Souks and medinas

Or at least what I picked up during my week in Tunisia. I managed to get out of my hotel a few times, as I mentioned before, so I was able to see and learn a few things. I'll start off with my market experiences. Depending on where you go in Tunisia, the markets can be very agreeable or very stressful. For example, the medina (old city that is now converted into a 7/7 market) in Hammamet has a very aggressive feeling because all the merchants bug you to buy their stuff. The medina in Sidi Bou Said, as I said before, is more relaxed because there's less hustling going on. The best experience I had in a medina was when we went to Tunis. There's a square of cafés next to the Tunisian version of the Arc de Triomphe, at the end of the Avenue Habib Bourguiba. You can then either enter on the left alleyway (the side for Tunisians) or the right alleyway (the side for tourists) to the medina. Of course I entered by the left side to see the real market instead of all the touristy crap. Philippe and I separated with the women after a few minutes and went to check out the medina. (There's another thing I've learned: going shopping with French women is just like going shopping with American women - I don't want to do it. Am I abusing the use of parentheses now?)

The medina in Tunis is cool for a few reasons. It's historical for one thing. Although I don't know any of the dates to stick in some more interesting facts, the buildings are definitely old and the road has a stone drainage system that shows it's ancient. The medina, which is owned by the government, is completely covered, which I saw better when a guy took me and Philippe up onto this awesome tiled roof of a building where rugs are made and sold. Of course that was a nice thing he was doing for us before trying to sell us rugs, and I wish I could have returned the kindness by buying one of their beautiful rugs, but unfortunately I don't exactly have enough space in my suitcases. The other highlight of the medina in Tunis is coming across the amazing-smelling Arab date-filled-cookie makers. Amazing, and stupid of me not to buy some on the spot.

My final market experience was in Nabeul, the town bordering Hammamet, Friday morning. There is a weekly souk (more traditional market) in Nabeul, where goods such as spices, vegetables, and pottery used to be brought by camel. Now of course it's more touristy but you can still find some cool stuff. Notice my Arab shirt in the pictures on Flickr, which I will sport for people when I'm cooking couscous back in Maryland. I said the goods used to be brought in by camel because of a couple reasons:

1. Times have changed. Even if everyone dreams of going to North Africa and riding around on a camel, I never saw an actual Tunisia doing that. There are things called cars and scooters now, which go a lot faster than camels and don't spit. The only people who really ride around on camels are the berbere people in the desert.
2. Camels are also a health risk. Having camels shitting next to all the vegetables and meat and such that you might want to buy just isn't that lovely, so if there are camels they're kept outside the market.

There are also some pretty hilarious things that you see/hear at the market. For example: "Normally this costs 35 Dinars for the Germans, but since you're French I'll give it to you for 25 Dinars." At which point you offer 5 Dinars and work your way up to 10 if you think it's worth it. To finish up on my market-talk, I'll offer a hint if any reading every visits the region: don't buy spices at the market. Instead buy them in a grocery store, where they'll be much fresher and possibly cheaper as well. Get some Ras el-Hanout (couscous spices) and some saffron.

Well now it's getting late for me and I need to hit the hay. It might still be early for a Friday night, but tomorrow isn't going to feel like a real Saturday for me, as I have a BAC Blanc test in the morning: four hours of writing. YAY! I guess you can call that payback for an incredibly easy week of 10 hours of class with one day of strikes and one holiday. Oh well, **it happens... I'm writing more than I thought I would for every blog, so I've still got at least one more Tunisia-topic blog coming. Keep reading! Goodnight.