Friday, 07 January, 2011 --- Day 07

Stats
Start at GABES End at MEDENIN
Day dist: 97.73 kms
Riding time: 3:41
Avg speed: 19.9
Max speed: 38.6
Beg day odo: 484.4 kms
End day odo: 582.2 kms

I got up rather late and went out victualizing.
The hotel


There were no supermarkets around so I had to go to the souq.


I found the stuff I was looking for and when I went to buy bread at the bakery there was no bread left and a line of people waiting for the next batch. Bread is very cheap (10 cents a loaf) but seems to be difficult to get hold of in Tunisia. When I later went back the people had “attacked” the freshly arrived batch. Fortunately there was something left for me too.

I went back, packed up, and hit the road. First I wanted to see the port. Soon, I found out that there are two ports, the fishing and the port of commerce. It was the latter one I was interested in, mainly due to the poems I’ve read that make reference to it as “the dark port of Gabes.” I followed directions, but it did not seem quite right. So I stopped and asked again. The French of the Tunisians outside Tunis is pretty bad and have a hard time communicating. I ended up asking a couple of bikers that were biking on the other side of the road. They were Spaniards and had completed exactly what I was in the process of doing myself. They were in their fifties and the impressive thing was that the man had only one leg. It burned me to ask how he managed to do all that but I refrained. They were good fellows, very pleasant, helpful, had a good sense of orientation, and told me that my best bet was to head in the opposite direction. I did that and entered the city again. It was now clear to me what I did wrong yesterday. It was the usual thing. Rather than turning left at the critical junction, I turned right and ended up in the rundown neighborhood and hotel rather than in the upscale part of town that I was now crossing.

One thing I’ve noticed in every town so far, which is also true in Gabes, is that for some reason there is always a major boulevard in the town whose name is “Boulevard of the environment.”


Downtown Gabes


I asked again and following directions, I ended up at the fishing port. As it turned out my original instructions were correct. Well that’s life. Still I got to see the town of Gabes.


At the fishing port I asked a cabbie and he explained to me how to go to the commercial port, “it is far” he said. Indeed it was approximately 6 kms and after getting lost and impeded


I found it thanks to two guys that when asked changed course and actually drove ahead of me in order to show me the exact location. After checking my passport the guards let me in. It was more like an industrial area and did not see the ships.



The romance of the poems I’ve read was lacking.

At that point I decided to hit the road towards Medenin. It was already 14:00 and I had 18 kms under my belt.
According to the signs, Medenin was 75 kms away. Piece of cake!!!!!

So I biked on in the usual dogged fashion. Once more the wind made things difficult and impeded my ride.


A stroke of luck, however, brought a 40km/h speeding truck right ahead of me and into the opposing wind. I DRAFTED for the next 7 kms. Drafting is such a pleasure. Drafting behind a truck gives you such a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. I was hardly pedaling but was doing 40 kms (multiply times 0.6 to get miles) into a head wind. This can only happen in fairy tales and in biker dreams. It only lasted for 7 kms but tempted me to buy a truck and hire a driver to just draft for the rest of the trip. As a note to the above I quote that drafting behind a pack of cyclists pales in comparison to drafting behind a truck which is the absolute form of drafting. It is like biking behind a moving solid wall. You wouldn’t mind even a “hurricane” headed against you.

The never ending road


I’ve noticed that kids’ behavior in Tunisia is very poor and have no respect as they have in other countries, notably Turkey. I had several verbal fights on the way w/ kids that wanted to grab the bike, were shouting, etc.

One more thing that is now clear is why there are so few gas stations along the way. It appears that most cars refuel at gas outlets like the one in the picture below, of which there are plenty.


The never ending road


By 18:00 it was night, almost pitch dark. I rode on and once more a few kms before entering Medenin there were series of restaurants like the one below, where the waiters were bbqing in front of the restaurant and sheep or sheep skins were hanging.


I entered the town at a reasonable hour and found a good hotel to stay, “Hotel El Kssour.”
I settled into my room. As I was getting ready to take a shower the phone rung and a man from the reception started asking me questions regarding what my next destination. When I told him that I was planning to go to Ben Guerdene, he asked me why. “What do you mean?” I said. He repeated the question and to get rid of him I just told him “to visit.” That ended the conversation. After that I went out to have something to eat, and returned to the hotel that had wifi available, of which I took full advantage. Just in case you ever find yourself in that hotel the wifi code is 1819wifi1819. As I was wifying, a man, that first went to the reception, came up to me, introduced himself as a policeman from the criminal department, and started asking questions regarding to where I had been and to what I intended to do next. As you may realize I was utterly surprised but decided to cooperate. I answered his questions and when I did that he left. There was not much to say, anyhow. I told him I was traveling by bike which he seemed to have known and that I am on the highway for most of the day. Among other things he asked me if I had been to Mahares. I told him no, even though the name did ring a bell. Later I checked my notes and Mahares was one of the towns I had biked through. I continued to wify and went to bed rather late.