Posted by Seth on January 21, 2011 under Book Review, Trip Reports | 
Here we and all who shall hereafter live in freedom will be reminded that to these men and their comrades we owe a debt to be paid with grateful remembrance of their sacrifice and with the high resolve that the cause for which they died shall live
Thus reads the inscription at the entrance to the North Africa American cemetery and memorial in Tunisia. Located just outside of Tunis, near Carthage, the cemetery is significant in size and in its impact on visitors. There are 2.841 bodies interred within its walls, each under an incredibly plain white marble marker laid out in perfect alignment. Brothers buried next to each other, at least on Medal of Honor awardee and 240 stones with the incredibly sad phrase, "Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God."
Another 3,724 names are engraved along a wall, names of those who perished in the region but who’s bodies were unaccounted for. The cemetery is both a beautiful and incredibly moving reminder of the sacrifices made by these and many thousands more young men during World War 2.
One of the bleached white crosses bears a tiny bit of decoration. Private Nicholas Minue from Careret, NJ, has his headstone embossed with gold paint, the mark of a Medal of Honor recipient.
For distinguishing himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the loss of his life above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy on 28 April 1943, in the vicinity of MedjezelBab, Tunisia. When the advance of the assault elements of Company A was held up by flanking fire from an enemy machinegun nest, Pvt. Minue voluntarily, alone, and unhesitatingly, with complete disregard of his own welfare, charged the enemy entrenched position with fixed bayonet. Pvt. Minue assaulted the enemy under a withering machinegun and rifle fire, killing approximately 10 enemy machinegunners and riflemen. After completely destroying this position, Pvt. Minue continued forward, routing enemy riflemen from dugout positions until he was fatally wounded. The courage, fearlessness and aggressiveness displayed by Pvt. Minue in the face of inevitable death was unquestionably the factor that gave his company the offensive spirit that was necessary for advancing and driving the enemy from the entire sector.
The battle for North Africa was a roughly six month affair. It was the first major engagement for the Americans in the Atlantic side of the war and it was, in many ways, a great lesson in what not to do when going to battle. The Romans, a group that held this same land thousands of years prior, were incredibly successful in their conquests in large part because of their logistical skills, always able to supply troops with the correct materiel. That was just one of many areas that the Americans and the English fighting along side of them faltered at.
Operation TORCH, the beginning of the campaign, was a massive effort that saw thousands of troops ferried across the Atlantic and deposited on the shores of Morocco and Algeria. Not all the troops even made it on-shore. They were the earliest names recorded on the wall of the missing, those lost at sea before the battle even began. Those who did make it on shore were initially beset by logistical problems that were rather significant. Rather than having 8,700 trucks on the ground in Oran as planned in mid-November there were only 1.800. Officers were spotted wandering around town offering $5,000 in silver for anything resembling a functional truck. Just one of many examples of things not going quite as planned.
Months later the battle was still ongoing. The numbers of dead, injured and imprisoned are staggering. Battle by battle, hill by hill, the soldiers marched on. Underequipped, both in quantity and quality of gear, they nonetheless inched forward (and backwards on occasion). Eventually the victory came, but not without tremendous losses.
The saying goes that history is written by the victors in battle and certainly most history of World War 2 is told that way these days. Stories of the great American battle leaders, names that have been immortalized in our collective conscience, focus on the incredible successes and accomplishments those men achieved. It is rare, for example, to hear a story about Patton that details his inability to effectively command and control his platoons. Similarly rare are the stories of Ike being pilloried as an ineffective, inexperienced and generally confused commander in battle.
But reading back through primary source material, from those commanders and from others around them, the reality is quite clear. They grew quickly as leaders and their tactical skills improved rather impressively, but the initial pains were very real and rather significant. A great telling of the history of the battle comes from Rick Atkinson’s An Army at Dawn. The book is incredibly detailed, including not only the views of the victors but also details from the the German side. Tales from command tents are intertwined with tales from the trenches and the tanks.
Reading of the shortcomings of the commanders, seen by their colleagues, adversaries and partners is definitely and educational and eye-opening experience.
Eisenhower would complain that his ad hoc orders to support the British with American troops ‘were not clearly understood nor vigorously executed.’ To his brother Edgar he confided, ‘I suffer from the usual difficulty that besets the higher commander – things can be ordered and started, but actual execution at the front has to be turned over to someone else.’
At the end of the day the Allies won and eventually things turned out reasonably well, but not without many false starts, blundering snafus and significant casualties. Reading the story and standing on the ground there in Carthage, mourning the fallen soldiers, certainly puts many things in perspective.
