Cruise Day 4: Tunisia (cont.)

....when last we left our fearless travelers, they were finishing up 
a morning of bread-baking, belly dancing and henna tattoos in an 
authentic traditional Berber village in Tunisia. So what's next for 
our adventurers?! LUNCH!!

That's right....after all the activities already provided by the 
village and the family who run it, they also served us lunch. Lunch 
was served at a long family style table inside one of the buildings 
in the village and was served by members of the family that run the 
village. There was, of course, berber bread (like the bread we baked 
in the stone oven outside----even though Jason is a man LOL) and then 
they served a really nice tomato soup that had an orzo type pasta in 
it. This was followed by an appetizer dish that I believe they 
called a "brick"----it was basically scrambled eggs (and I think 
spinach??) inside a deep fried shell. Then came the main course---- 
chicken served over cous cous with some vegetables (like sweet 
potatoes and, I believe, cabbage and carrots) in it and over which 
they poured one of two kinds of flavor sauce. One they called "hot 
sauce" and was clearly made with hot peppers----it had a pretty good 
kick. The second, a milder version, they referred to as "baby 
sauce" (because, apparently, if you needed to eat that one you must 
be a baby....LOL. Never being one to shy away from spicy foods, I 
opted for the hot sauce.
They didn't just serve us our entree, however----there was a twist.
Before they brought the entrees in from the kitchen, they recruited
several of the adult women from our tour and brought them outside.
These women, including our guide Robyn, ended up being the "harem"
and had to parade (and kind of dance a bit to a musical backdrop, as
well LOL) the food into the dining area----on their heads!


Here are several images from lunch for you to enjoy. First up, Jason
enjoying his soup:

Me enjoying the "brick" appetizer they served:

Jason ordered a coke with his lunch and was tickled that it came in a 
glass bottle and that its label was written in Arabic:

Here is a picture of the "harem" of women, led by the belly dancer 
who welcomed us into the village earlier in the day and our guide, 
Robyn, as they brought lunch down to the dining room:

After lunch, we were served dessert in a tent outside consisting of 
some fruit (watermelon if I am recalling correctly), fig cookies 
(that were DELICIOUS) and hot mint tea (it was interesting...but it 
was also a very hot and sunny day outside, so I think I would have 
preferred it cold LOL). All in all, however, the lunch was very 
nice....it had an authentic taste, certainly felt like a cultural 
experience....and I was pleased with myself because I'm not the most 
adventurous eater. (Those of my readers who know me well know that I 
have lots of food rules: I don't eat anything that lives in the 
water. I don't eat any meat on a bone. I don't eat much red meat--- 
and when I do it has to be cooked WAY past well done. I despise 
olives, mushrooms, coconut, eggplant....and a host of other foods! 
LOL) All that considered, however, I did a pretty good job of eating 
food that would normally have fallen outside my comfort zone...and 
didn't mind it at all!!

Once lunch and dessert were done, it was time to pile back into the bus and head back to the port.  Once we arrived at the port, we got to do something that I'd been looking forward to for months since I'd seen 
pictures and videos of Hadley's family on THEIR Mediterranean cruise (also with Disney) back in May.  As you will recall from earlier blog posts-----I love animals.  I love seeing animals.  I love interacting with animals.....and just outside the ship there were local animal handlers offering the chance to ride and pose for pictures with CAMELS!! *hooray!!!*  So I knew this was something I wanted to do.  For just 10 euro (the equivalent of about $12-$14, I'd guess), Jason and I got to climb onto the back of a camel (particularly ironic and appropriate if you remember what our magnet for the day---from Tunisia post Part #1---- looked like! LOL) and ride a small loop and pose for pictures.  It was very cool and something I'm sure I won't have lots of opportunities to do again.  Here are some pictures:

After dismounting our camels, it was time to get back on the ship. 
We had a couple hours to kill before it was time for us to join some 
of our fellow adventurers for dinner at Palo (the adults only, more 
formal italian restaurant on the ship that requires special 
reservations---but was included as part of our Adventures by Disney 
package). During this free time, I decided to go to the room and try 
to post a blog entry about the day prior in Malta (and I think we all 
know how THAT went....that was the beginning of several frustrating 
days where I started fighting with the internet provider here on the 
ship!! LOL). Jason decided to use the free time to take advantage of 
on-deck chair massages by the adults only pool on the ship that were 
being offered by the staff from the onboard spa. Once I finally 
realized that getting online and blogging was an exercise in 
futility, I went up on deck to meet up with Jason as his massage was 
ending. Here is what I found when I got up there from the room:

He thoroughly enjoyed it even though it was a brisk/windy day up on 
deck-----but after a hot, sweaty day under the Tunis sun it was a 
welcome break....and after his massage we went back to the room to 
shower and get changed for dinner at Palo.

Dinner was lovely.....they had split the 25 adutls on our adventure 
into two equal groups so that we could fit into Palo's private dining 
room in back. The menu at Palo is wonderful and they served free 
wine and champagne with dinner. (Not very useful to me or Jason since 
we don't drink----but it was a nice touch for our fellow 
adventurers.) All around it was a great evening.....good and lively 
conversation and great food and before we knew it our dinner, which 
had started at about 8:30pm, had extended well past 11:30pm!! 
During dinner we forgot to have someone take a picture of us in our 
ties for the day....but we did remember to take a picture of the ties 
themselves. Ironically (and I SWEAR I didn't plan it on purpose LOL) 
we chose to wear Aladdin/genie ties to dinner that night! Here they 
are:







After finishing up our late dinner, it was time to head to the room 
and get to bed. Waiting for us in our room was our towel animal for 
the day:

...and that brought our first ever visit to Africa (and, quite 
honestly, a really fantastic day) to a close as we went to bed so 
that we could be up early the next day to enjoy Naples, Sorrento & 
Capri....

See you there!!