Late last year I decided to do another cycling trip this winter and country of choice was Tunisia. Little did I know what it would go through in the following weeks. Yet it posed an interesting chance to see a country in a revolution like this. After spending hours reading online and offline newspapers and articles, I decided it was safe enough to do the trip, despite all the warnings of friends and family.
So I caught the 6am flight to Frankfurt today, and from there to Tunis, where I arrived about half past 1pm. The luggage handling guys put the bike on the luggage conveyor belt in the arrivals hall. Argh!
Put the bike together (just had to screw on pedals, adjust the handlebar, and re-inflate tyres — yay for Lufthansa!) and cycled out of the crowded airport along 4-lane motorways towards the meeting point with Sana, my CS host for the first two nights.
Spent two hours waiting under some kiosk’s roof while it rained heavily. Got a Tunisian SIM card for my phone.
It seems there is no police in the streets. Instead, there’s army vehicles, tanks and personnel positioned outside important governmental or infrastructural offices.
Met Sana and had some delicious semi-Tunisian dinner at her place.