On Alex's Dpring Break from school, we decided to take a short trip to Djerba which is a small island off the coast of Tunisia, a 2 hour flight from Nice, France. Tunisia and the small island of Djerba are famous for Star Wars having been filmed there. It is also on the map more recently for having been the birthplace of the Arab Spring.
The airport in Djerba is very small. When we wet through customs, the only uncomfortable moment we had was when the customs agents smirked at us when they saw our American passports. Outside the resort, there was clear evidence of a recen revolution. There were obvious signs of bomb blasts in the buildings having never been fixed, and a proper litter disposal was lacking to say the least. I asked a local about the litter and he denied that Djerba had a problem and instead, blamed the litter issue on the ocean. After inspecting several pieces of trash, all which was in Arabic, I would say that the island has a litter problem for sure.
On the resort, you would never know that the island had gone trough any recent turmoil, it was a sparkling palace. Every staff member could speak at least 3-5 languages, which was very impressive! Most of the staff members were from Djerba or mainland Tunisia. The hotel was very impressive and very inexpensive.
The first night at the hotel, Alex had been struggling with good poisoning from a new place we had tried in Nice, France and finally succumbed to the sickness. We were able to relax that night in our room and rest up for the days to come. The next morning, he felt much better and finally ate something. We laid under the palapas on the beach and made plans to go horseback riding the next day. I managed to find the island cats who seemed to have made our hotel their hang out. That night we ate at one of the resort's restaurants and listened to some live music.
The next day we rode horses on the beach and through the sand dunes. It was amazing and it felt good to be on a horse again! The last time Alex or I had been on a horse was before we were teens. Our guide was really funny, spoke very good English, and kept us entertained with all his stories about his family and the island.
Midway through the ride, I had to switch horses with Alex because the horse I rode was the guide's favorite and therefore was very rebellious because he allowed him to get away with a lot more than the other horses. His rebellion towards me consisted of taking multiple side tours to eat grass and whatever else he wanted. When we switched, he seemed to mind Alex much better!
The next day we enjoyed the spa at the hotel where we were able to get massages and swim in the saltwater pool and sweat everything out in the huge hammam. Sometimes it is nice to just have everything quiet.
The day before we left, we took advantage of one last massage at the spa, more swimming, and more beach time, and Alex even worked on some school projects. We enjoyed some local music that night, and watched the sunset from our balcony. It was a great relaxing trip in a new foreign country. The people were nice, intelligent, and the flight time from Nice was not bad at all. In general, Djerba was a cool place to see and I hope that it can grow and learn green, sustainable practices.
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