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and after 3 hours, arrived in Tunisia in the blistering hot sunshine, then made our way to Port El Kantaoui where we stayed.

We jumped straight into the practical fun and went paragliding on the first day. It was so much fun, especially being strapped up and flying together. The view was magnificent from up there!

I really enjoyed lazing around by the pool, soaking up the sun whilst reading a book. The pool was very chilly at first, but it soon turned lovely and warm once you were in.

On a disappointing overcast day we took a taxi to the harbour and walked all the way around, dipping in and out of the shops. There were some lovely handmade trinkets and souvenirs, but we soon found out that it was all the same stuff in most shops.

These colourful ceramic dishes were everywhere, but they still caught my eye every time.

There was one shop that was huge and packed full of stuff. We said it was like being inside Aladdin’s cave! I could have spent hours in there just looking.

We came home with a long ceramic bowl with glass mosaic on the inside, a wooden ornament of 2 figures in a heart shape, a set of three fish ornaments in different sizes, and a lamp made from camel skin stretched over a decorative frame. (Some nice decorations for our new house!). The lamp sounds horrible but it is nicer than it sounds! I was looking at them all week and finally saw one I liked on the last day. It has a picture of the ‘fatima hand’ painted on it, which is a symbol of good luck. It was nice to come home with something traditional and cultured.

We liked the harbour a lot and decided to go back one evening as it was only just up the road.

Even though we were staying at an all-inclusive hotel, we decided to eat out at the harbour one night, and found it to be quite a romantic place. There was a huge water fountain that moved and lit up in time to the music being played.

Although there was the odd cloudy day, I didn’t mind because there was still lots of sunshine and I think we got our fair share at the beach and by the pool.

Another day trip was spent in Sousse, where we visited the Madina – a huge outdoor market inside castle style walls.

It was interesting to be right in the middle of a town to see how some of the local people lived and worked. There were horse & carriages everywhere, we enjoyed riding in one back to the hotel.

The cobbled market streets were narrow with shops directly opposite one another, and things hanging all above your head as you walked. The shop owners are very crafty, trying to lure you into their shop and hassling you to buy something. Having been to Egypt 2 years ago, we knew what to expect with the hassle from shops so we soon got used to it again, and knew to just say ‘no thank you’ and walk away.

Some of the shop owners literally drag you into their shops which wasn’t very nice, and you have to be firm with them sometimes. I enjoyed haggling for good prices!

There were a lot of men demonstrating their skills, such as this man above who was hammering peoples’ names and designs onto copper plates. I never saw women doing anything like that, the only women I saw were cleaners and workers.

I was fascinated by the skill of this man making a huge picture out of tiny little mosaic tiles. I’m not sure if it was part of the flooring or a wall hanging, it was stuck down onto a large sheet of plastic.

and it was so detailed – this is a horse he had stuck down before adding the background.

All in all we enjoyed our stay in Tunisia, although we don’t think we would go back. It is very similar to Egypt but not as nice, in our opinion. We would like to go somewhere with a different kind of culture next year.