My mom and dad came and visited me for several weeks in December. Most of the places that I have pictures of in this section I visited before during the OSU Study Abroad Program and can be found on other pages. Here are a few photos that I thought merited posting in light of the other images already on the site.

Tunisia

Sidi Bou Said – The first stop in Tunisia for most people is Sidi Bou Said. My parents are no exception.

Cap Bon – We drove up, down, and around Cap Bon.  Along the way we stopped to check out an interesting Punic city and an old sandstone quarrying operation left over from Punic and Roman times.

Northern Tip of Africa – On our drive around the country, we decided to stop in and see the northern most point in Africa.

To Tabarka – On the road to Tabarka. We went straight across the north of Tunisia in an afternoon!

Tabarka – We spent the night in Tabarka with Kellen and Melibe’s family.  The next morning we went up to the fort and around town a bit.

Ain Draham – Up to Ain Draham. We visited the carpet coop and ate lunch at the bombing boar hotel. We also stopped the car a couple of times in the cork forest.

Le Kef – Just one photo from the roof of the hotel that we stayed at. It was a very nice hotel outside of town a few kilometers.

Dougga – We explore Dougga more widely than I had in a previous trip.  Christian sarcophagi are discovered and a stampede of sheep is avoided.

Linemen – We were driving along and spied linemen working on the power lines.

Kellen and Melibe – In Kairouan Kellen, Melibe, and I ran into each other once more.

Kairouan – Delving into the souk, we acquired several nice carpets.

Gafsa – We were forced to spend the night in Gafsa. It is not a town that I would recommend for most tourists.

The Mountain Oases – Mides, Chebika, and Tamerza show us their splendors.  In Mides we come within spitting distance of Algeria and see a boatload of Japanese tourists.  The other oases are equally impressive.

Chott Jerid – This time my trek across the vast expanse of the chott happened in the daylight. A few inches of water still filled the massive basin from horizon to horizon.

The Sahara – Camels and sand abound in the neighborhood of Douz. We even saw a mom with two babies.

The Ksour – A wide swath of southern Tunisia spanning from Tataouine down to the meeting point of Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya is filled with Ksour.  A Ksar is a grain storage complex built in antiquity common to North Africa.  Examples span from Egypt to Morocco.  We visited many different Ksour during our stay in Tataouine.

• The Northern Ksour – We drove through the towns of Tamezret, Haddej, Toujane, and the surrounding area.  This is rough and beautiful country.
• Ksar Ouled Soltane – This Ksar was made famous by StarWars Episode I where it served as the slave quarters of Anakin Skywalker and his mother.
• Ezzahra – This Ksar is still partially in use and is a little further out of the way than most.
• Around Chenini – We drove around the area of Chenini to check out the Ksour neighborhood.
• Douriet – An amazing Ksar that blows all the others out of the water.  This place might very well have inspired the Tower of Babel paintings of yore.
• Around Tataouine – A couple shots from the general Tataouine area.
• Western Ksour – We visit a Ksar used in StarWars scenes and tour the Western Ksour region.

Around Gabes – All that fabulous Gabes has to offer!  The GCT industrial zone, Libyan gasoline sellers, and so much more!

Along the Coast – We drove between Sfax and Sousse on the road along the coast. We stopped off in Mahdia near sunset.

Thuburbo Majus – This Roman ruin was a new one for me.  It was really interesting!

Tunis Aqueduct – My parents see the Tunis Aqueduct for the first time.

The Maltese Connection

We had a few extra days with nothing to do in Tunisia. We decided to hop over to Malta and enjoy ourselves. It’s only 295 kilometers across the sea which makes for just under an hour plane flight.

Among the many attractions of Malta are a series of temple complexes dating back to between 3800 and 2500 BC. They are the oldest freestanding structures in the world. Back when these structures were made, Malta was connected with Sicily by a land bridge. After the sea level rose, Malta became an island. From about 800 to 218 BC, Malta was colonized by the Phoenicians. After Rome defeated Hannibal in 208 BC~, Malta joined the Roman empire. In AD 60 St Paul was shipwrecked on Malta where, according to the locals, he converted the islander to Christianity over the course of several months. Arabs arrived in 870 bringing with them citrus fruit and cotton. The Arabs were kicked out by the Normans who were kicked out by the Angevins, then the Aragonees and finally the Castilians. Finally, in 1530, the islands were given to the Knights of the Order of St John who had just recently lost the island of Rhodes which had been their previous main base for harassing Arab lands on the pilgrimage route to Jerusalem. In other words, the Knights of St John were crusaders.

In 1565 the Ottomans tried to retake the island but were just barely beaten. Had the Turks won the day, they would have used Malta as a jumping off point to attack Italy and Southern Europe. With the weakened state of Europe at that point, there’s a good chance that Europe would be speaking Turkish right now.

After the great siege of 1565, the Order slowly declined until they had to give up control of the island to Napoleon when he stopped over to take on some supplies and decided to let several thousand of his soldiers take an “extended vacation”. So yet another foreign power ruled Malta. This time though it was only between 1798 and 1800 when the British came and expelled the French. The British, never to let a good island go to waste, went about converting the islands into a major naval base to defend the central Mediterranean against the French.

Due to Malta’s proximity to Sicily, it was a victim of heavy bombing during WWII. It had the longest continuous bombing campaign of any European city during the war, even longer than London.

After the war, in 1947, Malta was granted a good deal of autonomy and self determination. This led to independence in 1964. To further piss the British off, Malta sighed treaties with Libya, the USSR, and North Korea. Since then, the biggest news came in the spring of 2004 when Malta officially joined the EU. You better go to Malta while the currency is stil the Maltese Lira. In another couple of years it’ll be another Euro currency country!

The Island of Malta

Valletta – The de facto capital of Malta proved an interesting exploration point as our first stop in Malta.

The Hotel – We stayed at the Corinthian San Gorg.  It was a pretty impressive place to spend a few days.

Maltese Buses – The buses in Malta all date back to the middle part of the 20th century. It seems that the drivers just can’t break the darn things so they keep using them!

South Route – We rode around on one of the bus lines one day and took some pictures along the way.

Hagar Qim and Mnajdra Temples – The temples of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra on the south coast of the island of Malta were built between 3600 and 3000 BC.

Blue Grotto – This is a natural grotto made in the cliff face by the sea. The water is very blue there, hence the name! We had lunch at the overlook.

Marsaxlokk – This is a very pretty fishing village that also boasts one of the two power plants for the island of Malta.

Mdina – Yet another fortified city on the island of Malta. We wandered around its streets for a while.

Driving Around – Here are a few pictures I took while we were driving around the countryside.

Dingly Cliffs – The highest point in all of Malta provides a great view of their radar installation.

Three Harbors Tour – We boarded a big boat and braved the rough seas to see all three of the historic harbors.

The Island of Gozo

The Ferry – We rode the ferry over to Gozo. The helicopter option seemed a bit extravagant.

Ggantija Temples – The Ggantija Temples date back to 3600 BC. Little is known about the original builders but evidence of sacrificial offerings has been found at the site.

Xlendia – A pretty little town at the bottom of a canyon where the creek meets the sea.

Folk Museum and Around – We paused briefly in a folk museum to see the sites. I also took a few pictures outside.

Azure Window – The Azure Window seems to make it into every single book about Malta. It might not be all that long for the world though.

Ta’pina Basilica – This basilica was built sometime in the last 100 or so years. It was placed on the site of a former chapel where, the story goes, a woman saw and talked with the Virgin Mary.

Rabat and Victoria – The town of Rabat, otherwise known as Victoria is the largest town on Gozo.