Trip to France and Tunisia

In 2022, I travelled on my own for the first time, left North America for the first time, and also set foot on Europe and Africa for the first time. I visited France (staying a few days each in Nantes, Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron, Lourdes, and Paris) and while I was there spent a week in Tunisia (seeing Tunis, El Jem, and spending a night in the Sahara via Matmata).

Nantes

I started by going straight to Nantes, which I mostly selected because it was a fairly short train ride from Paris and had an airport with flights to Tunis. It worked out well; Nantes is a very charming city, and I've since rented an apartment and spent a whole month there. I would love to go back.

Le Château des ducs de Bretagne (the castle of the dukes of Brittany) is a beautiful castle in the centre of Nantes which was originally built in 1207 and where the Dukes of Brittany resided from the 1200s-1500s.

The streets nearby are beautiful as well:

And so is the rest of Nantes:

Tunis

I took a late flight to Tunis and arrived after dark. At the airport, I was selected for random COVID testing and detained for a while, then once my test passed, waited forever trying to find a pencil so that I could fill out the Visa form, and then was held back when handing in my form so that I was the very last person to be admitted into the country for the night. Once I got to my hotel, I couldn't pay, and it took a few hours to figure out that I was being limited to 300 DT at a time by my bank, so after making multiple withdrawals to take out enough money to pay and buying a couple cab rides with a 1000% tourist tax, I finally checked into my hotel, which was quite nice.

The same person who took me to my room went out to buy me cigarettes. The hotel was near the bay; the cacophonous birds at night were beautiful and fascinating to listen to. So many squawks at once make such interesting textures and rhythms.

The next day, I visited the ruins at Carthage and everything was just gorgeous. In the morning, I found a Samsung store nearby where I could buy a charger for my phone. I had to cross an absolutely terrifying multi-lane street without lights, twice, which was kind of fun; it reminded me of a similar street I had to cross often as a kid in Saskatoon. Absolute death trap, but fond memories of that fear if you survive. At the Samsung store, the clerks spoke Arabic to each other, and the people coming in spoke Arabic to each other, but they would use French when talking to each other over the counter. Language is so interesting, especially in that part of the world.

I took a cab across Tunis, which didn't have a seatbelt, and traffic rules in Tunisia are as relaxed as they say. It did feel like I might likely die, but it was really cool to see this mess of cars swarming around each other on the road, completely ignoring the painted lines. It felt very human.

The Carthage tophet was really fascinating to see. It's a 2000ish-year old children's cemetery, traditionally believed to be for child sacrifices, but nowadays some question that latter part, because the only sources for it are from Carthage's enemies; it could just be ancient propaganda. It makes me think as well of the Romans' practice of infant exposure, which was essentially a way to get rid of infants by leaving them to die (sometimes even directly in the city dump), but was morally justified by the chance it gives the baby to survive on their own. It was fuelled by the myth of Romulus, who went on to countless greatnesses including founding Rome, after being left to exposure as an infant.

I love this shot of this gravestone opposite the modern trash can, nothing between them except the fence gating off the modern street.

Walking around that part of Tunis was very nice. It was a hot day, but gorgeous. So many people on the street all seemed to know each other, everyone seemed boisterous and happy.

There were so many cats everywhere in Tunisia. I didn't even notice this one was in the shot when I took the picture. The layered trees against the sky build up such an interesting, dynamic shape.

The ruins at the Baths of Antoninus were breathtaking. Such a large environment to walk around and explore, and I was the only tourist I saw the whole time. At one point I accidentally approached the Presidential Palace and had a guard with a gun confront me and tell me to go away, which was exciting. I didn't realise he was holding a gun at first, and we had some difficulties due to language, so I stepped forward a couple times, which he really didn't appreciate. It was a little frightening, but fortunately that was all.

El Jem

From Tunis, I took a train to El Jem. I ended up sharing a booth with two parents and their two children. They had a daughter a few years older than their toddler son who took great joy in aiding her parents' scolding of their son, but the parents didn't appreciate it much.

The heat was really overbearing.

I didn't notice this man in the shot until I developed the photos later, but I'm glad he was there. I think he really completes it.

The arches around the entrance to the Colosseum are mesmerising.

It's sweet to me to see modern graffiti scratched onto ancient relics. This continuing human presence in this space for millennia, building on top of itself.

The Colosseum itself was magnificent, too. Like most of the places I saw in Tunisia, it was almost completely empty aside from me. At this one, I did see a couple other small groups, but they didn't detract much.

