alrighty hello guys this is doug and i
am here right now in tunis tunisia the
capital city of tunisia here in north
africa i have actually been here a week
already but this is going to be my first
video first impressions because i
haven't done too much exploring yet
today i'm going to set out and basically
just follow my nose and discover what
this place is like with you guys this is
really going to be a return to my og
videos i don't know a single person here
in tunisia i'm completely alone and i'm
just going to walk and see who i meet
see what i see what we can eat and we'll
see so i'm here right now in the city
center it's uh this really wide street
kind of reminds me of that famous street
in paris i think it's champlain i don't
know how to say it i don't speak french
but i think it was probably modeled
after that because france was a colonial
power here for years and as a result
everyone speaks french here uh they
actually speak like a weird mix of
arabic with a lot of french influence in
it so all of my arabic that i've learned
like over in saudi arabia and egypt and
iraq and other places is basically
thrown out the window here there's all
different words for things here which
we'll talk about more we're going to
head to the medina which apparently is
very very beautiful classic like north
african medina market bazaar soup
whatever you want to call it they've got
these trees that are all if you can't
tell from here but if you look at it
from far away they're all shaped up like
squares and a lot of people here just
walking along
there are restaurants and cafes
all along the streets on either side
here
and yeah it basically feels like the
center of the city but if i follow my
nose this way we should reach the medina
okay so i'm just walking along and you
can see right behind me there's this
massive catholic cathedral you may think
it's kind of weird
in a country that is literally 99
muslim but the reason for it is because
like i said the french were here as a
colonial power for a long time so they
obviously built this catholic cathedral
and uh actually right across the street
from it is the french embassy it's a
really really beautiful building it's
right in the center of town here very
old i want to show you guys but there
are a ton of soldiers in front of it
with like armored trucks with massive
guns and stuff and i
am not totally sure how it works with
police here and filming and all that
sort of stuff so i always like to be
cautious when i first get to a new place
but i haven't had any issues so far so
i'm gonna try to show you guys from afar
okay there it is and you can see the
truck right here and there are several
others it's kind of funny right here
there's this massive sign like the
amsterdam sign it says i heart toonies
but you know normally everyone would
take photos in front of it and pose with
it but it's literally impossible because
there is this fence right here and a
massive military truck right there okay
so here's the french embassy looks like
cameras aren't too big of a problem here
it's definitely not like egypt where the
second you pull a camera out of your
pocket you're gonna get yelled at and
forced to delete stuff so that's very
good and honestly that's kind of been my
impression so far tunisia it's very laid
back very chill tunis is not a huge city
it's definitely the biggest one in the
country but it's definitely not like a
mega city like cairo more laid back more
relaxed and it seems like the police are
too which i very much like all right so
we're continuing along you can see the
these uh trees like i said they stretch
all the way down this is kind of the
center
of the city and it leads right to the
medina so we're almost there and if you
don't know too much about tunisia you
might know one thing which is that the
arab spring around 2011 you know all
these revolutions that swept across the
arab world from here in north africa all
the way over to syria and even bahrain
kind of that all started here in tunisia
and if you look up photos of it you'll
see the mass protests that kicked off
that entire movement across this whole
part of the world that was all along
this main road all right here we go
we're coming up on the end of this long
road here
we're gonna see the big old
gate
there it is i was reading this gate
apparently kind of separates the old
city
from the new city so i'm gonna go check
it out
almost getting run over okay so you can
see it there behind me this gate is
called baba el bar in arabic or
in french it's port de france for a
gateway to france that's what the french
name did it was built in 1860 apparently
on the site of where an older gate used
to be now it's kind of the only
remaining part of the structure and it
basically just connects
the medina which you can see behind me
and kind of beginning all around me
to the european city or the
modern newer part of tunis where we just
came from we're going to walk this way
and head into the medina it's beautiful
and i think we could probably spend a
lot of time exploring in here
let's go check it out
[Music]
all right so you guys can probably see
in here there's kind of a mix of like
tchotchke touristy kind of fake stuff
from china but then also some cool stuff
that is genuine and and handmade and
kind of the more antique stuff i think
is the real stuff worth checking out and
there are a fair amount of tourists here
because this is one of the best places
to visit in tunis
[Music]
okay so this place is literally massive
you could easily spend hours and hours
walking around in here and i was
actually here when i first came it was
eid the end of ramadan and everything
was shut down and i walked through here
and it was very very cool because right
now it's packed everyone's open selling
things but when it was aided there was
nothing open all the stores were shut
and it was kind of like i was the only
one here so it's kind of cool to see it
when it was totally empty because you're
just alone in the
really old medina i'll put up a couple
photos of that on the screen right now
so you guys can see what that was like
but yeah on a typical day this will be
totally packed got the jewelry section
here and yeah different sections with
different stuff when you first enter
it's more of the touristy stuff and then
you come in you find the jewelry section
with all the gold and there's more
traditional parts and all different
sections it's kind of like the grand
bazaar in istanbul actually there are
also a bunch of restaurants and cafes
and things you can get snacks food tea
probably get some food at the end of
this video show you guys what
traditional tunisian food looks like
all right look at this art store guys
i love this happy old lady
these are all oil paintings
and my friend muhammad there works here
a bibi
and this is called the
pearl du medina
art
store and uh it's pretty amazing
i'm not even like getting paid for this
or anything i just think the store is
amazing and he's a nice guy so i wanted
to show you guys this shop here in the
medina and i mean these are hand-painted
oil paintings which are just beautiful
there's some from city busade there's
like this beautiful town on the water
that i'm gonna hopefully go to tomorrow
look at that
if i had a home
if i had an apartment i would totally
hang some of this up in there so cool
the pearl of the medina here it is
right here i don't know how to tell you
guys where it is but you'll see it if
you walk by because all of the art is
spilling out onto the streets and it's
it's awesome okay mohammed thank you man
i want to show you my second story too
okay let's go yeah okay we're in a
second shop now with muhammad and his
uncle jamal okay
like
[Laughter]
so you make all of these by hand all the
designs
from uh from old clothes from old
clothes and from different place from
tunisia and you make it all right here
is this your station
is this part of it yes
that's my
place
yes
this is patchwork
the rest from the clues i cut it and i
do it differently amazing and when it's
finished he finished like that
no two pieces are the same
no way sam
so this is not the made in china stuff
from the front of the medina sure
hundred percent
you know the woman she wants all the
time unique pieces she don't need the
same
another one yeah that's what what we do
at something better you know yeah yeah
definitely every place from tunisia has
his color you know yeah naboo will have
some color hammer meteo
for example this one for example that's
from naboo that's from jabba that's from
source
amazing amazing and this one
the clues from the the the vest you know
what you thought oh yeah from hamamit
you know so you just take pieces little
bits and pieces from everything and
combine them exactly oh so cool yeah
look at this workstation you got all of
the
materials
all the material and the small things
and you see
very small you know after we do it like
that and you have the tyros if you want
to see oh yeah okay okay
oh the hidden terrace wow
what's the name
mickey mickey design here mickey design
i'll put the link to their instagram in
the description below guys if you want
to yeah come check out the work when
you're visiting tunis and we can send
the pieces too oh yeah of course
oh my gosh
so cool
thanks man
wow
look at that
that's the big mosque
what's the name of it it's uh
yeah it's beautiful you can come by this
way
and you see that oh my gosh
the very top
wow
look at this 360 view of the medina
wow
see the the covered uh kind of streets
through the medina the
hallways
so cool
and all around us
how long has your uncle had this shop
here
well i am the fourth generation here
really yeah wow
in this spot
of course oh my goodness thank you man
that's amazing
aishik that's a
tunisian way to say thank you yes yeah i
told you guys there's a different way to
say everything here to say how are you
instead of
zayak in egypt or kefalek and saudi you
guys say la best right
like
are you good
yeah and then you can say that
man this store is huge
we've got just floors and floors filled
with all different bags
that is amazing view alibaba alibaba wow
thank you so much man that was amazing
now every time i see something like that
just the beautiful art or the way mr
gemmell does those bags it always makes
me wish that somehow i could acquire
those skills to do something to create
something as beautiful as that it would
be amazing if there was a way to just i
don't know click a link and be brought
to a place that would inspire you and
teach you new ways to be creative and
improve your skills alrighty guys yes
it's true this video is sponsored by
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thanks again to skillshare for
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continue
[Applause]
[Music]
all right so check this out guys i just
kind of came up here i just came out of
the medina
and stumbled across this giant plaza
it's barred off right now unfortunately
but look at this monument in the middle
it's apparently called the
plaza of the caspar so kazba is like a
fort and apparently this is the spot
that a fort once stood
back in uh ancient times but the
building behind it is the tunis city
hall
really big plaza
there's some people in there i don't
know how they get in there maybe over
there let me go check it out okay here
we go
side entrance is open for some reason
but not that side it's just a big
massive plaza
there's the city hall and i wish i could
read what this monument says on it but
it's all in arabic and i don't know how
to read arabic yet a lot of tunisian
flags
it's a cool spot i am very hungry i
haven't really eaten much today so i'm
gonna go try to find a nice little spot
and get some
some yummy tunisian food here we go
alrighty guys i've made it to a spot in
every restaurant that i've been to in
tunisia you get a massive basket of
baguettes another holdover from
the french colony days and i've also
ordered couscous
and grilled fish so the couscous is here
look at this it's absolutely enormous a
huge plate of couscous which is you know
like a grain kind of like fine pasta or
rice almost and then a ton of vegetables
chickpeas and like a tomatoey sauce it
looks so good very hot
here is the fish
looks very tasty i'm gonna do a little
lemon
[Music]
this is so popular here in tunisia
especially up here in the north of
tunisia we're right on the mediterranean
sea you know okay let's try to get in
there
[Music]
very good and a classic grilled fish
goes great with the couscous just have
to pick out the bones and be careful but
yeah
great food okay my camera died so i had
to run back to the hotel to charge it
real quick i don't think i've mentioned
yet tunisia is quite affordable so that
entire meal the entire fish and that
huge plate of couscous it was so big i
couldn't even finish it to be honest was
10 tunisian dinar which is literally
less than three dollars and 25 cents u.s
unbelievable so it's very very
affordable here the only thing that is
not super affordable so far in my
experience is hotels there's a couple
like budget or mid-range options but
there's just not a lot of options so
it's been fairly limited in that regard
but most things especially out on the
street buying food and things like that
very very affordable already and i think
it is about time to end this video i
hope you guys enjoyed it just a little
bit of my first impressions here in
tunis tunisia the capital city i've got
a lot more coming from tunisia so it's
going to be a lot of fun stay tuned if
you want to keep up with my travels in
the meantime you can follow along on
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networks and if you don't want to miss
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subscribing thank you so much for
watching and i will see you in the next
one
[Music]
you