Sailing trip to North Africa

November – December 2020 | Tunesia, France

Bizerte, Tunesia

By the beginning of November, I changed my location and moved to the Southern coast of Sicily. There I entered a sailing boat with an old sailor. My main goal was to reach Greece by boat, but I couldn’t find one. So my journey will eventually bring me to Tunisia. I actually had two weeks of holidays since I had a lot of leftovers until the end of this year. So I decided the best place if the world is falling apart is to be on a sailing boat. We’re in quarantine anyway. We were preparing not to survive COVID for the next months, but to cross the Mediterranean Sea by boat which is a week trip. But the preparation looked a bit similar. There’s so much to buy.

After preparation in the port of Syrakus, the day came. We left for Nord Africa by sailing boat. 3 days, 2 nights straight at sea. A new experience for me. We arrived in the North of Tunisia late in the evening and had a rest at the port. The next day we had to do customs and PCR checks to enter the country. By the time the border was closed to tourists. We still managed to enter. Another new experience. In a new country without a lot of tourists.

Tunis, Tunesia

After spending a couple of nights in the Marina of Bizerte, it was time to leave the boat and explore more of the part that isn’t water. Me and another crew member took a bus and we moved to Tunis, the capital. There we had a couple of good days enjoying and exploring the city. For me, it was the last day of the holiday.

Sidi Bou Saïd, Tunesia

For my upcoming work week, I moved into another apartment. I found a nice place in a touristy part of Tunis, Sidi Bou Saïd. It’s quite famous for its white houses with blue paintings. Like a bit of a Greek island.

One thing I’m really proud of is the size of the luggage I was able to bring with me this time. Since I try to travel as minimalistic as possible I was very happy to just have a 40-liter backpack with me which was very convenient to go around.

Monastir, Tunesia

On my way to Tunesia, I got in contact with a girl via Couchsurfing. She helped me a lot with recommendations and translations during my travels here in Tunisia. So I thought I’d travel even a bit more South and explore a new place. Looking back it was a great decision because I felt really at home and loved the place very much. I’m talking about Monastir, not a very famous student city, but a very nice building. I heard it was the favorite place of the former dictator.

Sousse, Tunesia

One week I decided to go over to a closeby city called Sousse where I explored and worked a bit. I found a pretty crazy Airbnb which I wanted to check out. In the bedroom, there was even a jacuzzi.

Grenoble, France

This was already the end of my Tunesia adventure. It’s almost Xmas and I decided to go back home for Christmas to visit the family. My flight from Tunisia took me to Lyon and then I decided to do a small detour to Grenoble on the way back to Switzerland by train. I really enjoyed that city. Built into the French Alps with beautiful scenery.