In the centre was a metal grating over this hallway underneath.

It was too dark underground to shoot on the 100 ISO film I had, so most of my shots from there were from my phone:

Matmata and the Sahara

Next, I took a train and a louage to Matmata farther south and rode on the back of someone's motorbike around town. Some beautiful views of the desert nearby:

There were a lot of camels on the road. We had to stop for a couple, and we voluntarily stopped to get this photo of some walking alongside the road:

I got a ride a couple hours farther south into an oasis in the Sahara where I stayed the night. We had a wonderful dinner of Tunisian food, and the desert itself was just gorgeous:

We rode camels out into the desert and got to see it more fully. It's so amazing being out there with just sand dunes as far as you can see, all of them with this sheet of sand blowing along in the breeze over them. The sand is so soft and fine and warm, but when you bury your hands in it gets cold very quickly once you reach the parts not touched by the sun.

I only took photos with my phone once we were out in full desert, and those little bits of sand blowing around got all up in my charging port. That phone never charged properly again after that.

The next morning, we drove around the desert awhile and visited a few ksars from as far back as the 13th century.

We also stopped in a small village on a mountain for tea and to explore.

Back in Tunis, I watched an Arabic-dubbed Tom and Jerry cartoon and got a quick snapshot:

I also walked around the city awhile in the afternoon, which was nice to explore. At one point, I heard a cat crying, and realised that they had been shut inside a store that had closed up for the night. I felt very bad for them, but nothing to be done. Here are some other cats who hopefully had a nicer night that night:

Back in Nantes

My phone didn't work when I got back to Nantes (thanks SaskTel!), so I ended up walking the few hours back from the airport into town. It was a hot day, but just lovely.

I eventually settled down at the Bar Mon Oncle for a few hours, where they had really nice live jazz.

I found a hotel and stayed one more night than planned, then spent the morning exploring Nantes some more while waiting for my train. It was hot and sunny and the streets were mostly empty. I had a couple large bottles of juice and water and bought a sandwich while I was out, then I spent a couple hours walking along the river. I can remember smearing sunscreen on in the shade.

Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron

Next, I made it to Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron, off the Atlantic coast of France. I made it to my hotel 5 minutes before they closed, and finally I could relax. The island itself was gorgeous and the people so friendly. I remember being so sweaty and sitting on the sidewalk waiting for a bus as multiple children on bikes waved and said bonjour as they passed.

On Oléron, I found Ukulélé MOTU, and purchased one of their ukuleles there. They make beautiful instruments--flat, thin, and very portable--and they have the soundhole in the back, so you can make a wah-wah effect by moving it against your body.

Lourdes

I next took a train down to Lourdes in the south of France by the Pyrenees. It's a Catholic pilgrimage city and has a beautiful sanctuary (very busy, though):

Lourdes itself is gorgeous as well:

Here, I even found Jesus hidden in the trees:

I also took a nice walk up a steep hill to see the stations of the cross. Very nice sculptures and some gorgeous views; a constant stream of old, religious people.

And spent more time just wandering around. I remember I was listening to a podcast about Soulja Boy and his video game console when I took these:

And the shining jewel of the whole trip, "Tourisme et Religion":

Cauterets

I continued south into the Pyrenees via Cauterets. I missed my bus, so ended up spending an hour at the station, but had my ukulele from Oléron, so played songs the whole time. "Flowers on the Wall" and "Class of 57" are the main ones I remember playing--it was a Statler Brothers kind of day.

The bus ride was beautiful up those narrow, twisting, mountain roads. The roads were perfect to walk around, too. I carried my ukulele and played and sang and walked.

I ran out of film at this point and switched to a disposable camera that I had purchased in Lourdes. I hadn't used a disposable since I was a kid, and was surprised how completely garbage they are. Even just shooting auto felt weird, but the results are underwhelming, too. Better to just use a phone, as sad as that is.

Lourdes to Paris

I got some nice shots out of the train window, too:

Paris

And finally I made it to Paris for one last weekend.

The hotel I stayed at for my last night in Paris was near le Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, the famous cemetery, so I spent an unplanned couple hours exploring it on my last day in Paris before heading to CDG. Near the opening was a nice WW1 statue. Translated: "To the Garibaldians of the Argonne and Italian volunteers who died for France, 1914 and 1918, in all the fights for freedom."

A lot of impressive graves. A huge maze of wide, shallow streets. Cars came by every now and then.

I found Frédéric Chopin:

And Jim Morrison:

And Honoré de Balzac: