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LUXURY TRAVEL MAG EXCLUSIVE 2025 / Our Picks For You In The New Year / Tunisia, Through The Eyes Of A Female Guide / By Rajni George / luxurytravelmag

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Tunisia is having a cultural renaissance. And there’s no better way to take the pulse of this North African nation than with an informed female guide

In her 16 years as a guide in Tunisia, 37-year-old Nour el Houda Abbes has entertained some strange requests. “Once, a lady asked me to take her around the city, to feed its many cats. I’m always flexible as a guide; I will not say no easily,” she tells me.

It’s estimated that there are around 3,000 tour guides in Tunisia.

Nour is in a minority – only around 400 of these guides are female. I’m spending the day with the attractive, diminutive young woman while exploring the Tunis medina (the old walled part of a North African town), the port town of La Goulette, and what is left of the scenic yet depleted ruins of Carthage. 

Tunisia - Karim Ben Van

We stroll through the buzzing Central Market of Tunis (the capital), whose sprawling buildings lie inland from the Gulf of Tunis. We pass avenues heaped with flowers, fruit and fish. Baskets of artichokes and tiny okra are on offer; there are strawberries and nectarines, infinite varieties of flatbreads, and black and green olives.

I spy platters of tiny, slowly-moving snails, already deliquescent.

Nour offers me giant swordfish and fresh tuna, takes me to delicatessen Raviolis Mongelli – “the best in town, see the line?” – and tells me the ultimate way to pack the harissa I have with me, for my journey home the following week: “In a bottle with olive oil on top.” 

Tunisia

I quickly discover that people in Tunisia are friendly and make time for leisurely conversations. Here, folks seem to take a liberal, yet old-world, approach to life. I observe locals making their impossibly slow way to work on very old bicycles; one morning, a sweet man opens up the exhibition space of a well-known couturier to me for a personal tour, because I am wandering about the town of Sidi Bou Said alone. 

They also go out of their way to joke with, and charm, strangers, while respecting that tenuous line between banter and flirtation. “I will make this into an earring!” one elderly man says at a market stall.

I’ve taken out an Indian coin by mistake, and the vendors all mock-fight over who will keep this prize, much to Nour’s and my amusement.

Bilal, a dynamic seller of carpets whose wares are quality controlled by the government, tells me the proceeds go directly to the craftswomen who make them, and makes quips about selling to infamous Indian business families. 

Tunisia - Nour

Many male guides are unlikely to have seen the inside of a kitchen in this part of the world, the writer Jeff Koehler (author of, most recently, The North African Cookbook) remarked, when he recommended Nour’s services to me. Female guides, on the other hand, partake fully in both public and domestic life in Tunisia, and can therefore present a fuller perspective.

Nour tells me: “Many women call and ask only for a woman guide,” including a group of Kuwaiti women who contacted her just today. As for me, I am eager for a more intimate acquaintance with life here, in all its nuances.

Before, throughout and after my visit, Nour answers all my questions, offering advice, encouragement and, when the friend I am travelling with leaves, an opportunity for connection.

She organises taxis and talks about films and books with me – Tunisia’s most well-known historical novel, Salammbô by Gustave Flaubert, is decidedly “unsatisfying”. When I tell her she looks like the Indian actress Nimrat Kaur, she is visibly tickled.

Our conversation often turns to philosophical and political matters, weaving in and out of the realm of culture. Tunisia, now a semi-presidential republic, sparked the Arab Spring – momentous anti-government protests that began in the early 2010s across many Arab nations – and was the only country that transitioned to a democratic government. 

Today, eight in 10 Tunisians affirm that democracy is their preferred political system, and the majority trust the current president, Kais Saied, according to the 2024 Arab Barometer VIII Tunisia Report.

Nour echoes this sentiment, but remarks on economic difficulties, explaining that many working-class Tunisians just about manage to make ends meet: “Qad qad,” (“just enough” in Tunisian Arabic) she says.

But this, she elaborates, means that folks want to live as well as they can. “People want their vacations by the beach in La Marsa every year – it is also a part of their life.”