More from Tunisia here!
Posted by Seth on January 20, 2011 under Trip Reports |
As best as I can tell every culture in the world has developed one common dining standard: they all love fried dough covered in sugar. I cannot fault any of them. Whether churros, donuts, beignets, sufganiot or whatever other name it goes by, the glory of these goodies is hard to ignore.
As we walked through the streets of Sidi Bou Saïd on our first afternoon there we happened upon what can only be described as a gaggle of local teens pushing their way to the front of a line in a tiny storefront just off the main tourist square. Not willing to let a good street food opportunity go untapped I pressed in with the masses, hoping that it would be worth the effort.
It was even better than I’d hoped. Crispy on the outside and a bit gooey in the middle, with big sugar crystals that added to the crunch as well as providing most of the flavor.
In Tunisia the fried dough phenomena is known as bombolouni. The operation we happened upon was a three man group churning them out as quickly as the hot oil could just barely get them cooked. Indeed, the frying process was so quick that the bombolouni were actually a bit raw in the middle, something I enjoyed. One guy was forming the rings, the next tending the fryer and the third adding sugar wrapping them in a thin paper to soak up a bit of the oil and pretend that they can insulate your hands from the heat.
It is a tiny operation doing swift business and it was delicious.
More from Tunisia here!
Posted by Seth on January 19, 2011 under Trip Reports |
Many museums suffer from the difficulty of having more items in their collection than they can show at any one time. The Bardo Museum, located just a few minutes outside central Tunis is a great example of this. Yet the facility, by many accounts the largest single collection point of Roman-era mosaics in the world, has come up with a rather unique solution to that challenge. Rather than only have art on the walls they have many pieces in their original location: on the floor.
Though several sections of the museum were closed when we visited the mosaics collection was still largely on display and it was well worth the visit. The museum is easily accessible via the Tunis metro system and the mosaics can easily consume a few hours of time.
The scores of mosaics we saw spanned the range of about 1500-2200 years ago. In addition to the incredible beauty of the pieces it is interesting to trace the development of the craft over hundreds of years.
Scenes become more intricate. Colors become more vivid. The size of the stones in use decreases and their shape begins to vary. The works move from narrating a story to telling it through beautiful imagery.
And many of the pieces we saw were incredibly large. The largest on display were on the order of 10+ meters on each side. They are amazing works of art and pieces of history. Combined with the fact that the Bardo is one of only a couple museums in Tunis and how easy it is to get to and it is a no-brainer to spend a couple hours there.
More from Tunisia here!
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Posted by Seth on January 18, 2011 under Trip Reports |
It took us rather longer than planned to make it to Tunis. And once we did we were pretty much ready to leave. Part of that can be attributed to the fact that the hostel we were staying in was abominable. But more than that, it really was because there was nothing particularly special in town. The old Medina is nice enough and is worth getting lost in for a few hours but once you’ve exhausted that the options start to dry up in a hurry.
The Bardo Museum is a great way to spend a few hours amongst 2000+ years of history and the Roman relics in Carthage are another great way to spend a day or two. But there is no need to stay in central Tunis for either of those. And so we did not. Instead we escaped to the beautiful coastal suburb of Sidi Bou Saïd.
Sidi Bou Saïd is about 45 minutes outside of town on the Tunis light rail system. Close enough to be convenient for commuters but far enough to be a completely different world for visitors. Many tourists visit Sidi Bou Saïd as a day trip and the town shows it. The population swells every morning starting around 10am as the first round of buses make their way in to the small square at the bottom of the hill and unload their charges. Even with the crowds, however, the town manages to retain much of its charm and beauty.
The town is all blues and whites (and a splash of yellow every now and then), reminiscent of Greek isles and other similar Mediterranean scenes. The doors are decorated with intricate patterns and the views are simply stunning pretty much every direction you turn. It seems to be stuck 400 years ago (or more) and shows no signs of giving up that charm.
The town itself is tiny; a walkthrough including visits to a few of the artisans can be done in just a couple hours. Combined with its proximity to central Tunis and Carthage this means that’s often all it gets from visitors. But for folks willing to invest a bit more time there is the opportunity to take in a couple of the local restaurants, enjoy a lazy afternoon on a rooftop or otherwise just decompress. After the relative chaos in central Tunis that is a very much welcome opportunity indeed.
