TUNISIA: A Very Pescatarian Holiday
Come with me on this vegetarian trip to Tunisia.
This December, I boycotted Christmas and spent 10 days travelling around Tunisia.
This year I decided to escape the European winter and the Christmas fever which I am becoming increasingly intolerant of. I find the consumerist culture around Christmas excessive and to be honest – very tacky. People actually wear ugly Christmas sweaters seriously now, it’s very confusing. Shopping streets across all cultures now seem to want to replicate NYC’s fifth avenue window decorations. Ridiculous moving installations and displays of fake snow, even in the southern hemisphere when it is 45C. To avoid all of this, I decided to flee to a nearby Muslim country where I would be sure not to find Santa Claus. This may all sound very Grinchy, but it was the best Christmas holidays ever.
The death of tourism
Tunisia has seen a severe decline of its tourism industry following two horrific attacks in 2015, that took the lives of more than 50 tourists. Deciding to travel to a place that suffered such kinds of events, which specifically targeted tourists, of course presented me with doubts about safety. However, such doubts were quickly followed by the reasoning that it is highly unlikely that the same events would occur at the same place. Putting all my confidence in the peaceful years that followed such events, and to some extent on my luck, I decided that tragic events occur in every country.
I did a lot of research before my trip, as usual, particularly about the food. Nearly all the blogs confirmed that Tunisia is not a very vegetarian-friendly country. During the first half of my trip and as long as we were along the coast, it was very easy to avoid meat and the canned tuna defeat. Most places would have the classic vegetarian couscous option, salads, and the ‘catch of the day’. I am a seafood lover who rarely indulges because of high prices in Europe and the lack of supply chain transparency. However, Tunisia turned out to be fresh and sustainably sourced seafood heaven, and my trip turned out to be a completely pescatarian holiday.
TUNIS
The first day we spent in the capital Tunis exploring the narrow streets of the Medina and the rooftop views of the city.
For lunch we stumbled across a traditional restaurant called L’Orient. As a starter they served what every single restaurant across the entire country serves; olives, harissa, canned tuna and white bread.
I ordered the veggie couscous and the catch of the day, which was an entire Dourado fish. It was all fresh and really good. This was the first meal of the trip so I was really happy to have found meatless options. However, I would soon discover that this would be what I would eat nearly every day.
The restaurant looked like a classic spot that has been there for decades and is frequented by its loyal customers. Everybody in this place was eating their meal while smoking cigarettes and watching football. An unavoidable reality of restaurant culture in Tunisia.
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SIDI BOU SAID
Day 2 we took the city train TGM (abbreviation for Tunis-Goulette-La Marsa) towards the region north of Tunis. We visited the beautiful blue and white facade town of Sidi Bou Said.
Its main street takes you up a hill towards a view of the Mediterranean. This is a beautiful spot to watch the sunset. We stayed at a very cute traditional house with tiny doors and a typical Tunisian outdoor area.
That evening we had dinner at a very nice restaurant called Chez Zina in the neighboring La Marsa. Apart from the lovely dinner, I was not so impressed with La Marsa. In my opinion, not a necessary destination for a short Tunisian itinerary.
CARTHAGE
On day 3 we took the TGM south two stops to Carthage to visit the site of the Roman ruins “Thermes d’Antonin.” This site is the largest Roman baths in the African continent and one of Tunisia’s most important landmarks.
There were no other visitors which made the experience of being the only ones roaming around quite magical. Its really a must visit!
This is only one of about a dozen sites to see in the Carthage area. With the same $10 Dinar (€3) ticket one can access them all.
Hidden Gem
Although the ruins were amazing, this day certainly revolved around making our way to Le Cafe Vert. It is located in a fisherman town called La Goulette. I had read amazing reviews and was instantly seduced by the Trip Advisor images of the menu.
As the port area of the capital city, I imagined La Goulette would be a picturesque tourist destination. It is a working-class neighborhood, not a place to run into tourist this time of the year. Finding the restaurant became a journey in itself. Definitely a more “high-end” restaurant than the norm, this place is famous for its seafood.
We sat down, studied the menu and ordered. The waiter said “OK” as if kind of ignoring our order and asked us to get up and to follow him. He took us to the kitchen and asked us to pick the fish we wanted.
This was all very exciting for me; just like back home in Mexico. I could be sure that this fish was caught that morning by the local fishermen. No mass fishing, no trawling, no freezing. Just a small restaurant that is thriving from the resources of its coasts.
We ordered the grilled “Loup” (sea bass) and langoustines.
Right after lunch we took the train 2 hours south towards the port city of Hammamet.
