Holiday Sun

Ive just returned from holiday in the sun. Whilst the UK was being battered by high winds and rain I was sat next to the pool enjoying the sun on a week long holiday in Tunisia (North Africa). The first few days weer a bit cooler at about 16C (61F) with a nice sea breeze however we headed down the country on the Wednesday on a coach trip to the Amphitheatre at SFax (where they filmed Gladiator), the Troglodyte houses near Hammett where they filmed Star Wars (IV and II/III), the Sahara near Tozer, the Atlas mountains where the highest waterfall in Tunisia is (all 8m of it) and also where 3 Kings was filmed. Yes it was a whistle stop tour of Southern Tunisia and film sets.

We spent the first day of the coach trip visiting SFax, the hotel where Star Wars was filmed (very much a disappointment to all Star Wars Fans I'm afraid, not really worth the visit), a family home to see how real Troglodyte homes are lived in. We then went to the Sahara to watch the sunset from the top of Camels (one humped in Africa). The second day saw a 0430 start (yes I did say 0430 (that's +1 not GMT either)) so that we could watch the sunrise over the salt lakes (although the sun beat us up as although we watch it rise it wasn't over the salt lake). At about 8am we jumped into a land cruiser and headed into the Atlas Mountains where we went to oasis' and to see the largest waterfall in Tunisia. Temperatures this day apparently reached 38C (101F) not nice on a coach bu at least it was air conditioned.

Our last couple of days were spent lazing in the mid 20's by the pool again and spending a morning at the local market where we could get almost whatever we wanted, from live animals, vegetable, to sweets, sun glasses to clothing, belts and dinner services. All the brands were fake but exceedingly cheap (belts I believe were only about 10DT (£5 or 10$US) for "Levis" Camel skin belts).

Photos to follow