Month: March 2025

Tunisia is known for great medical services for very reasonable prices. In the fall we had visited dentists, ophthalmologists, dermatologists, and general practicioners. This spring, Trip decided to try hearing aids again. Through a personal recommendation we found his new audiologist, Emna. She works with a clinic in Switzerland and was completely up to date on all the latest hearing aid developments. We got Trip set up for an audiology test appointment, molded ear forms, and she gave him trial hearing aids to see which worked best.

I can’t speak for Trip, but I thought the difference was remarkable. I no longer had to repeat myself three times in a row, and he could hear most conversations when we went out socially. There were a few times when he got really frustrated, but I reassured him they were situations when I could barely hear myself.

Paying for the hearing aids was a bit of a comedy of errors. It’s not easy to get money wired to Tunisia (it’s a closed currency system, and the banks take a ridiculous cut), and you can only take out 1600 dinar ($500 USD) a day. We needed 12,000 dinar. After several mistakes, we got a Western Union account set up and the money wired to a local branch. We went to collect, and our jaws dropped as the clerk gave us the money, all in 10 and 20 dinar denominations. Feeling like we were doing a drug deal, we rushed the stacks to the audiologist’s bank to make the deposit.

There’s a number of places that are only a day trip from Monastir. In between boat projects, we decided to visit Kairouan with fellow cruiser Greg. It was our first time taking a louage (part minivan, part bus, part taxi). You pay your fee and when the vehicle fills up it leaves. This was one of the few times that we almost got cheated, as a taxi driver approached us and told us the louage cost 100 dinar ($30 USD) for three of us. It didn’t sound right, and more importantly Greg had just taken the louage to Tunis for far less than that, so we waited in line, collected our tickets (24 dinar = $8 USD for the three of us), and went to the vehicle in question.

Kairouan is famous for its mosque, but the doors and the bay windows were equally captivating.

We even came across a local wood carver, doing everything by hand.

The mosque was interesting but, in my opinion, it paled compared to the other aspects of the town. It does have significant importance in the Muslim world, however, and it is said that seven trips to the Kairouan Great Mosque equal one trip to Mecca.

We also visited the Governor’s House, which is now a museum and rug store. We were lucky to have a guided tour of the store, without anyone pushing too hard to sell the rugs and scarves on display there. I love the rugs, and am so happy that we live on a small boat so I can’t be tempted everywhere we visit.

Tunisia is very much a country of eating locally and seasonally. It’s not like the US (or many parts of Europe), where there’s a huge freezer section of out-of-season goodies or foods imported from other parts of the world. It can be a little bit of a challenge when you’re craving comfort food, but overall it’s inspiring and a good way to learn some new dishes.

Artichokes were sold by the bouquet off the back of trucks. You can get three generous size heads for less than $2 USD. Friends invited us over for appetizers one night and I was happy to see stuffed artichokes just like the ones my grandmother used to make. I also used the weekly BBQ as an excuse to try grilled artichokes, which will definitely go into the regular rotation.

Strawberries are so plentiful that they can go bad before you eat them all (thanks Eva for the trick about baking soda and water to preserve them). As the last batch went soft, I had the excuse to make a strawberry lemon compote for French toast one morning.

Why did I have to be cursed with high cholesterol at a time when eggs are everywhere? Unlike the $5 a dozen they cost in the US, we can get fresh eggs for pennies in Tunisia. And eggs are used in so many local dishes like brik (deep fried egg in a pastry covering) and tagine (fritatta of sorts).

This isn’t the prettiest looking dish, but it’s one the tastiest I learned this season. Fennel is another great vegetable that is regularly at the market this time of year. I grew up eating it raw in between courses at holiday dinners with my grandmother, but I had never cooked with it much. Thanks to chef Yotam Ottolenghi, I stumbled upon a dish of roasted clementines (also in the market), chicken (always available), fennel, and ouzo (I had just enough leftover from Greece last year). The result was super tasty and I made it several times.

I will never get tired of the shops selling a plethora of pickled veggies. I fell in love with preserved lemon, which I used regularly in a farro salad with mixed herbs. And I came back for the capers (can’t wait to make some chicken piccata), the mini olives, the cornichons, the mini onions, etc. I picked up just a little bit of harissa, as Trip can’t manage too much of the spiciest, but a little bit goes a long way. I made sure we were well stocked before we left for the season, as I know I’ll dip into them regularly.

I’ve had dates here and there over the years, but I really came to love them in Tunisia, the date capitol of the world. I had seen multiple postings for date snickers bars on social media, so I decided to give it a shot: Pitted and flattened dates, smeared with peanut butter, drizzled with chocolate, and finally sprinkled with chopped peanuts. It really did taste like a natural version of a Snickers bar!

Not having an oven to bake bread in Tunisia was not that much of a problem if you were willing to walk up to the market on a daily basis. There you had a whole selection of different breads, ranging from the tasteless baguettes that they serve at all the restaurants, to whole wheat breads, and even a barley bread called Kisrah. All for less than 50 cents per loaf!

Ramadan is a month long holiday for the Islamic world that consists of fasting, prayer, and community service. Many cruisers see it as a major inconvenience, as liquor isn’t sold in the stores, all local restaurants and cafes are closed during the day (less than half were open at the marina), cannons are fired at sunrise & sunset, etc.

We actually enjoyed it. We tried to be respectful of the locals fasting during the day (though we certainly didn’t fast), and town came alive at night. We usually have dinner, watch a movie, and go to bed, but instead we found ourselves going into town to see how the locals celebrated. We managed to get tickets one night to a local concert. I wish I knew the lyrics or even the background, as everyone was singing and many were up and dancing to many of the songs.

We also tried Iftar, the dinner that is the formal breaking of the fast. You have to make a reservation, and once seated, you can’t start eating until the cannons fire signaling sunset and the end of the days fast.

But my favorite were the pastries. The Tunisians love their pastries and when the sun goes down the sugar comes out. We tried quite a few, but my favorite by far was something that I likened to a Boston cream pie: a choux pastry square with a creme patisserie filling and a little chocolate coating. I had to limit how often I went, as these little desserts only cost 40 cents a piece!

Coming back to Tunisia meant catching up with friends and traveling more to explore our host country, but it also meant boat projects. We stuffed four huge duffel bags full of all sorts of boat gear before we flew. Customs in Tunisia has a reputation for causing cruisers no end of grief, and we were prepared with all the paperwork and receipts to prove that our gear was legitimately for a vessel in transit and not subject to confiscation or fines or local taxes. Instead, we were waved on by and out the door by a friendly official, and the driver we’d arranged was waiting to take us back to the boat.

The main project (for me anyway), was doing a major repair in the galley. One of the stove burners had stopped functioning, and the oven wouldn’t fire up at all. I wasn’t too bothered by the oven in the heat of summer when I had no desire to heat the boat further, but the cooler weather had made me want to bake again. Luckily the repair went smoothly, or as smoothly as any boat job goes, and the stove and oven were back in business again.

One of the other major projects to tackle was varnishing the brightwork. Despite a solid week of scraping, sanding and varnishing back in the fall when we arrived, there were a lot of bare spots visible when we returned. Once again we broke out the scrapers, sandpaper and varnish to tackle it all. We managed to get several coats on, including one that had me holding my breath when an unexpected rainstorm came just hours later. Luckily the varnish had time to cure with no water spots, and we’re looking good again for the new season.