Guided Private Tours to these Destinations:
LA BADIRA
Day 4 and 5 we opted out of exploration mode and checked into an incredible five-star Tunisian hotel for two nights. Way above our economic reach, we only managed to stay here because of an amazing deal on Booking.com. As we entered the luxurious lobby in our dirty shoes, my jaw dropped. We instantly started laughing about how out of place we felt in such opulence.
It quickly became evident why we managed such a good deal. The hotel was beautiful, lavishing, but nearly empty. We had already noticed there were no tourists in the capital region. However, this was a hotel made for international tourism and still there were very few guests. This was a clear sign of how much tourism has plunged.
Roomservice!
Gastronomy-wise La Badira was amongst the most memorable of the trip. Prices are naturally significantly higher than the normal Tunisian restaurants, yet they are still about half the price of food and drinks in Europe. The breakfast buffet was a absolutely stunning. A beautiful diversity of Tunisian omelets, stews, grilled vegetables, salad bar, fresh fruit, fresh juices, sweets, breads – all of which is locally sourced. With so many vegetarian and vegan options, this breakfast was really like sunshine on a plate for every diet.
Dinner was also impeccable. The first night’s meal was such a success that I ate the exact same thing the second night; Tunisian seafood pasta. Without exaggeration, this is the best seafood pasta I have ever had – even better than seafood pasta I tried in Italy.
We stayed in this bubble of infinity pools and white bathrobes for two full days before the real adventure began.
EL JEM
After two days of hardcore chilling, we left the port city of Hammamet direction El Jem to see the incredible Roman amphitheater. This amphitheater is one of the best preserved and one of the largest in the world. We arrived 25 minutes before closing time so we had the site all to ourselves.
After the visit, we had a few hours to kill while we waited for the night-train to the desert. Most places in the center of El Jem were the typical Pizza-Sandwich-Pasta spots. These are known as “fast food” restaurants.
Tunisians love pizza, so a simple margarita or veggie pizza is always a meatless option. Although if you have high pizza standards you may not be so pleased with thick crust and the weird texture cheese of Tunisian style pizza. There is also the Tunisian pasta which is a spicy tomato sauce but with slices of veal on top, and the sandwiches are a variety of different forms of meat or tuna in bread.
A bit off the coast, seafood options started to cease. Although El Jem is a popular tourist destination because of the amphitheater, French was less spoken and the menu was only in Arabic. I managed to communicate that I did not want meat and got a kind of calzone filled with cheese and tuna.
The Night Bus
We had exactly 6 hours to kill in the tiny town of El Jem before our night train to the desert. We got lucky to find a café with WIFI and sofas to lounge until midnight. When we arrived at the train station, it was completely deserted and our train had been “suppressed.” No reason nor explanation. It was time to improvise and come up with a “plan B” to get us to our next destination: Tozeur. We had already booked two nights with a host family that was expecting us to at 6AM. A taxi driver told us about a bus leaving from the next town. With no more options, we managed two seats in the already completely crowded bus. The driver was really nice and played Tetris with the passengers already seated to make room for the two of us. Not the most comfortable night of my life, but crossing Tunisian desert overnight in a crowded bus is an experience I’ll never forget.
DOUZE
At 6am and after the 6-hour bus ride, we arrived at the tiny Saharan town of Douze. The last day of the Sahara International Festival was taking place, so we got to see dances and performances of different tribes from across the Sahara.
Douz is a tiny town not so interesting in itself, but a destination for its surrounding desert attractions. We took a short two-hour tour to visit the desert dunes, ancient Berber houses, and even desert agriculture.
Being 6 hours from the coast, we could really see and feel we were in Deep Tunisia. Finding a place to eat was easy as there were not very many restaurants to choose from. We went into the first one that looked half appealing. We sat on the rooftop where they had tables overlooking the main street.
Sometimes being vegetarian saves the day
Naturally, I did not expect to find anything vegetarian nor pescatarian on the menu. This place did not even have a canned tuna option. So I asked the waiter if he could make me the regular meat couscous which comes with a lot of vegetables, but remove the meat. YES! Expectations were low so I was super surprised when it turned out good.
My partner ordered the beef option and he was quite horrified with the taste and texture. Oh, and the meat was charred black and burnt. Generally, the meat in Tunisia is of very good quality since it is all locally sourced. However, when you are in such remote places, you cannot be so sure. This day I learned that when in doubt; go with the couscous and vegetables!
TOZEUR
Day 7 we made it to Tozeur, the capital of the desert region of Djerid. It is famous for the many beautiful Saharan landmarks around its perimeter and for the Sar Wars sites where four episodes of the movie were filmed. We did a full day tour, starting at the “Chebika Oasis”.
Second stop was at an amazing canyon in the “Oasis de Mides” by the Algerian border.
