Mediterranean Enchantment – 2009
North Africa’s Tunis
& Ruins of Carthage
April 26 - May 10, 2009
Updated July
4, 2009
By LEWIS NOLAN
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Friday, May 5, 2009 –
Tuesday – At Sea
As
the ship sailed south on the Mediterranean toward North Africa 444 miles away, another
big breakfast was delivered to our Deluxe Veranda Suite at 7:35 a.m. consisting
of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, hash browns, tomato juice and ice water. After
pigging out on a great meal cooked to perfection, I napped for a while then
made an appointment to visit one of the ship’s Personal Trainers, Nikki Craft
of New Zealand, in the luxurious spa topside. Betty and I had sat in a free
class she led on the benefits of a diet and exercise program put together by
the Greenhouse Spa. That spa management program operates on this and an
additional Holland America ship.
It
was no great surprise that Nikki had the beauty and height of a movie-star.
Blonde and slender, she was a walking advertisement for the success of a
program of vitamin-based health supplements she was selling.
I
met with her after a great lunch hosted for me and other repeat-customers of
Holland America in their Mariners Society, which gives frequent flyers some
extra “perks” like the wonderful lunch Betty and I attended. We were given a
ceramic tile marking our status, which was nice enough but well short of the
silver and gold medallions on chains given to the “high mileage” customers.
The
lunch included seafood salad, broiled salmon and a complimentary glass of white
wine.
Afterwards,
Betty and I repaired to our appointment with Nikki, which was supposed to last
for 30 minutes but ended up taking nearly 2 hours because she was so charming
and a great sales person. The bottom line was that I stalled on the purchase on
her recommended dietary supplements (cost of $100 a month) pending consultation
with my crackerjack of an internal medicine physician back home (he advised
against it). But with the help of an electronic gadget, Nikki determined that
50 percent of my body weight is water – truly a surprising statistic.
Her
machine-aided testing (a very low voltage electric current I couldn’t feel ran
between metal clips attached to a finger and a toe) also indicated that my
metabolism is fairly high because of somewhat beefy muscle mass. At my current way-excess
weight, the test revealed that my daily caloric requirement to maintain current
weight is 2,626 calories.
Not
surprisingly, she recommended that I reduce my body fat to 20 percent rather
than its current 38 percent. Now that’s a no-brainer. In other words, the implied
message was, “Fatso, don’t eat so much and exercise more.”
In
her opinion, my present lifestyle involving regular exercise at a gym three
times a week plus walking in the neighborhood combined with a somewhat careful
diet “isn’t very bad,” but I need to do more. Two of the specifics she told me
on the front end were to wean myself away from an average of four diet soft
drinks a day (TAB) to none and to cut out drive-in fast food in favor of
natural, unsalted and unprocessed foods.
Another
non-surprise: After teaching Culinary Arts and related cooking courses over her
30-year career as a teacher in public schools, Betty asked some good questions
of Nikki. While I didn’t go forward with purchasing Nikki’s program supplements
on the spot, my meeting with her did open my eyes even wider to the importance
of changing my dietary patterns and turning up the frequency and intensity of
my exercise program. I do want a more healthy body and am resolved to try yet again
to succeed on an oft-trod path in that direction.
(I
shared a handout on the merits of a detoxification program advocated by Nikki
when I saw my physician, Dr. Robert Kulinski, when back in Memphis. He was
polite, of course, but suggested that by eating sensibly I could have the
weight loss I seek and be more healthful at the same time. However, he reminded
me that to walk off the equivalent of one piece of chocolate cake, I’d have to
walk from his office near our home the 10 or so miles to the Pyramid structure
near the Mississippi River in Downtown Memphis.)
Charged
up by all the rah-rah talk with “Knockout Nikki” about eating healthy, I went
for an excellent dinner that evening of Alaska King Crab claws served with a
small appetizer plate of sun-dried tomatoes, fresh figs, sliced salami,
mozzarella cheese and ham. Dessert for me was a bowl of fresh berries. I
thought that maybe eating smart could be a delight. With us at the table at the
extreme rear of the boat was a French-speaking couple from Canada. Her English
was pretty good. He didn’t have much to say.
After
dinner, I retired to bed early because of a sore back from all the deep
coughing. Betty chose to stay up and read while the ship steamed towards
Tunisia.
