After a conversation last week about Tunisia, I decided to revisit some of my photos and give them a fresh edit so they look more like a set.
It’s hard to know what to write about these really as it was so long ago now and they were taken in a range of places, though from a Sousse base – train travel around the country was an interesting experience!
At the time of visiting, the country was just really starting to get back on its feet tourism-wise, after some terrorism incidents in recent years brought about mostly by an uprising that unseated the long-term president. That tension was never clearer than with the presence of a roadblock and armed guards at either end of the tourist complex, designed to keep visitors safe.
There were abandoned hotels everywhere, some that had been completed and briefly used and some that were only partially built. I think I counted something like 12 near where we were staying, and I got some images of them which I’ll probably save for another blog. Again, these were casualties of the tourism drying up over security fears for a while.
Not long after our visit (maybe the next month) there was another terrorist incident where thankfully nobody was hurt other than the bomber, but still caused many countries to put Tunisia back on a no fly list for a short time.
Things settled down for a while and then a few years later there were a series of attacks that resulted in the deaths of several people – 38 – including 30 British tourists. They wounded a further 39 too.
Talking to locals at the time, they were already grateful things were picking up after a tough time, and for this to happen again and effectively wipe out the tourism – the country’s main form of income – it must have been incredibly hard.
I think about the guy who owned a stall in the souk who chatted about English football and showed me how to write my name in Arabic. The ‘organised fun’ man who said we were unusual for not wanting to stay in the complex like all the other tourists. The man at the airport who looked knackered from the huge queue but lit up when I greeted him in Arabic and asked what other words I’d learned (it was only three…) and the nice old man who owned the slightly shabby café over the road from El Djem that turned out to do the *best* food and who gifted me a piece of desert rose which I still have.
As with a lot of places, the people make the place and everyone I met was so hospitable and lovely, I do sometimes wonder what became of them and if they’re still working hard, doing their thing. If they’re doing okay. I hope so.