Tunisia has been praised for relatively progressive social policies, especially in the areas of family law and women’s rights. In 2017, parliamentarians approved The Act on Violence Against Women, which addressed domestic violence and included language intended to protect women from harassment in public as well as from economic discrimination. 

Tunisia was also the first Arab country to formally abolish polygamy in 1956, Nour reminds me, recounting the story of the late Tawhida Ben Cheikh, Tunisia’s pioneering first female physician, who became the face of the new banknote in spring 2020.

Women enjoy equal freedoms and occupy public space with ease here – even if I am sometimes the only woman in cafes. As I take in the city and its surrounds with Nour, we find ourselves discussing what it’s like to travel on your own as a woman.

Sometimes, uplifting and empowering, as when I wander the streets at night in La Marsa, feeling incredibly safe as it is impossible to do in India. Sometimes, lonely, as when I celebrate Eid – one of two main holidays celebrated in Islam, when restaurants and cafes are closed and people spend time with their families – alone.

Occasionally, frightening, as when an elderly teacher warns me as I wander into a quiet and harmless-looking stretch of the medina at mid-morning; people have been known to be mugged there. He adds that he teaches French at a well-known school named after philosopher and author Albert Camus, inviting me to join him for an espresso.

The Human Touch

At 21, when Nour finished her master’s degree, she was at a crossroads; should she become a teacher, or take her knowledge into the field? Her husband is a French teacher and her aunt is a professor of history and geography, so she has long been well-acquainted with the world of academia. Ultimately, however, she earned her license to be a guide while completing her PhD in archaeology. 

In Tunisia, qualifying as a guide involves passing stringent exams and other guides also have doctorates and translate, sometimes in court, Nour tells me. Our driver is emphatic, later, when I ask what his experience of guides has been like.

“Nour is special. Other guides may take visitors to a place for a few hours; she will take them around for the day,” he says. “Nour est incomparable.” (“Nour is unique.”)

Over 16 years, Nour has taken hundreds of tourists from ItalyFrance, Russia, China, the United States and many other countries all over Tunisia. She often advises people for free, and keeps in touch with some for years. She recently visited the United States for the first time and, in Australia, some former clients have become firm friends.

“I like the human part,” she says. And, as spending a day with Nour reminds me, so do I. To grasp as much of the beauty around you as you possibly can, within your means: this is what I take away from me, from this fascinating country.

Tunisia - Haythem Gataa

Journey Notes

Getting there

Emirates and Qatar Airways fly from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Tunis, via Dubai and Doha, respectively.

Good food, good mood

In the tourist-favourite town of Sidi Bou Said, Au Bon Vieux Temps is your best bet at tasteful local food; meanwhile, the coffee is delicious at Cafe des Nattes, Villa Bleueand Ben Rahim – a famous Berlin chain started by a Tunisian. In La Goulette, on your way to Carthage, break for piping-hot fish, fresh from the sea, at Restaurant La Victoire (Chez Razgallah).

Linger at Les Indecis in Carthage: it’s vegetarian-friendly and comes with wonderful ambience. The classic repasts of Fondouk El Attarine and Dar El Jeld Restaurant, both in the medina, are best for traditional Tunisian fare.

Out and about

The Bardo National Museum is one of the most renowned galleries in the region, and the medina merits a repeat visit if you enjoy shopping. You can explore the ruins of Carthage in a few hours, and be sure to spend ample time in Hammamet, where you can find the best beaches. Nearby Nabeul is famous for its pottery. Sidi bou Said is a charming town on a promontory overlooking the Mediterranean, known for its cobbled streets and blue-and-white houses. Don’t miss a visit to Dar el Annabi, a heritage home, while in the area.

Rest your head

If you want to stay amid the action, check in to Dar el Jeld Hotel and Spa, located in the middle of the medina. This 16-suite sanctuary features elegant, local design, an Andalusian garden and two restaurants.

For a more relaxing experience, an hour away from the hustle of Tunis, La Badira in Hammamet offers modern luxury by the beach (Le Sultan, next door, is ideal if visiting with children).  dareljeld.comlabadira.com

This news has been rearranged and published with the www.luxurytravelmag.com.au/press release subscription.

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