JERBA

The hotel

This is the house 197 where we slept. The room had a cooling device, so we weren't all sweaty and so.

The white colour of the houses prevents sun to heat it and the blue one is suppose to keep the mosquitos away, well I guess it works because I wasn't bitten by one and they looooooove my blood... A few days ago my mother told me that she watched a documentary on TV and this colour is suppose to attract CECE-fly (the one that can carry sleeping disease) as well.

Water is not drinkable because it has too much fluoride in it, so we had to buy bottled water.

This was actually taken the last day when the sky became cloudy, but otherwise the temperatures were 30 - 40 ° C the whole week and when it became too hot, we jumped into this pool. Right you can see some beach and sea, which was too dirty to take a swim in.

A surprise you get if you leave a tip for the maids, well actually men clean the rooms, but I don't know how you call a male maid.

A trip to nearby town

A carriage we came with into the town. I felt sorry for the horses, it seemed they don't get enough to eat and drink, as you can see, the horse even eats dry routs and anything that he can find, and then there's the heat... On the way back I rode a horse and then I had a three - day pain in the tights, I walked like a gorilla...

 Some old men playing dominoes in a caffee   

A camel must get on her knees (first front then behind) for you to climb on

THE 2 DAY TRIP

The oasis (cannot remember the name)

They use irrigating system in this oasis and the system has been used since antient times.

This man is 50 years old (believe it or not) and he demonstrated how do they pick dates from palm trees. Everything of a palm tree is used. Dates are to be eaten, dried lieves are bonded together and used for fences which prevent sand erosion, the stalk is used for building material (wood).

I do not know what is the name of this fruit in english (we call it "granatno apple") but it sure is more sweet than the one we have in Europe, it is also yellow instead of redish. Well this is what I also saw in the oasis along with bananas and even henna bush...

Matmata & Berberian house

In Matmata you can find gardens where people grow vegetables or fruits. Of course the gardens are watered. You cannot see on this picture, but this gardens are placed in terraces to prevent wind errosion.

Tipical berrberian house. First they dig a hole in the rock from above, nowadays they do it with machines. Then they manually dig the rooms.

Cats are very important here because they let them into the granary to catch all the scorpions. Scorpions are also the reason why their beds are raised from the ground.

Now here is a bread "stove". They first make the dough and flaten it. Then they push it on the inner sides of the stove. When the dough falls down they turn it and push it on the sides again, only from the other side of the dough. When it falls down, it's done.

We actually ate this bread and it was good. They dip it into an oliv oil.

Lake that isn't

Here used to be a lake. Now is dried up and they use some parts to get salt for industrial purposes (strew it on roads when snow). They do this by washing off sand and these big pools occur. The colour of the water depends on temperature and concentration of salt.

SAHARA

  drive with a jeep in the desert = anticellulite massage

 very exciting, must do thing!

Oh my gosh, I love these animals, look at them, sweeeet!!!

Of course we took a ride. A camel can carry up to 150 kilos and that is as much as a date palm tree produces, it is also how many litres of water can a camel drink in 10 minutes.

 When we were driving in a jeep, the driver suddenly pointed his finger at this rock and said La grand camela. It does look like a camel head, doesn't it   

Does it ring any bell? The set od Skywalker's home in Star wars...

CHEBICKA

Chebicka is a natural oasis near Algerian border. It has a natural spring and also a water fall. They produce date palms and this is their living.

The houses are made of mud and clay. When it rained for 3 weeks constantly, the houses were ruined because the water flushed off the mud and clay. This is what was left of it and it is called The old town, there is also The new town near by.

The rock of truth. The legend tells: if a man who ever cheated on his wife goes through this crack, the rock will close and crush the man...

 Birdieeeeeeeees    on a shelf above the water fall

La "grand" canyon

 The biggest water fall in Tunesia   

 This was one heck of a story. To be allowed to take photos of gekons you had to pay a Tunesian dinar. But owner of these two found me very attractive (!?) and almost didn't let me go, in the end he allowed to take photos for free   

Here's another funny thing:  It is written in my language and it means: Mint tea is very good Slovenia. And it really is, they make it so good!!!

 A local man came when we were taking this picture and said: Katrina...

Jerbian night

They have this historical museum that is set up as a tipical Jerbian village. They produce oliv oil and from the air you can see big plantations of Olive trees. They are also know for their pottery which is very light.

The bellydancer dancing with 7 jugs on her head, amazing

First we got the salad and it was great. Then we got kus kus and chicken, spiced with a spice called harrisa -> hot!

A long dam that connects island Jerba to the land. Because the depth of their sea is 3 metres at most, they relesed a camel to find the shortest and the most shallow way betwen island and the land. Clever huh     

Shiskan

Water pipe or as they call it: chicha (in our sleng is shisha). A little advice if you ever go there, do not buy water pipes there at least not in bazars, because they are porely made and not good at all. This one was great, but we smoked it in a "bar" called Shiskan. This short guy here was the one who changed coal. He is wearing jasmin flower stuck behing his ear.

 Me enjoying it   

SPECIALS