Tunisia with a Pet

[MikeMak]

to get my boat out of the eu, i went to tabarka, tunisia two weeks ago....i am amercican (apparently a novelty in this port) and was treated warmly despite the severe language barrier...french or arabic was the language of choice for the police and customs authorities. interestingly, none of the officials hit me up for "baksheesh" although i expected it.

btw, don't go to bizerte if you are looking for fuel or as a point of entry. the harbor/anchorage area is under construction and i was waved off .... that is how i ended up in tabarka.

i was told english is spoken more readily in tunis. if you are going to make any preliminary inquiries, i would direct them there. best of luck...

mike.

[Solstice]

Thanks for the update, MikeMak. We're on the hook in Siracusa, Sicily, right now and have decided to skip Tunisia. We still plan to stop in Rabat, though, after we have some repairs done in Cartagena, so we can get the health certificate for the pup there.

[beowulfborealis]

I was in Tunisia a year ago. They are pretty modern as far as North African nations go. Customs is pretty finicky. They almost didn't let me in until I proved to them that I was on a tour.

They speak French, Classic Arabic, Tunisian (which is street Arabic), and often English. I would bet you need all the doggie papers and stuff you can manage, and a good story and your best effort with customs.

If you can, you should tour Carthage. Magnificent ruins on the Med Sea. Also, there is a great museum of mosaics.

Most Arabs tell the Tunisians they are not really Arabs. They are kinda French-Arabs and its a pretty liberal country. But, I spent some time talking to a Tunisian in a book store who told me that the country seems to be heading toward a fundamentalist revolution like Iran did, which had been a liberal country in 1979.

I hope my message isn't too late. Neet place to visit, Tunisia is. In fact, they shot lots of the movie Star Wars in some villages because of their interesting buildings. You will even see the city Tatounee there, which was Luke Skywalker's home town.