Tunisia: Of Souks and Shisha

Souks or markets in Tunisia is one of the most interesting places to go to. While I have been to the Spice Market and The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Tunisia’s Souk is a class  on its own.

The place is massive, and there are other Souks scattered around Tunisia. Basically they are like markets, selling lots of stuff, local handmade souvenirs and gift items. Some of the stuff are really impressive and they look really exquisite. We only explored a small portion of the Souk. We are definitely going to explore more of the Souk the following day. I have bought 5 postcards, the first batch of postcards to be sent out. I think I have a total of 15 postcards that needed to be sent, so I’ll buy them in different location as I travel around Tunisia.

While in Souk, we took a break at a local cafe. There we tried their local tea, mint tea and a variant of mint tea where there were some seeds (i think) added to it to give the mint tea a more robust flavor. I tried that and while the tea is extremely sweet, its an absolutely awesome beverage. The cafe had lots of beautiful murals and decorative artworks on the wall and most of us were fascinated by it. Some of us also tried the Turkish coffee as well as Shisha. We ordered 2 shishas, one apple flavor and the other grape. I personally liked the grape recommended by Fedy a fellow local AIESECer. Though I tried apple, I think grape is my new favourite.

I got a little high, all from the shisha itself, but it was definitely a good experience. For the first time, I felt like im really living and experiencing local life in Tunisia and that is exactly what I have always been looking forward to.

We cooked pasta as a group for lunch. Since Carrefour is so close to our house, we bought pasta sauce, minced beef with fresh mushrooms to make our own unique pasta sauce to our pasta. It was good cooking and most of us enjoyed it.