(N.B.- Writing this post I am very much aware of the civil unrest in Tunisia. I certainly hope that the theme of “escape” is one that can be read as focused only on the relative lack of fun stuff to do in Tunis rather than the larger geopolitical implications. I also hope that the strife ends quickly and peacefully; even though it was not our favorite vacation ever it is always unfortunate to see such violence.)
More from Tunisia here!
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Posted by Seth on January 7, 2011 under Review, Trip Reports |
Choosing to stay in a hostel when traveling can be a risky move. Sure, they’re generally less expensive but they’re also a much different type of lodging. Generally I like that sort of difference. A more social group and folks hanging out, sharing travel tales rather than holed up in their room. I had high hopes for our stay at the Hosteling International property in Tunis, Tunisia. I did some research in both guide books and online and most signs pointed towards it being a great place to stay.
They were wrong. Just plain wrong.
Coming in from Marrakesh we actually had very little trouble finding the place in the Tunis Medina using the maps in the guide book. Compared to the Marrakesh Medina that of Tunis is like the grid of mid-town Manhattan. The host at the hostel was polite and welcoming and I managed to fumble through a bit of French (along with plenty of help from my wife and her much better French) and we got our room paid for. That was about where the decent part of the stay ended.
We booked a private room for the stay so we wouldn’t have to deal with a 300 pound Finn falling out of his bed at 5am. The hostess showed us to our room. It was freezing. Pretty much zero insulation in the room and it was pretty cold outside; actually the rom was even colder than the ambient air outside. OK, well at least there were a lot of blankets available for us in the room so maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. It was.
Beyond the cold we ran into troubles with the bathrooms, too. I don’t expect luxury, but something resembling clean is generally appreciated. Apparently there were issues with the hot water in the shower, too, so that was not very useful in getting us warmed up from the chilly bedroom. And it wasn’t particularly stylish either. Yeah, it was pretty nasty.
OK, so the shower sucks. That isn’t the end of the world, right? At this point we were pretty much decided that we’d be leaving the next morning but it wasn’t certain. But the toilet is more important anyways so maybe that would be better. Maybe?
WAY WORSE.
No toilet paper in the loo. Good thing we travel with our own. I can actually handle that. Lack of a toilet seat, however, is not something that I’m particularly equipped to deal with when travelling. Actually I can handle a squat toilet just fine but this wasn’t even that. Nothing to lean against nor an easy way to squat. That sealed the deal for us – we were leaving.
Out hostess was a bit surprised to see with our bags packed up the next morning. I tried to explain our departure; again my French failed me. It turns out that, “There’s no fricking toilet seat!” is not in my vocabulary.
The good news is that our next hotel, the Dar Fatma in Sidi bou Saïd, was MUCH better. More on that later. But this was what I believe is the first time I’ve ever walked out of a hotel on a pre-paid rate and been happy about the deal. I would definitely not recommend this to anyone else in the future. In the summer it probably wouldn’t be too cold but the other problems would still be there.
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Posted by Seth on January 4, 2011 under Trip Reports |
When last I wrote about Royal Air Maroc it was not a pleasant scene. They had just dumped us at a dingy hotel for the night after preventing us from connecting to our flight from Casablanca to Tunis, Tunisia. As hard as it may be to believe, things got worse before they got better.
The Atlas Airport Hotel has all the external trimmings of a fine property. The pool area and one of the restaurants actually looked quite lovely. We tried to have lunch using the voucher provided to us by the airline and it was, to say the least, a disgusting affair. We arrived late so that somewhat excuses the limited food still available but it was still a buffet with scraps burnt onto the sides of the chafing trays that we were offered. We spent several minutes trying to find a table that wasn’t still covered with someone else’s meal scraps. The waiter apologized profusely, moving us from one table to the next but they were all filthy. We finally decamped back to the other restaurant that was at least clean.
The room situation was not much better. In addition to being a bit dingy and tiny there was the issue of the towels. I hadn’t bothered to check if there were towels in the room when we dropped our bags initially because it never occurred to me that there might not be. There weren’t. A perky maid was roaming the hallways and stopped by as I went in. She noted that we had just checked in and offered to get me some towels. After bringing one towel in she asked if there were two of us staying. When I answered in the affirmative she indicated that the only way I was going to get a second towel was if I paid her for it. Yup, a shakedown by the maid. I declined her offer.
Dinner was no better than lunch, though at least we got some food before it was baked into the serving trays. They managed to overcook some pasta and remove anything resembling flavor from it though there were at least some fresh vegetables available. There was also a gruel of some sort on offer that was quite disgusting looking.
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