Tunisia is Welcoming Tourists Again (still!)

Tunisia is a small but fascinating country. You can spend a week here to see the highlights, or stay a little longer and really get into the treasures the country has to offer. Below are links to some recent news about traveling in Tunisia. Enjoy! And if you want to visit for yourself, give us a call and we can put together the perfect Tunisia experience for you.

NY Times Slide Show on Tunisia

NY Times: Tunisia After the Revolution

NY Times; Travel Guide to Tunisia

These are some photos from our group tour to Morocco and Tunisia in 2010.

Hammamet

Flower sellers in Hammamet

Walled city of Sousse

Walls of the fortress.

El Jem, near Sfax.

Chebika, in the mountains near the Algerian border.

Oasis at Nefta

Palmyre Hotel in Toezur

Cactus blooming in Tamerza

Local transport in the dunes

From Maha in Egypt

I finally set down to email you, I have a couple of hours before I go out this morning,

Here, all is OK, I'm with family and friends all the time, its really nice as you know, the weather is amazing and I am in summer clothes and they are still wearing coats, sweaters and boots. The traffic is awful and very very busy - worse then last year, they drive in all directions and there are no rules anymore, a huge mess but fun.

As for what people feel with all whats happening they are very worried and actually this time most of them are not sure any more if the revolution was a good idea. They can't see anything positive yet, the religious movements are soooo strong. Yesterday we drove thru the main street in Heliopolis to see the really religious muslim people chanting and rooting for the Salafi guy who is a presidential candidate, and then some say that the army will take over. Still nobody knows how it will end up.

With all that said, we still go out almost every night and have fun, lots of restaurants and coffee shops and shishas, of course. Service is booming, you can order anything by phone and have it delivered to your house, even the doctor comes to you if you need him, but you also see a lot of poor people and kids running thru the cars begging for money.

All my friends are doing good and my family too.

I LOVE EGYPT, such a special country and the best place for a vacation.

Photos from Rita's Tour of UAE and Oman

 

The iconic Burg Al Arab Hotel in Dubai.

Frankincense

Amouage Perfume Factory - They make the most expensive perfume in the world!

The jeweled and gold perfume bottles - the exquisite bottles are part of the reason the the perfume is expensive- they are a work of art themselves.

Gold in the souk!

Last day in Oman

Sorry for the long delay in getting this posted! We have been busy at the office getting ready for our next tours coming up - Iran, the Caucasus, a private group going to Morocco, clients on independent tours to Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, and more. And Maha is in Egypt right now - I have a post from her that is going to be entered next! - Brenda

Monday March 12th

Today is the last day in Muscat and there is a lot to do and see before we leave.  We start out early this morning at 7:30am and go straight to the Big Mosque, built by his Royal Highness Sultan Qaboos.  It is about a 20 minute drive from our hotel.  The rules to go into the mosque are more restrictive than most.  Before getting on to the property of the mosque, women need to have their arms, legs, and hair completely covered.  No hair showing at all, no short sleeves - the sleeve of your shirt need to come down to your wrist.  Once you get to the door and the guard sees that hair or skin is showing he is able to turn you away.

The mosque is beautiful but not elaborately ornate.  The dome is made from gold and the marble has been brought in from Italy. The mosque can accommodate 20,000 people at one time.  The carpet was made in Iran and weighs over 27 tons, and covers the floor of the prayer room. The driver, who is Yemeni, said he prayed there only once since he kept looking around at everything that was there and you should not do that when praying.  

 I had a discussion with some of the guides outside the mosque while the group toured around, asking them questions about marriage, etc.  There is no civil marriage in Oman, most Omanis do marry someone from their own country.  A couple of drivers knew Omanis that went out of the country and fell in love but with other Arabs in Morocco or Syria, etc.

They talked about watching TV and seeing the American stations and how families lived, and about divorce and the fighting and what happens to the kids.  This is the impression they have of us.  The discussion went on about the age of the person when they get married is about 18 for the girl and older for the man.  If he finds a younger girl he is interested in he will tell his family and they will talk to her family and say they are interested but will wait until she is old enough for the marriage.  The average price that is given is 4,000 riyals and it can go up depending on the family wealth, but it will not be less.  If for some reason the woman wants to get a divorce and is able to prove he is not good or something they will get divorced and she or her family will need to repay 50 percent of the price they were given.

When the group came back I discussed this with them and they asked questions, it was a good conversation. After the visit to the mosque we were rushed to the port for dolphin watching. We drove to the Marina to embark on a search for dolphins and we found them - beautiful coastline and clear blue waters with a variety of fish and other sea life here.  

