Tuesday, November 25/2008

Our regular wander includes a search for the railway station, which we find after a couple of false starts and debates with a minimum of acrimony. Astonishing how remembered maps and the reality on the ground can fail to match up in one brain let alone two. The man we ask appears to be explaining in Arabic that he doesn't speak French, but points in response to "la gare?" Monastir is on a spur line, but there are several trains a day to Sousse, and several a day from Sousse to Tunis.

Through the medina on the way back. Fast food prices don't seem expensive but goods aimed at Tunisians are not cheap. A small and quite basic microwave, for example is about a hundred dollars (£48 UK). We are passed by a calèche, a horse-drawn carriage for tourists, decorated with artificial flowers. Most horses we have seen here are small working animals pulling carts with sacks of goods. Sometimes donkeys do the same, competing with vehicular traffic on the less busy streets.