Musing on the Mediterranean Sea

Give me the Mediterranean Sea and my eyes are in heaven. All the way up the steep hill to the view point I am finding pieces of myself, here in Sidi Bou Said.

I pick a bougainvillea flower and tuck it behind my ear, remembering the bougainvillea gang of old. All the cool kids in the neighbourhood used to meet secretly underneath my mom’s giant bougainvillea tree. We were about 10 years old. Good times.

If that little girl could see me now she would be so proud. I am living our dream of travelling the world and writing about it. I own a few pieces of designer clothing. And I live in a minimalist, oriental style apartment just as I always imagined. Well, I would have loved to own the apartment but there’s always time for that. God willing.

In the bigger picture of my life everything is perfect. I should be dancing down the biggest mall in the world. Only, I’m not – because I keep going home to a place that reflects nothing of who I am and what I believe in. Yet Dubai is the base that makes it possible for me to lounge here in Sidi Bou Said having sweet mint tea with almonds floating in it and feeling completely at one with the sea and the sky and the characteristic doors that mirror their colour.

It all seemed to be a lot more profound with love in the mix. Yet now that I am single again the world seems to make a little less sense. Relationships are part of the adventure I guess. As long as I keep moving, staying true to myself and being brave enough to dream through the tough times I believe my life will be ok.

As my plane takes off the sky slowly turns pink in between the day and the night and casts that lovely lingering light. It’s my favourite time – the in-between part where it’s not day or night. It’s nothing really, but somehow it’s full of promise.

Change is a challenge and an opportunity. Whatever tomorrow brings, I know that there is always Sidi Bou Said and not only do I have bottles of jasmine, musk and amber to transport me there but I have etched off all the hopeful blues in the corners of my mind.

Starting over in Sidi Bou Said

Just as I thought everything was ok and 2009 is finally giving me a chance to exhale, the earth moved again. Suddenly I found myself in a new space entirely - a clean slate, another beginning. The world as I knew it ceased to exist and the only thing I could be sure of ended up being my global friends and family.

It always amazes me how things can change so drastically in a second and it has been hard to adjust so many times over the last ten years. Yet one thing I have grown accustomed to are these kinds of changes and I know by now that during these times I need the head space to process things and good friends around me to help me keep my sense of self.

So I decide to fly out of Dubai and meet up with my newest close friend Prasanti in the suburb of Sidi Bou Said in Tunis. There couldn't be a better place to start over. The Mediterranean breeze carries the kind of myths and magic that breathes life back into any old soul and the blue and white houses with the sweeping view of the ocean shouts holiday. This time of year everything is draped in waves of bougainvillea flowers. It's a wholly refreshing place to visit. Whether you stay for a weekend or a month.

"You're so beautiful," the souvenir shop house owners tell us and we don't care that it's because they want us to buy their merchandise. We feel beautiful - and happy that they keep their distance but look with appreciative eyes.

I buy a Berber silver bracelet and some perfume bottles while Prasanti chooses a turquoise stone bracelet and painted tea glasses. We eat Italian style gelato (luckily for us the Italian influence is still apparent in this area) and take our breath around every photogenic little corner, admiring the tiles and the colours.

On the way back we stop at an outdoor restaurant recommended to us as a local favourite (it's hidden right behind the gelato shop). After a dinner of fresh fish, frites and fragrant couscous with a group of very sociable travellers, I fall into a deep and rejuvenating sleep, grateful in the knowledge that I am blessed with a life rich in travels and people who are beautiful from the inside out. And that is enough.

Walking in the footsteps of Hanniball

Right here on this hill called Byrsa, once stood the beautiful city Carthage. The infamous war leader Hanniball called it home. I think of all the bloodshed that was staged here and the icy wind seems to send an extra chill down my spine.

According to legend Carthage was founded in 8 BC by the Phoenicians under Queen Dido. It became a rich sea port that was eventually destroyed by the Romans because they saw it as a threat to their regional power.

The view from here is exquisite: lots of green and deep mountains beyond the sea. Today the city of Tunis decorates the natural backdrop. I live a thousand lives as I take in this important historical site. All the legends become real to me now.

Historians don’t know much about the original city because most of the culture and records were destroyed during this time. No wonder most of the stories about Carthage and Hanniball are based on legends.

The Romans eventually reconstructed the city, which became one of the largest and most influential cities around the Mediterranean. Even when Rome came to a fall in the 5th century, Carthage prospered.

We visit the Antoinine Thermal baths a short drive from the ruins of the original city. It is situated right on the shore and was clearly a great and royal structure. I later read that these Roman baths were one of the largest built under the rule of the Roman Empire.

Only when the Arabs arrived, did the era of ancient Carthage end. What the vandals didn’t destroy, the Arabs did. I can still see the beheaded Roman statues here. Our local guide says that the Arabs cut off the heads of the statues because Islam believes that thinking and creativity is the realm of God, not of man.

A lack of building materials in the area meant that the remains of the city were used to build other cities in the area such as Tunis, the capital of today's Tunisia. So although the foundations of the Phoenician as well as the Roman cities are still visible, most of the rest has been scavenged.

Today Carthage is a suburb of Tunis. During the Summer Festival, the reconstructed Roman theatre is still used for shows. We test out the acoustic from the metallic stage.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our show…”

Even when we say it softly our colleagues in the ‘audience’ can hear every word. It seems that nothing and everything has changed here in Carthage.

Opening the blue door

It’s a carefree blue, that. The kind of blue that automatically makes me draw lots of fresh sea air into my lungs and breathe out everyday worries onto the breeze.

After just a few hours in Sidi Bou Said I feel like I have been on holiday for weeks. Surely it must be those sky blue doors, set off against whitewashed walls and mirrored in the sky above and the sea beyond.

My colleagues and I try to avoid the cruise ship masses that have descended on this little town outside Tunis today. Since it is a bit of a tourist trap, Sidi Bou Said is not a good place to eat – for that we will opt for the La Goulette (seafood) or La Marsa (Italian food) areas close by – and it is worth seeking out the little shops in the side streets where memento prices can be as much as three times less than right at the bus stop and around the main areas of interest.

We spot a yellow door in between all the blue ones and our curiosity reveals a charming hotel, complete with Phoenician mosaics and a typical blue door leading into each room. The receptionist tells us that Hotel Sidi Boufares used to be a Sufi school, no wonder then that the serene atmosphere now officially has us in relax mode.

In typical tourist style we click away on our cameras and keep walking the cobbled streets until we find a sheesha bar with a view of the Atlas Mountains on the other side of the bay. We order almond tea, which arrives in tiny glasses and tastes just like the sickly sweet Moroccan mint variety. The almonds are floating on top with a few fresh mint leaves. It’s not my favourite but in the spirit of this day I enjoy it immensely.

On our way to find a taxi back to the Golden Tulip hotel in Carthage, a local lady lures me into her shop with some jasmine oil. I buy a hand made perfume bottle to save the oil in - for those days when I want to smell like the white flowers and open the blue door in my mind.