May 6, 2009 – Wednesday -
In La Goulette (Tunis) in North Africa and Ancient Ruins of Carthage
We
were awakened about 6:30 a.m. local time by a small band of greeters parading
down the dock below our sixth-deck stateroom and beating a drum. Rising to
check out the noise, I looked down and saw a young woman clad in what might be
the local equivalent of a jump suit from her wrists to her ankles. She was
dancing to what might be a national, modest version of an Arab belly dance.
The
Port of Tunis appeared to be surprisingly modern. A tall minaret that evidently
calls Muslims to prayer is several hundred yards away. Red flags fly from
several rooftops and huge paintings of a middle aged man’s face adorn several
6-to-8 story buildings that probably house apartments or offices. He must be
the ruler of Tunisia. Welcome to Arab Country.
We
were advised by the staff of the Noordam ship that those going ashore should
wear pants and long-sleeved shirts out of respect for teachings of the Islam
religion in this country. We were given some visitor registration forms to
complete for local officials. As Dorothy of the classic movie “Wizard of Oz”
said, “This sure doesn’t feel like
I
had never been in an Arab country before and was looking forward to the visit to
Tunis and tour bus excursion to the ancient ruins of Carthage, the land from
which the military genius Hannibal sprung to bedevil Rome and Italy with his
army and war elephants that crossed the Alps more than 2,200 years ago.
One
of Hannibal’s most famous achievements was at the outbreak of the Second Punic
War, when he marched an army of 60,000 into northern Italy. Hannibal occupied
much of Italy for 15 years. However a Roman counter-invasion of North Africa
forced Hannibal to return to Carthage, where he was decisively defeated by Scipio
Africanus, who was given the honorific name by fellow Romans in celebration of
his brilliant victory over one of the great generals of history. The angry
Romans razed Carthage to the ground and sowed salt into the soil to punish the
Carthaginians for their invasion of Italy. The wreckage of what remains in the
way of toppled buildings and Latin-inscribed monuments remains today. It makes
for pretty good photography for first-time visitors like me and Betty.
A military historian once famously called Hannibal the "father of strategy", because his
greatest enemy, Rome, came to adopt elements of his military tactics in its own
strategic arsenal. This praise has earned him a strong reputation in the modern
world and he was regarded as a "gifted strategist" by men like
Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington. His
life has been the basis for a number of films and documentaries. He has been
attributed with the famous quotation, "We will either find a way, or make
one
Before
venturing out into Hannibal’s long-ago country, I passed on my usual scrambled
eggs for breakfast. But I did have a small portion of ham, toast, hash browns,
and tomato juice delivered to our stateroom.
Our
bus tour took us through the bustling town of Tunis, where the modernity, size
and quality of homes near the waterfront amazed me. I had somehow imagined that
Arab housing would be like the television news shots of the rubble that forms
the backdrop of so much coverage of the region’s conflicts. It might be the result
of oil money pouring into this land benefiting its owners so handsomely. Our
bus was one of 20-to-30 taking ship passengers on various excursions this day.
The
port docks at Tunis looked to this civilian as being the result of advanced
engineering and distribution experts having almost unlimited funds to build the
best possible facilities. The roads were well paved, well marked and had plenty
of equipment to make them well-lighted at night. In my opinion, at least the
roads we were on were more car-friendly that the “roundabout” design practice
for moving traffic at intersections that we’ve seen in England.
We
were told that ancient Carthage was the “second city” of the Mediterranean
world two millennia ago, following only Rome in power and wealth. Even today, a Tunis street through a ritzy
neighborhood that would do credit to Palm Springs, CA is named “Rue Hannibal.”
I
was surprised that the rest rooms at the Carthage Visitor Center – where polite
employees collected $1 camera fees from visitors like us wanting pictures to
mark our tour there – were spotless and brand, spanking new. A sign in the
men’s room forbade begging. I was somewhat “relieved” to see what could be an
obsession with cleanliness since I had halfway dreaded the old-fashioned
“Turkish toilet” monstrosities I recall encountering many years ago in Paris.
Their disgusting design had been imported from nearby Algeria and other
backward parts of Arab Africa years earlier. How the world changes even when
monumental change are only barely noticed by what passes for the news media.
