Part 1 - Tunisia Holiday

We arrived at the airport in good time, or so we thought, only to find a queue that seemed to go on forever to the Tunisair counter. Eventually, we booked our things through and went to wait in the departure lounge.

We found the flight as comfortable as it could be. The airlines provided us with a meal and drinks but we did find the hostesses to be very surly and generally unhelpful. The flight took almost three hours and when we arrived at 10.20pm in Monastir, it was 29 degrees. The Neckerman ladies were waiting for all the newcomers and we were told to go to bus no. 136. There must have been 50 buses waiting to take people to their various destinations. We were amazed at how many flights were coming and going!!

We arrived at our hotel “Sahara Beach” at about 11.00pm. We had to fill out forms etc. and were then ushered into a little room where we were all photographed. We were each given identity cards which were in fact, our “all inclusive” tickets. We asked about supper and were told that we could possibly find supper in the Pizzeria which was still open. The boys couldn’t believe their luck on hearing the Pizza word. Unfortunately, for them, they were not making pizzas but had some delicious Roast Beef, potatoes and green beans left over from the actual dining room.
After supper we took a look around and found out how our I.D. cards allowed us to order drinks etc. We could go to any bar area, hand in our cards and order whatever we liked. Obviously there was limited hard tack, but beers and cold drinks were readily available.

There were three blocks to our hotel. The one we stayed in was apparently more for German speaking people. Another block was mainly for the British tourists and then the third was a mixture of Italian, Spanish etc. The hotel had a total of 1 046 rooms.
The two blocks were linked with passage ways which were lined with shops, coffee shops, bars etc. The hotel was like a village all on its own and there were people coming and going all the time.
The hotel had an indoor pool, as well as 3 outdoor ones. There was a hairdressing salon, massage parlour and discotheque. There was an entertainment/games room with all the tv games and pool tables available at a price of course. There was also a little animal park or zoo on the premises but there was an entrance fee for this however. The sports centre had tennis courts, soccer fields, archery, basketball courts and minigolf. One could book a game in advance and we were entitled to an hour every day (for free) of whichever game we wanted to play.

They also had an Animation team who supplied all the entertainment. Around the main pool, people were entertained by this young energetic team. There was always some music playing, either water aerobics, waterpolo or some sort of fun happening at the pool. There were also a few table tennis tables out next to the pool. The animation team would also form groups of people and would head off down to the beach. Here they played Boccia, beach soccer and volleyball.
The animation team also put a presentation on every evening. They would involve the kids in the earlier part of the evening and the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves. There was a stage area and seating for close to 1000 people. We watched part of the Michael Jackson show that they put on, on the Saturday evening. It was very well done.

Scattered around the pool area and on the beach were Café/Restaurant/Bars which we could go and help ourselves to whatever was available. The beach one was great because they had a sprinkler system in the beams of the roof which sprayed off a fine mist of water as you sat and ate your meal. What a clever way of cooling you off!!!