Taking the day off!!

 

Up this morning about 6, and we turned on the space heaters we had requested last night – because there doesn’t seem to be any heat in the room – and the small space heaters warmed things up quite nicely!  When suddenly, around 7, poof!  All the power in the room went off!  We figured we had blown a fuse, but it was, of course, much more complicated than that!  It took about 45 minutes for an electrician to show up, and then he (with R’s help holding the flashlight) finally got things going again, after 20 minutes or so.  So … no more space heaters for us, obviously, but at least the room is warmer now than it was yesterday afternoon when we checked in!

 

I was finally able to get into the beautiful soaking tub (all filled to the brim with bubbles!) about 8:30, and we went to breakfast about 9 or 9:15 am.  Some good things, and some very unknown things available, but we both made do.  They make date juice here, which is really excellent!  

 

My breakfast

R's breakfast

Lots of bubbles in my soaking tub ...

After breakfast, we requested a taxi to take us into town to the Medina (old part of town) in Tozeur.  It arrived in less than 15 minutes, and we were then on our way to the zone touristique.  It passed through the weekly souk(market) that lined both sides of the road, and created total chaos everywhere!  As R said, looking at the tables and tables of clothing just piled up everywhere, you could clothe the entire population of Tozeur and then some, 6 times over!  They also had shoes, suitcases, you name it, it was probably there!  According to our taxi driver, the souk is every week on Saturday and Sunday.  But that did take quite a few people out of the town center, I’d presume, as it was relatively quiet when we got there.

 

Our driver let us out and we arranged with him to pick us up in one hour.  I just wanted to do some walking in the area and see what there was to see!  Followed Google Maps to the Grand Galerie de Medina Tozeur, which had some lovely things in it!  Managed to pick up a nice serving tray as well as a Tunisia t-shirt (yes, yet another for the collection!) before we had to find our way back to the center of town.  Turns out that Tozeur is really quite an attractive small city, with quite a few **** hotels, many of them located in the Medina area.  I know that none of them could possibly be as nice as the Mora, but some had really interesting architecture.  We don’t really know when high tourist season is around here (although we’re pretty sure it will be crazy during the 2027 eclipse!) but they are certainly equipped for tourists whenever they appear!

Driving by the souk!

Center of Tozeur

Want a date??

Talk about down a back alley...

In the Galerie of the Grand Medina

Horses are common transport here!

But some lovely, interesting buildings!

I really liked the tiles on this wall!

And some very modern places!

Not sure what this sphinx was exactly...

And an interesting front gate at the town center!

Back through the souk...like the shoes?

And ever more clothes!

One of the big things to do around here is to do 4x4 excursions out into the desert, especially to see former Star Wars locations.  However, as these aren’t really in our interest area, we’ve decided to spend the day quietly – other than the quick trip into town.  Back to the Mora about noon, and now R is reading and planning on working this afternoon when I go for my massage … then we’ll have to decide where to dine this evening.  We are also planning on requesting that our fire pit on our patio be lighted tonight!  How fun!

 

R has written a bit more about the immediate area we are visiting, as follows:

 

We are just at the northern limit of the Grand Erg Orientale, an area of sand dunes covering 375 miles east to west by 125 miles north to south.  Many think the entire Sahara Desert is covered with sand dunes but, in fact, it is mostly flat wasteland.  (There is another area of dunes, the Grand Erg Occidental, in Algeria.). Between us and the Erg is the Chott el Djerid, a large lake basin that has no outlet so, like the Salton Sea in California and the Great Salt Lake in Utah, it is saline as water flows in and then evaporates, leaving the salts behind.  Mostly dry until the rainy season, it is the largest salt pan in the Sahara Desert, with an area estimated to be about 2,500 square miles.

 

As we drove toward Tozeur yesterday, we passed through an area that saw action in WWII and we will drive though more as we head back north.  In November 1942, the United States entered the European war with the invasion of North Africa, with landings on the Atlantic coast of French Morocco and the Mediterranean coast of Algeria.  Pushing east against French forces loyal to the Vichy, the American army was met by German forces (led by Rommel and Arnim) in the Western Dorsal (a range of the Atlas Mountains) and suffered a major defeat at the Kaserine Pass in mid-February 1943.  With that embarrassment, the commander of the II Corp was replaced by Patton, who reinvigorated the unit that eventually captured Bizerte (just north of Tunis) in May of that year.  That effectively ended the Axis involvement in North Africa, paving the way for the eventual landing of the Allies into Sicily some months later.