Our
first tour stop was at the ruins of a Christian church from the 6th
Century. We also visited a site where fragments of dozens of marble columns were
smashed by Roman soldiers as an act of retribution.
Our
native tour guide was a polite, middle-aged Arab man who tried hard to please.
He proved that he has a wealth of information but we found him to be uniformly
rich only in boring detail. I was somewhat disappointed that the ability to
really tell one of the most compelling stories in the West – how the Punic Wars
gave Rome almost total dominance over “Lake Mediterranean” to form a foundation
for the civilization that we know 2,000 years later - escaped our guide.
At
a small collection of Arab vendor stalls overlooking the main ruins of Carthage
with the blue Mediterranean in the background, we purchased a few postcards and
took some photos. We then re-boarded the tour bus and drove through an area of
scenic housing at the upscale Village of Sidi Bou
Said, a picturesque village of large estates close to the salt water amid a
paradise of blindingly white, stucco homes with black doors and acres of tall,
green trees and healthy shrubs that belied the desert location. Seeing the discreet display of wealth gave me
a new appreciation of what at least some segments of the Arab world can do with
great benefits of oil and sharp trading.
In
gesture to Arab custom, Betty and I dressed in pants and long-sleeved shirts.
But several of our fellow passengers seemingly ignored the request of cruise
ship announcements and wore shorts and shirts without sleeves. However, there
was no visible hassle by Moslem police or religious officials, so I surmise
that Tunisia is probably understanding of Western habits when important
commodities like tourism dollars are involved.
Once
back in the air conditioned bus, I snoozed while Betty trudged up a hill to
what the Arabs call a “Souk,” which is a shopping area with vendors Betty
judged to be even more insistent and aggressive than vendors she’s dealt with
on our trips to Mexico. She found a good buy on a beautiful, small jewelry box
made of inlaid wood.
Later,
the bus drove us back to the dock where the Noordam and other ships were tied
up. I was interested to see that several souvenir vendors had set up shop right
at the passenger ramp to the ship while three trained camels were available for
photo sessions and brief rides. Closer
to the billboards posted on nearby, multi-story buildings, I noticed that the
pictured, middle aged man was wearing a conservative business suit. He must be
Tunisia’s president or other bigwig.
Against
10 days of recent news about the pirates based in the African nation of Somalia
who have extorted millions of dollars from Western ships, I took a small sense
of satisfaction reading that the Tunisian economy of the 16th and 17th
Centuries was fueled in large part by piracy. I read in a ship’s handout that
pirate bases once lined the Tunisian coast until the U.S. Navy attacked in 1815
and the country’s officials effectively halted the piracy.
This
onetime veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps in the late 1960s recalled singing –
in an obligatory loud voice – the Marine hymn, “From the halls of Montezuma to
the shores of
During
our stay in modern Tunisia, temperatures were close to ideal, with highs in the
low 70s, loads of sunshine (I applied Coppertone sunscreen to my arms and face)
and a refreshing breeze.
Oddly,
I fielded my first question on this trip about my souvenir, green golf visor I wore
during most shore side outings. I had purchased it at the Masters Tournament in
Augusta, GA in early April. A fellow golfer from Southern California and then another from New
Jersey asked about the tournament; we enjoyed swapping golf stories on the bus
ride back to the boat. I was surprised it took so long for fellow golf fans to
surface.
Betty
and I enjoyed a fine dinner of home-made, small pizzas plus some delicious wiener
schnitzel served in the boat’s main dining room, along with a Light Beer and
small glass of Chardonnay wine for me. Betty in particular enjoyed talking with
two retired school teachers from Illinois who were seated at the next table. It
turned out that one of them was somehow missed when the ship sent out
invitations to repeat customers for the special lunch. However, the slighted
educator followed up on our polite suggestions and got a complimentary box of
chocolate candy plus a souvenir marking her Mariners Society status from the
ever-pleasing crew a few hours later.
All
in all, visiting an Arab country was an eye-opener for me. We thoroughly
enjoyed poking around the ruins of the legendary Carthage we’d been reading
about for many years. Unfortunately, my deep cough is still troublesome even
though I’ve taken a lot of prescription drugs the last few days.
Continue with Part VIII of
Travelogue / Return
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