In Tunisia one is both in Africa, walking on the desert’s endless yellow sands, and on the Mediterranean, cooling off in its deep blue waters.

Africa, only two hours away... That’s how close Tunisia is to Turkey. A few hours after boarding the plane, I was sipping the legendary mint and pistachio-flavored tea of the famous Café des Nattes in Sidi-bu-Said, one of Tunisia’s many charming towns. The sun had brought out the country’s colors in all their brilliance. Strolling along the broad avenues of the capital, Tunis, and observing the modern life teeming in its cafes that spill over onto the sidewalks, I would soon be mingling with the shopkeepers and denizens of a medieval ‘medina’.
LIKE A LABYRINTH
Large or small, there is a medina in every city of Tunisia. When the cities were founded, the original settlement and life always began in these medinas. A medina (the word means ‘walled city’) is a virtual labyrinth. In it are shops and coffeehouses where people play backgammon.