 

So, more later!

m

xxx

 

OMG!  I know I’ve said that before, but let’s talk true adventures here, of the spirit and of the soul!  I signed up yesterday for a massage, and was asked if I wanted to include the Hammam … and rather reluctantly, I said yes.  I say reluctantly as I have only had one other Hammam experience, and that was some years ago at a public Hammam in Antalya, Turkey.  It was truly amazing, but I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect here.  So … first off, Katy and Hilary, you HAVE to sign up for the Hammam, even if you don’t get the massage – although truthfully, I would recommend that too, as it was wonderful!

 

I reported to Pause, the spa, a few minutes before two, and filled out a sheet about myself and any massage concerns, all while sipping water and lime juice.  Then I was escorted to a dressing room with showers, bathrooms and lockers, and given what is truly the equivalent of a tiny g-string (although I’m really not sure exactly what that is…) except it covers very little and is on elastic.  So … into that I got (thank heavens elastic stretches…) and my luxurious Turkish bathrobe and slippers, and followed the gal into the Hammam!  

 

And it truly is, just like the one in Antalya!  It’s completely tiled, and domed, with various small rooms all around it.  First, my robe and slippers were taken, and I was seated on a brr-cold marble slab.  Then Nesserine, the attendant started pouring large jugs of very hot water all over me – and I mean, from head to toe!  Got me very wet very quickly!  Then she started washing me all over with a spongy-like thing, then another rinse.  After about 5 minutes of doing this, we moved over (carefully, as everything was wet!) to a plastic massage table, where I was told to lie down face first.  From there, I was scrubbed all over – every inch – with the equivalent of a tuffy pad – which isn’t gentle, let me tell you, with occasional jugs of hot water pouring over me yet again.  Once I was free and clear of that, we moved to the center area where I was rubbed all over with some lovely cream on my face, and then mud all over my body!  Left to sit about five minutes, I was then led back to the original location, where I was first rinsed off, and then scrubbed yet again, but this time with bubbles!  That was great!

 

After this rinse off, I had a wonderful shampoo followed by conditioner!  Wow!  I had no idea!

 

Finally, I was led to a deep, large tub that had water bursting out of it, and told to get in!  I did!  I was able to be submerged up to my neck in piping hot water, and it felt wonderful!  I’d have liked to stay there all afternoon, but my massage was calling, so reluctantly, I got out, was toweled off, wrapped up in the beautiful bathrobe, and sent on my way.  

 

This time, I was led to another very quiet room, with a beautiful view, and brought both water and freshly made mint tea.  I’m not normally a tea drinker, but this was very good!  After some minutes, I was then led into my massage – which was really excellent – although not nearly as memorable as the Hammam experience!

 

All in all, a truly lovely afternoon of total and complete relaxation!  The Hammam is something that I really do recommend if anyone ever has the opportunity to try it!  You’ll also end up being REALLY clean afterwards, which does have a lot going for it!

 

More later!

m

xxx

 

In front of one of the gorgeous pools here at the hotel!

Heading into sunset!

Just back from the restaurant and a great dinner!  But one comment first:  They serve WAY too big a portion size here (here meaning Tunisia.  So far, all of the restaurants we have been to serve very generous portions)!!  For our appetizer that comes with our meal, we had a plate that included olives, some wonderful tuna, harissa (which is WAY too hot for me to handle!) as well as a small bowl of smoked ham cubes!  PORK!  Very interesting, as that’s the first pork product we’ve run into in Tunisia!

Had a fire on our terrace tonight!

Looking into our room from the terrace.

Beautiful grounds!

Shrimp bisque!

That's a lot of beef tenderloin!

For our starters, we both ordered shrimp bisque, which was great!  A bit spicier than we’re used to, but wonderful nonetheless!  Then for mains, we both ordered the beef tenderloin, cooked rare!  We both received three (not very) small tenderloins – WAY too much food!  R finished two of them, but I could only get through about 1½!  I mean, they were delicious, served with a nice peppercorn sauce – but just way too much to eat in one serving!  They were served with grilled vegetables as well as white rice.  We were both too full to even think about dessert!

 

Back to the room about 8:30 and now possibly a movie after I get posted, and then to bed!  On to El-Kef tomorrow!

 

Much love,

m

xxx