Nabeul TUNISIA

Apple chicha, sugared tea, pop Arab music videos, Arab men, late afternoon sunshine- we’re waiting for our train to Tunis.

Today was such a good day.

The sun streamed unto our auberge room as we lazily awoke. Nothing to do. All day.

What a great plan. So we showed in the hottest shower of our trip and wandered onto the terrace. The wood slates above blocked out the hot sun while we sipped our café au lait and munched on bread with jame and butter.

The old Irish man, and seemingly only other guest at the place, came to chat with us for a while and we listened to his ramblings, as we had nothing else to do. The sound of the ocean called to us as the sun turned hot and we set off down the coast to explore.

Resorts dotted the beach and while a bit run down, they still possessed a simple charm evoking hot summer nights and wickers parasols on the beach.

Overcome by the sun, sand and surf, we sat in the shade of three palm trees, next to the white and blue huts of a private beach resorts, on the other side the crashing waves of clear blue sea.

Our brief repose turned into a two hour nap as we settled onto my Pashmina, impromptu spread out as a blanket. Lacking bathing attire, we made do with jearns and bras, burning a bit pink in the sun but loath to leave the tranquil setting.

Fearing too much sun and not wanting to miss our train, we wandered back to our auberge, packed up and headed out, by way of the internet café of course. Many emails later and a phone call to our CS contact Jeremy, we learned we would be taking the later train.

Perfect. We had time for a long lunch followed by chichi at the train station. Surrounded by apple flavored smoke and Arab pop music, life is pretty good.