of exposed skin may be frowned upon outside these areas.

Contact

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