Hanging Around

Many people have been asking when the blog will restart, we have now slipped our lines from the marina and started our travels, but I thought I’d begin by updating you about our winter.

We had a couple of trips back to the UK for Christmas and Easter, it was lovely to spend time with family and friends, we enjoyed Christmas celebrations, dog sitting and muddy walks through flooded fields, a trip to the English seaside resort of Hunstanton with grandchildren and watched our daughter complete the London marathon.

The rest of our winter was spent in Tunisia. We soon got back into life in the marina and the regular social events: weekly barbecues, happy hours, exercise groups, swimming, darts and trips to the market.

While we were there a local artist completed a large painting of a mermaid brightening up a wall in the marina.

The colour of her hair represents coral which is protecting the fish that swim in it, from the bird. Her blue eyes are the sea, the yellow and blue tiles represent the feet of a lion giving her strength, she is protecting the fish on the left and the turtle. I couldn’t resist a ride on a turtle.

There are always plenty of general maintenance and repair jobs to do on a boat which kept us busy, Paul replaced the 20 year old autopilot with a much updated version. This involved running new cables between the steering system in the back cabin, the control panel in the cockpit and the electrical panel at the chart table, these all had to go under our bed, below the floorboards, behind cupboards and above the headlining, so the boat was taken apart and put back together several times.

Paul also spent time updating our computer systems. Not quite sure what that involved! I left him to it and ventured back to the market at Port de Pêche with some friends and visited the clothing section, it is huge, there are some bargains to be had if you’re prepared to rummage through mounds of clothes. I found a couple of nice shirts for 3 TD each (75 pence).

There were a few trips up the mast, first to change bulbs, then again to disconnect the wind sensor which had stopped working. I brought it down for Paul to repair, he took it all apart, cleaned all the insides and greased it which seemed to work, so I went up again to reconnect it. There’s a great view from the top of the mast.

We did also manage to find plenty of time to explore more of the town, visiting some interesting cafes tucked away behind doorways that are mainly only visited by locals, many have an open air courtyard inside, with a retractable roof for the warmer days. Our favourite has a Arabic feel to it, decorative tiled walls, colourful fabrics and canary’s in cages on the walls. I ordered a small breakfast which consisted of a chocolate crepe, a boiled egg, yoghurt, hot chocolate and sweet mint tea, an interesting combination!

After regularly walking past Habib Bourguiba’s gold domed mausoleum and the large 8th century Ribat just outside the marina, we decided to take a look inside them.

The Bourguiba mausoleum is a monumental grave in Monastir, located on a side of the Sidi El Mezeri cemetery, separated by an imposing gate. It contains the remains of the former president Habib Bourguiba, who died on April 6th 2000.

Habib Bourguiba is known as the father of Tunisian independence. He was born in Monastir and it is also where he took his last breath. The mausoleum is a very impressive building, situated at the end of a 200 meter long walkway, built in an Arab-Muslim style, the building is adorned with marble, gold and olive wood. It has a large golden dome with two smaller colourful cupolas and two marble minarets.

Inside there is an octagonal marble hall containing his sarcophagus. Next to the hall are tombs of his family, the Mausoleum of Bourguiba shelters not only the deceased president, but also his first wife, Mathilde, and the bodies of his parents and brothers rest by his side.

There is a room with a small display of his personal items.

A staircase leads to a 1st floor interior balcony from where you can look down to the sarcophagus with a huge chandelier hanging over it, giving a different perspective of the sheer size of the interior.

The building inside and out is very ostentatious and extravagant. It took twenty years of work to finish this mausoleum. President Bourguiba planned it all, and commenced construction well before his death, starting in 1963. In 1978 expansion work was carried out to allow accommodation of more family members in additional rooms.

Habib Bourguiba is a very important historical figure and the mausoleum is a place of meditation for the Tunisians, which allows the former president to stay in everyone’s minds.

Next stop was a visit to the Ribat, a fort like Islamic defensive structure used to protect commercial routes. Many of these fortifications were built along the North African coast forming a coastal defense system, to ultimately provide more protection to the Islamic empire from the North side.

Constructed in 796, this is the oldest built by Arab conquerors. Between the 11th to the 19th centuries, the Ribat kept expanding and is now almost double its original size, a Kasbah was added and watchtowers were regularly installed. It was a very strong fortress but of course there were occasions when it came under siege and parts were destroyed. The Ribat needed to be preserved and underwent an extensive refurbishment program in the 1960s.

You are able to walk along the rugged walls and staircases, cautiously as most don’t have handrails, we also went up one of the towers where we had great views over Monastir, the cemetery, mausoleum and the beach.

As with many historical structures in Tunisia, there is an element of popular culture. The Ribat has appeared in movies, with Jesus of Nazareth and Life of Brian being two of the most well known examples. Many scenes from Monty Python’s Life of Brian were filmed here, including hundreds of Tunisian extras laughing at Biggus Dickus.

A lot of work has been undertaken in Monastir throughout the winter, replacing the paving stones along the promenade and preparing the beaches for summer. There was a buildup of black seaweed on the northwest beach which was all removed and replaced with new sand. As the months went on and the weather got warmer the beaches and town became much busier.

Having explored many parts of the town we did also venture further afield but I will save that for next week.