Restaurant Le Soleil
We returned to Tozeur for lunch and ate at the well-known “Restaurante Le Soleil”. With no veggie or fish options on the menu, I ordered a combination of vegetarian starters.
I had the Tunisian soup Chorba which is made of tomato, spices and bulgur. As well as a Tunisian salad which is just cucumber, tomato and parsley. I also ordered Fatma Fingers which are a modification of the famous Brik; crunchy pastry filled with potato, parsley and egg.
The Brik is a Tunisian institution, a national symbol of gastronomic pride. Every single restaurant has it, religiously. The classic Brik is filled with tuna, egg and parsley, but there are rare modifications such as potato, or shrimp.
My partner did no cease the opportunity to be in a “good” restaurant to order Dromedary in a Jar. It is dromedaire stew cooked inside a clay jar at open fire. According to him – it was delicious.
After lunch, we continued on with the tour towards the salt lake “Chott el Gharsa.” We stopped at a number of incredibly beautiful sites to take pictures. Finally, we reached the Star Wars movie set “Chenini” which is still standing intact, literally in the middle of nowhere.
That night, it was Christmas eve. While not typically celebrated in Tunisia, our host family prepared us a beautiful meal.
Guided Private Tours to the Desert:
DJERBA
We left Tozeur on the 6am bus direction the island of Djerba, which would be our last stop before heading home. We arrived in Djerba at noon and went directly to eat at a restaurant recommended by a couple we met on the ferry; Restaurant du Pecheur. The restaurant had no menu, the waiter greeted us with a tray full of the catch of the day. We picked our fish and the dishes started to arrive. The classic Tunisian seafood menu: a salad, followed by Cherba soup, followed by the grilled fish, and always finishing the meal with mint tea.
Like most of the restaurants we ate at during our trip, this place was good. However, I had already reached my whole fish/Brick limit. I had stopped finding pleasure in the freshness of the meal and was completely saturated with the repetitiveness of Tunisian cuisine. At this point all I wanted was Italian food.
A Police Officer & his Dog
Djerba is a popular beach town destination in the summertime for Europeans and more recently for Russians. It is mostly famous for its long strip of luxury hotels. We tried to get as far away from that area as possible, so we booked a room at the “maison d’hote” Dar Chick Yahia on the beach Chikh Yahia. Owned and run by retired French ex-police chief Manuel and his German Sheppard Vik, the bed & breakfast was beautifully isolated.
The first night on the island we visited the capital Houmt Souk for dinner. In desperate need for a cold beer after many sober days, our host guided us in the right direction. Restaurant de l’ile; the only restaurant in the area that serves alcohol. The menu was classic Tunisian, yet the ice-cold Becks and the Santa Claus decorations were signs that the restaurant caters to foreign customers.
We drank many Becks, red wine and both ordered the Seafood spaghetti. Almost as good as the first time I tasted it at La Badira, it certainly confirmed that they have mastered this specific recipe. Tunisian seafood spaghetti took the prize and became my favorite dish of the entire trip. To say the least, this restaurant was impeccable – highly recommended.
THANKS TO THE PEOPLE
I have to say that above the food and the beautiful landscapes, it was the Tunisian people who made this trip special. Comparing the feelings of nervousness and wonder that I experienced before the trip, to the feelings of ease I have today is really the main reasons I love to travel. Before we can actually experience a place or a culture, the ideas we have of them are completely constructed by the perception and experiences of others.
In the case of Tunisia, it is a country whose reputation has been tainted by extremism. Traveling to a place with such a reputation created the expectation that I would feel unsafe and that I had to be on constant alert mode. The irony is we felt safer than we do back home in Brasil and Mexico, and even in some places in Europe. We took public transportation the entire trip, night buses, packed trains, taxis, and even walked across desert towns at night, and we did not experience a single threatening encounter.
We later learned that the law in Tunisia gives such high esteem to tourists, that the penalties for any assaults against tourists are significantly higher than the same crime on a national. However, I believe it is genuine because people were so happy that we were interested in visiting their country.
It is impossible to guarantee that extremism won’t strike again on Tunisian soil, just as it is impossible to say it won’t happen in Brussels – and I still live here. If we avoid past-targeted areas, then much of Europe becomes uninhabitable.
Tunisia is beautiful and underrated. If you ever have the opportunity – you should visit!
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Ivonne Boileve (MEXICO)
Ana Christina, estoy muy impresionada con tu artículo, me pude transportar a cada mesa en la que comieron y lugar que visitaron, que maravilla y que divertido!
Te felicito sinceramente corazón!
CookieG
Gracias tia!! 🙂 Si fue un viaje espectacular, toda una aventura!