Oman is a blend of the old and new and it has done very well with the architecture incorporating all of this.  While on the sea we were able to see the city skyline and also the rugged mountain range that come right to he city walls. The city builders built right next to the mountains so you have the jagged mountains blended with the Islamic architecture of white stucco buildings.

We went after this to the Bai Al Zubai museum which shows you the traces of Omani history and development.  I remember the first time I came here, it was about 10 ears ago, and there was a small city and the center was near the marina and the fish markets- now it has spread so wide and far, and a bigger population, and new industries.

Took the group to the souk, which is ok but it is mostly run by Indians and Pakistanis, rather than Omanis.  If you have traveled in the Middle East before you will be somewhat disappointed with the markets here – they are not like Syria, Egypt, or even Turkey, but for the first time visitor it is a good introduction to bargaining and seeing the buildings of the covered souks and the small alley ways. There are a lot of different buildings and some old homes inside, and you do need to wander around to see them. 

Still one more visit to a hotel before we leave for the airport.  We were invited to the Grand Hyatt and also had a hosted dinner at the property- very nice and upscale.  They tried to incorporate Middle Eastern design and also North African in this place.  They had a meeting of Ministers so a metal detector was brought in to check people at the door, otherwise Muscat is a very safe city and this is not normal to have these in the hotels - first time that we saw this in Oman and also in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

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It is 2:30am and our driver and guide are downstairs to take the group to the airport. This is still the old airport but there are plans on the walls of what they are planning to do for a future airport.  The flight is 45 minutes only to Dubai and then you get to this incredible new airport with masses of people from all nationalities and so many different languages being spoken.  It is a huge shopping mall - everything you heart can want is available - almost too much that you just want to find a spot to hang out in and get away from the mobs.

Our flight is almost empty we have only 82 reservations in economy class and a full business class - I decided to spread out on the four middle seats and just sleep. The 15 hour flight to Seattle was not as bad as I thought since I was able to relax.  One of the people in the group mentioned that each flight attendant was more beautiful then the next.  It seems that we are back in the days of PanAm, where you had to be a certain size and look and weight, etc. They were all so pleasant and so accommodating to the passengers.  Also, the trip back had a number of languages spoken - I think it was about 8.  Now to sleep and I will wake up in beautiful Seattle.  I was told it snowed there so I am looking forward to the cold after the heat of the Arabian Peninsula.

1000 Arabian Nights Camp in Oman

Sunday March 11, 2012

We arrived last night at about 5pm into our camp after driving 11/2 hours in the desert. Before coming into the desert we had to stop at a garage to let the tire pressure out of the 4x4 tires to be able to drive on the sand. If the tire pressure was kept at the rate for city driving we might have rolled over or got struck in the sand.


Driving through the sand dunes.

 We got checked in after having a glass of ginger tea and went to our tents. The tents have their own bathroom facilities and two beds or double beds with carpeting on the floor and towels sheets and blankets supplied. If you are someone that gets hot like me, I suggest that you bring a little motorized/battery operated fan that you can use. I took one of the chairs and sat outside and just looked at the sand dunes and watched the sun go down. It wasn’t that clear to get a great sunset because of the fine sand that was blowing around, but it was very pleasant, and so quiet. I think of living in the city, and forget how noisy it is and not sure of how to deal with silence. It is like the silence that you get when you have a hearing problem.




 


Our camp in the desert of Oman.




One of the tents at the desert camp.

 The weather got cooler in the evening and when the sun goes down it gets very dark, except for the moon which was full the night before last and it was fading a bit. The stars are so clear. The group slept early and this morning I got up at 5am and waited for the sunrise over the sand dunes. Some adventurous people decided to climb up the dunes to get a better view. It was so much fun watching since I do not think they realized that it is very hard to climb in fine sand, each step you take you sink farther and farther in. Once the person got to the top they would just sit and think to themselves “I made it up here, now how do I get down?” Well, you get down either by sliding down on your butt or having a snowboard to do some sand surfing, which is quite a sport in Oman enjoyed by the locals and the foreigners.

I was asking the group what they thought of this trip since I have two people in the group that have never traveled to the Middle East before. They said that what they saw in the Emirates they expected from the media, but they were very surprised at the amount of English spoken in all the countries, also the amount of foreign workers.

They expected that their would be more local workers even though I tried to explain that it was not the case except for Oman, where the ruler has been pushing for the Omanization of the country. English is spoken by so many that they thought it would be an area they could come back to and not worry about traveling on their own or with a partner. They were surprised at the beautiful color of the water, not having pollution, and the beautiful sandy beaches.

They were not sure how they might be taken as Americans, but found that everyone was very friendly.

