Borden
New member
I've just (3 days ago) returned from a week spent working on our boat in Yasmine Hammamet marina.
The BA flight to Tunis carried about 40 people. Apart from me the remainder appeared to be of N African origin, so acres of emply seats and no queue for the loo!
Tunis airport was very busy but no obvious holiday makers in sight.
All quiet in Tunis according to the taxi driver and the motorway to Hammamet was as normal with locals crossing to get to the other side, shepherds keping an eye on their flock grazing the verges (no fences!!). The only thing that had changed was that the Police were absent from their usual checkpoint next to the Peage paystation. On asking why I was told that the Police disappeared as soon as the troubles kicked off. Apparently they made a lucrative sideline over many years by extracting payments from taxi drivers and the like so realised that as soon as their protected status was in danger of disappearing it might be wise to disappear too. Policing duties now appear to have been taken over by the National Guard (fawn uniforms).
Yasmine marina exhibited a little more security than normal in the form of a lone army guard on the single entrance road, plus the bridges and gates that provide alternative acess routes were closed and guarded but the guarding was all pretty low key.
The reason for this is that there is a very large house in the marina that was convered about a year ago for use by the President (now departed to Saudi). He did not use it but it could be regarded as a target as were other properties used by his family.
As all signs of civil unrest have now disappeared the house is no longer in danger.
The marina was as normal. Very few boats- perhaps 5 I was told - moved away and there were very few empty berths visible.
Banks, shops etc all open as usual and well stocked.
The hotels and associated businesses are suffering badly from the lack of tourists. During the week I was there I counted no more than 10 people I would have tagged as holiday makers but it was chilly and windy last week.
The Lybian border is close to 300 miles south so Yasmine is well out of AK47 range.
The word needs to be spread that Tunisia is open for business again. With diesel at 46p per litre and mooring fees around half of most anywhere else in the Med Yasmine Hammamet a great place to visit.
http://www.portyasmine.com.tn/English/port/index.asp
Borden
The BA flight to Tunis carried about 40 people. Apart from me the remainder appeared to be of N African origin, so acres of emply seats and no queue for the loo!
Tunis airport was very busy but no obvious holiday makers in sight.
All quiet in Tunis according to the taxi driver and the motorway to Hammamet was as normal with locals crossing to get to the other side, shepherds keping an eye on their flock grazing the verges (no fences!!). The only thing that had changed was that the Police were absent from their usual checkpoint next to the Peage paystation. On asking why I was told that the Police disappeared as soon as the troubles kicked off. Apparently they made a lucrative sideline over many years by extracting payments from taxi drivers and the like so realised that as soon as their protected status was in danger of disappearing it might be wise to disappear too. Policing duties now appear to have been taken over by the National Guard (fawn uniforms).
Yasmine marina exhibited a little more security than normal in the form of a lone army guard on the single entrance road, plus the bridges and gates that provide alternative acess routes were closed and guarded but the guarding was all pretty low key.
The reason for this is that there is a very large house in the marina that was convered about a year ago for use by the President (now departed to Saudi). He did not use it but it could be regarded as a target as were other properties used by his family.
As all signs of civil unrest have now disappeared the house is no longer in danger.
The marina was as normal. Very few boats- perhaps 5 I was told - moved away and there were very few empty berths visible.
Banks, shops etc all open as usual and well stocked.
The hotels and associated businesses are suffering badly from the lack of tourists. During the week I was there I counted no more than 10 people I would have tagged as holiday makers but it was chilly and windy last week.
The Lybian border is close to 300 miles south so Yasmine is well out of AK47 range.
The word needs to be spread that Tunisia is open for business again. With diesel at 46p per litre and mooring fees around half of most anywhere else in the Med Yasmine Hammamet a great place to visit.
http://www.portyasmine.com.tn/English/port/index.asp
Borden
