25 Jun - 27 Jun 2003 Hammamet

Central Mediterranean
Republic of Tunisia
Gulf of Hammamet
Hammamet
Yasmine Marina +21671860093
SY "Kamu II" with her stern to the pier and with one bow anchor.
€ 26.- per night.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our marina berth:
N 36° 22.37' E 010° 32.64'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2003 Map

Taking a louage from Hammamet to Tunis, Tunisia's relaxed capital where the East meets the West, and exploring both (i) the medina of Tunis (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) in the city centre - a dense agglomeration of palaces and mosques, mausoleums and madrasas, alleys and covered passages, full of intense scents and brilliant colours, boisterous and active trade, a surfeit of goods on offer ranging from leather to plastic, and (ii) E of the Sea Gate (aka Bab el Bhar or Porte de France) the modern city, or Ville Nouvelle, built with the introduction of the French protectorate at the end of the 19th-century CE and transversed by the grand Avenue Habib Bourguiba (the Tunisian Champs-Élysées with its cafes, hotels, shops and theatres), where the colonial-era buildings provide a clear contrast to smaller older structures.

Admiring the views from the top of Byrsa Hill onto the UNESCO World Heritage Site of ancient Carthage, founded in 814 BCE by Phoenician colonists under the leadership of Queen Dido, time-travelling back for 2,000 years and looking down at the two large, artificial harbours which were built within the city, one for harbouring the city's massive navy of 220 warships and the other for mercantile trade, and only dimly remembering the details of what we once had learned in the history classes at high school about Carthage: (i) the love story between Aeneas and Dido, (ii) the child sacrifices to the god Ba'al Hammon, (iii) the three Punic Wars with Rome, (iv) Hannibal and his elephants in the Alps, (v) the Battle of Cannae and (vi) Scipio Aemilianus the salt sower.

Clearing Tunisian customs and immigration (free of charge) at the Yasmine Marina +21671860093 at Hammamet where an apathetic gang of government agents worked to rule.