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Why Tunisia? Well, why not? Tunisia is just 80km from the furthest southern point of Italy and has had over the millennia always very close relations with Italy. Some relations better than others, but nevertheless Tunisia has been and always will be linked to Italy. Many of the historical sites in Tunisia are of Roman origin. Many of the modern agricultural settlements and civil engineering was brought to Tunisia by Italian entrepreneurs.
Tunisia offers a multitude
of interesting sites, incredible scenery, ancient history that goes back
to prehistoric times and reaches into the future having hosted the film
sets of Star Wars.
The emphasis of this trip
will be on exploring new roads and experiencing Tunisia through its
landscape, culture and history as seen when travelling on a motorcycle. the programme: Day 1 (saturday): fly into Tunis airport. You will be greeted by a CIMT team member at the airport and transferred by car to the tour hotel in Sidi Bou Said. The exclusive resort just outside of Tunis and close to the archaeological site of Cartage. You will have all day to rest, visit Tunis or surroundings or relax by the pool. In the evening there will be a briefing, in which the bikes will be assigned to each tour member, and the tour will be explained in detail. Following the briefing there will be the welcoming dinner. Day 2 (sunday): we start our ride south and after a quick stint on the Tunisian highway we reach El Jem. This was a very important Roman settlement. Witness of this is the 2nd largest Roman amphitheater in the world after the Colosseum in Rome, holding 35,000 seated spectators. A masterpiece of ancient architecture and UNESCO heritage since 1979. We continue our discent to the south of Tunisia with a short stop in Sfax, to view the medina, used in Anthony Minghella's English Patient for the setting of the streets of Cairo, we reach Matmata in the evening. Day 3 (monday): After a visit to the troglodytes dwellings and to the Hotel Sidi Driss, interior set for Star Wars, we head further south along Jebel (mountain) Dahar and visit a few Ksurs (plural for ksar), old fortified granaries built by the nomad Berber populations as a means of defence and storage of their crops. We reach Tatatouine in the evening. Tataouine inspired George Lucas when finding a name for Luke Skywalker's home Tatooine. Day 4 (tuesday): After an amazing ride through some canyons our first port of call will be Chenini where we visit the tombs of the four dormants. The setting is amazing. Sadly, the piste which connects directly to Ksar Ghilan is too hard for our bikes. It is completely covered in Tolè Ondulè, which in no time at all would unscrew all the bolts on our bikes and fry our suspension. So we haed back north to Matmata and follow the "pipeline" down to Ksar Ghilane. Once we reach this oasis which is the gate to the vastness of the Sahara, we can relax in our 5 star accampment and take a swim in the hot spring. Day 5 (wednesday): We spend the morning in Ksar Ghilane. You can enjoy sleeping in and a stroll on the dunes, or rent quad bikes to reach the abandoned foreign legion fort just outside of the oasis. You will be able to experience riding on sand without having the pain of getting bogged down in it. A fantastically thrilling experience. Once the quad experience is over, we return to our motorcycles and head for Douz. We stop at the Caravan gathering point of Zaafrane and then cross the massive and flat Salt Lake of Chott El Jerid to reach Tozeur, our new base for the next two nights. Whilst crossing the 80km long straight the colours, from white to pink of the salt formations, to the chrystall clear blue sky, and the sheere vastness only capped by the northern mountains, make it an awesome straight line ride (never thought I'd say this). Day
6 (thursday): rest day in
Tozeur. You can shop in the souk and take a trip to Nefta. Nefta is a few
km south of Tozeur and is the second most holy place in Tunisia after
Kairouan. It has 24 ancient mosques and is set in a palm grove of 100000
palm trees. Day 7 (friday): we say "arrivederci" to the Sahara and head back north. Immediately after Gafsa we do a detour by Sakket and then head for the town of Sbeitla. here we shall visit the remarkable Roman archaeological site of this town before continueing north to reach Kairouan. Day 8 (saturday): Our last riding day. After the visit to the souk and to Great Mosque, we take a side road back to Tunis and Sidi Bou Said to complete our tour of Tunisia. Day 9 (sunday): the riding is over. a transfer will take you back to the aiport for your flight back.
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Tunisian
Highlights