La Goulette is the port for Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. Because I had no clue if my phone and EU SIM would work in Tunisia (it didn’t), we’d booked a shore excursion from the ship today instead of trying to arrange cars, drivers, etc.
Our tour guide was very knowledgeable (he’s a published historian), spoke 6 languages and flitted in and out of each language depending on who he was talking to. We went to some of the sites of ancient Carthage, visited Roman ruins, and then stopped for an hour or two at the pretty blue and white village of Sidi Bou Said (full-on tourist trap with SOOO many people, 80 [!!] tour buses, etc.). At the palace in Sidi Bou said (no longer used), the ship had arranged a nice lunch for those of us on the various shore excursions that included this pretty little town (there’s an ulterior motive in providing food and drink, I’m sure—the last thing a cruise ship needs is for a gastric bug to spread throughout the ship, so by providing us with lunch they could control what we ate and drank, to a large extent). It was very hot, so the ice cold lemon juice drink was especially welcome.
Then it was back to the ship for a welcome dip in the pool followed by a fabulous dinner and great conversations with the two wonderful people (M&D) we’d met on our second night.
Our cruise route so far – Civitavecchia (Rome), Naples, Trapani, and La Goulette
Roman ruins near Carthage
View from the palace at Sidi Bou Said
Ceiling detail at the palace at Sidi Bou Said
Iconic blue and white of every house and building in Sidi Bou Said
Rhonda Bracey: At Random 
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