I slept until a luxurious (?) 7 AM on our day off. After our breakfast and visiting with some fellow travelers, Alex and I decided to go into the medina and visit the souks (markets), which we had only seen at night after they closed. The morning air was fresh and made for a lovely walk. The entrance at Bab el Bahr, one of the main arteries into the old medina, was less than a five minute walk from the hotel. As we entered the old district down its main road, the first souk we encountered was clearly contemplating tourists. We saw rows of items bearing the word "Tunisia". But, as we penetrated further, we could see that the souks are clustered by types of goods. Clearly, vestiges of the old souks remain. There was an obvious section for freshly butchered meats, another for fabrics, etc. But, the global marketplace for goods has updated the souks. We wandered into a lane with vendor after vendor of brightly colored, cheaply made plastic goods manufactured in China, wrapped in clear and sold in bulk. Another area was devoted to "designer" jeans, t-shirts and underwear. One section I just had to get a photo of was a string of shops with a profusion of bunches of dried herbs, alternating with athletic shoes - Nike, Adidas, etc. One shop had both hanging on its walls: Herb and Shoe (Urban Shoe?).
When we got souked out, we headed back to the hotel to blog and chill for an hour before the 11 AM meeting.
In the lobby, Bill told us that we need to leave for the airport in 30 minutes for a flight to Frankfurt.
We are all thinking that is just a stopover. Lots of speculation about what's next. We will know very soon. I am writing this as we fly over tidy green European farms. Feels like home, compared to where we came from.