Tozeur

We took a late flight out of Tunis to the southern town of Tozeur. Our goal- the Sahara and a Star Wars set thrown in for good measure.

We arrived at our hotel to find a very rowdy group of tourists living it up with the keyboardist and vocalist they had playing in the lounge. They were pretty entertaining, but it was a relief when the "band" left and we got to finish our nightcaps without having to scream to each other to be heard.

We started out after breakfast for our 8 hour tour with Michael. I don’t know what his real name was, he originally told us his name was Michael something and he and Frenchie had a good laugh. Apparently this Michael something is a famous Formula 1 driver. Obviously this joke was more than lost on us.

We first went to an oasis called Chebika. After touching my arm while showing me postcards that I could obviously see myself without his aid I told Frenchie he was going to need to be my husband or we were going to have to start talking about my husband, because ol’ Michael was getting a little too close for comfort.

When we told him Frenchie and I were married he proceeded to offer 100 camels for me. Quickly realizing that a Frenchman may not have such a great need for so many camels, he threw in a Ferrari to sweeten the deal.

After a quick Google search I’ve estimated this offer to be worth anywhere from $300k to $500k, depending on the model of Ferrari and general health of the camels. Nothing to sneeze at, but needless to say I wasn’t flattered. It wasn’t until we really convinced him we were married by showing him my wedding ring that he stopped leering at me through the rearview mirror.

Aside from Stary McStarison grossing me out our day was pretty cool. We got to see the landscape go from the oasis on the other side of the Atlas Mountains to the salt lakes to the dry and sandy desert terrain…















We also got to see where the English Patient was filmed as well as Phantom Menace. This is the set where Darth Maul dukes it out with Quin-ion and also used for the background of the pod race…






I was really hoping they would have costume rentals for pictures and if they were smart they would get some. They did have a bathroom and I have to admit that was the best part for me. Mint tea after lunch and dune bashing do not mix, people.

We were exhausted after 8 hours of running around the desert and all took naps before heading to dinner at the hotel. After dinner we were still too exhausted to do anything but go back up to our rooms for an early night.

We spend Sunday in the medina shopping. The sales guys were much more aggressive than in Tunis, but we did finally buy a couple of things.

Our flight was delayed and delayed some more. We had planned on arriving back in Tunis late afternoon, but instead arrived in time for dinner.

This weekend we’re headed home with Frenchie to the south of France! He’s still finishing up his house and we want to make sure the guest room is to our liking since we plan on visiting him as much as humanly possible ;)