Optional Tour Extension to Dougga

Trip Start Sep 23, 2009
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Trip End Oct 05, 2009


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Flag of Tunisia  ,
Sunday, October 4, 2009

The majority of the group enjoys a full-day excursion to the ancient Roman city of Dougga today. This is a first for me, as we didn't include Dougga last year. We head southwest out of Tunis, through fertile lands with grape vineyards and olive groves, glimpsing the occasional jagged peak in the distance northwards.

Our first stop is at the fascinating Andalusian Muslim town called Testour. We break for coffee and a pit stop, enjoying the central square, Great Mosque and main shopping street where there is not one other tourist to be seen. This feels like an authentic look at Tunisian life that has not been dressed up with a medina full of tourist souvenirs.

The site of Dougga is most impressive. Your introduction to the site is a huge theatre, from which you can see the Capitol and Forum and the sprawling layout of this huge city. It is considered the best preserved Roman city in all of North Africa. We spend several hours wandering through the site, then have lunch and begin the drive back to Tunis.

Along the way back we stop briefly at the War Cemetery for English lads who died in the Second World War. Heartbreaking to see their ages, and the tributes carved in stone by their grieving families.

We enjoy one more buffet dinner tonight at our hotel before visiting the sidewalk cafes one last time to enjoy watching the nighttime crowds on the main avenue in front of the hotel. One other client and I check out of the hotel at midnight tonight, and head to the airport to catch our Lufthansa flight back to Frankfurt, departing at 2:30am!
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