They expected the foods like chicken and lamb, but for some reason did not realize the amount of seafood that we would have on the trip. They were also surprised at the mixture of foods from India and Pakistan, and some of the spices that are used.

Some comments from the tour group:

• Great food everywhere
• Vehicle 4 wheel drives are comfortable
• Drivers are excellent
• People are warm and friendly
• Hospitality
• Hardly anyone speaks Arabic
• Many speak English well
• We were the only Americans that we saw
• People have a sense of the future
• Felt very welcomed, no issues being American
• Very different then she has been before
• Not expecting so much of a Indian and Pakistani influence
• Very clean was not expecting to see this
• Was not expecting a Nigerian guide
• Thought before he came that this would not be safe- people perceptions are very negative
• Told people that he is going to Dubai and they said I thought you were going to the Middle East
• Thought of the movie Sex in the City that was filmed in Dubai
• Loved the food since it was all natural and very good food of vegetable tomatoes, onions
• Oman is the Vermont of the Middle East
• Lots of Germans and Italians

Leaving the UAE and Heading into Oman

Friday March 9

At breakfast this morning my friend Saeed from Abu Dhabi came by to see me and visit with the group a bit.  It was nice to see him and for the group to be able to talk to a local.  Our guide and driver from Oman were supposed to see us at 8am but they did not make it until 9pm.  It seems the person in charge of passport control on the Omani side was too tired and delayed getting to work.  He did finally show up and they were able to get through and arrive by 9am.  We said our goodbyes, then on the bus I got a call from my friend Saeed - it seems that the driver wasn’t sure of the way out so he gave directions and a tour as we left.  On the phone with him he was giving us a tour and I was translating to the group from Arabic what they were seeing.  The guide from Oman was Paul from Nigeria and he said he was also learning since he did not know these things.  Quite interesting way of giving a tour!

We got to the border and had to do the formalities of leaving the UAE.  The man at the desk was very happy since our group was laughing all the time.  We paid a fee of $10 each and then out the door.  We then drove thru no man’s land for about 5 minutes and got to the border of Oman.  They had just changed the rules for visas on arrival to the country - it used to be $60 and now it is down to $15.  This happened a week ago, so everyone was happy to save a few dollars.  Found out though that they will not take cash in any currency, they will only do credit cards - no debit cards.  So, the guide put this on his card for us and we paid him back.  This is not something they have in print yet so it might be hard for some clients that do not bring a card with them.  The border office opens at 9am, or let me say the people start to come at that time, so we did have a bit of a wait. The banks were closed so no way of exchanging funds.

We finished the formalities and headed on our way to the Jabreen Fort which is closed on a Friday but we could look at the architecture on the outside.  The weather here is so different. Very warm for March - running about 80 F, but a dry heat.  We got to the Jabreen Fort after driving two hours from the border.  The fort was built with bud brick and dates back to 1670.  Beautiful place.  From there we headed for Bahla and then to the date groves of Al Hamra and a short walk to the site of Bait Al Safah. We walked into the date groves for about 10 minutes and got to a beautiful old home made from mud brick.  Inside we had some local women that were making bread, incense, and roasting coffee.  It is a three story old home and each floor had something different.  Some of the women did not want their picture to be taken so then covered their faces and we took pictures of them roasting coffee, etc.  We went to the top floor and had some tea, coffee and dates.  A couple in the group tried some local costumes and we took pictures, and sat in the house and felt how cool it was inside from the weather outside.

 We left here and head for lunch at a small truck stop.  It was interesting in that the waiter and also the owner of the place were all Indians so they spoke no Arabic.  I found an Omani who spoke Hindu and got some local food ordered for the group.  The workers from the kitchen were looking out the window at us so the group decided to visit the kitchen and look at what they were doing.  Everyone was laughing trying to figure out the crazy Americans and everything they wanted to see.  Our guide speaks no Arabic, but the driver Yousef is from Oman and speaks, Arabic and English fluently.

 We started the drive to Nizwa and thru the desert and the high mountains to get to our hotel in the middle of nowhere it seems.  This was a good day in that we got the group to the hotel early (5pm) so they could rest and relax since we had been moving for the last couple of days.  Relaxing evening and ready for the desert tomorrow.

Some photos from the tour so far

Here are some of the photos Rita has sent us so far from her tour in the United Arab Emirates.

Dubai Museum.

Traditional architecture and decor in Dubai.

Crossing Dubai Creek on one of the local water taxis.

Local water taxi on the Dubai Creek.

In the Gold Souk in Dubai.

Hotel inspection - we are seeing several properties so the agents will be able to help their clients plan their vacations or business travel in the Emirates.