After the hustle and bustle of Christmas in England, I had a well earned break in Tunisia. Leaving the cold, wet winds behind I flew with Thompson from Manchester airport to Enfhifa airport.
I wasn't expecting the weather to be too good when I arrived, but I was pleasantly suprised.
My hotel, The Riviera, at Port El Kantaqui was beautiful. The foyer had beautiful marble floors and a seating area with a tiled roof that let sunlight in through coloured glass that landed on the surrounding walls.
The food in the hotel was delicious. I had booked all inclusive which was definatly the right move as I couldn't stop eating and drinking all week.
The buffet restaurant had a wide range of different foods and a pizza live station.
There was also two al a carte restaurants which opened one night each throughout the week. I didn't go into either as the food at the buffet was so delicious. There were two bars, the main bar and a cocktail bar.

WEDNESDAY 4TH JANUARY

The taxi (Airline connect) picked me up from home at 2.30 am. We picked another couple up from somewhere near Bradford then along with a girl who was already in the minibus we went straight to Manchester airport. I got off at terminal 2 and checked in straight away. Once through customs I went in search of Costa, I don't know if it is another terminal (I was sure there was one) but there isn't one in terminal 2 (there is a Nero). I went to Realfood café and bought a croissant and a coffee which was very strong. (£4.08) After a walk around duty free (I bought 200 cigarettes for Lindsay at work) I went to Broderick's and bought a latte (£2.80). It came with a heart swirled into the froth. Although it was quite strong it was nice. I was lucky as Thomas Cook had some Tunisian Dinar so I bought £200 which was 400 TD. At 6am. We boarded our flight from gate 215. I enjoyed the flight. I was sat next to a scouse girl; we had 3 seats between us so it was quite comfortable. I bought a hot chocolate and a bottle of water. I had already bought a big bag of quavers and a wispa at the airport but I wasn't hungry just tired. I had a bit of a sleep on the three hour flight as we travelled at 35,000 feet on a 737. It is 1344 miles from Manchester to Endifha.

After going through customs I was met by a Thomson rep and directed to coach A to Port el Kantaqui. My rep for this holiday is called Jay and his welcome meet is at the sister hotel next door at 10.30 tomorrow.

After checking in at the Riviera hotel I went to my room 615. My room is very nice. Twin beds, balcony, bath, hairdryer, desk, TV and a fridge. I unpacked then went down for lunch. For lunch I had Turkey with chips and tomato, then an orange and a couple of dates. The dates were delicious. The waitress who was very nice brought me a coke.

After lunch I went for a walk along the beach taking photos.

I was very tired as I hadn't had much sleep for two nights, I went to bed for a couple of hours and woke up at 17.30.

Feeling much better I went to the hotel shop and bought some postcards and stamps. I also bought a bar of violette soap and some lays crisps. It came to 15 TD which is just under £7.50. At 6.30 I went down to dinner.

The waiter brought me a coke and I helped myself to Lamb. Cauliflower, broccoli and potatoes. The food was a little overcooked but OK. For dessert I had a small egg custard, small piece of cake and 2 dates. Afterwards I went for a coffee in a little room that was full of Germans. The coffee was really strong as it was Nescafe.

After another trip to the shop I went back to my room for a nice bath and some travel writing.

THURSDAY 5th JANUARY 2012

I had a lovely night's sleep in a comfortable bed. I woke before the alarm and I had a hot bath.

I went down for breakfast where I had bacon, scrambled eggs and tomato with a bread roll and coffee.

At 10.30 I met Jay, my Thomson rep, for a welcome meet. I had already booked two excursions before I came so I just booked to go on the Camel caravan (35TD).

After the meet I went for a walk to Port El Kantaoui, which wasn't far. On the way a guy who said he was from my hotel (I believed him at first but later I thought he was just saying that) he said that he knew a great cafe in Port El Kantaoui, when we got there I went into a different one, he came with me so I ended up buying him a coke. I started to read my book hoping he would get fed up and go away but he just sat there. I shook his hand and said goodbye as we left the cafe so he had no choice but to go away. I took some photos of the marina and Main Square then set off back to the hotel.

On the way back I stopped at an Irish bar for a cafe au lait, it had a great Irish feel to the bar and it sold beer, Shepard's pie, egg and chips and Heineken but the staff were Tunisian. (There was Manchester united on the TV and dirty old town playing on a loud speaker.)

Back at the hotel I went to lunch where I had a salad and an orange. I then sat in the foyer, read my book and had a hot chocolate.

I spent an hour in my room before going back to Port El Kantaoui to see the fountain light show. Nobody bothered me going or coming back even though it was dark on the way back. The fountain light show was really nice; it went on for 30 minutes with the lights and the water moving in time to music.

I went back to the hotel and went for dinner at about 7pm. I had beef, carrots and two types of potato with egg custard and dates for dessert.

I sat in the foyer for 30 minutes having a hot chocolate and a read before going back to my room for a bath and bed.

FRIDAY 6th JANUARY 2012

I woke at 8.30 had a shower and went down to breakfast.

After breakfast I walked to Port El Kantaoui to catch the Noddy train to Sousse. I had to wait a while for the train but once it came it only took about 20 minutes and 2.50 TD to get to Sousse. When I arrived I went to the nearest cafe and had a small cafe au lait, it only cost 1 TD. I then went in search of the Catacombs taking photos of the ramparts as I went. I walked about a mile and I had to ask a couple of people for directions. Luckily in Tunisia women are easy to talk to not like in Morocco.

At the Catacombs I paid 4TD (£2.00) to go down some stairs into the dark caves. I was a bit frightened as it was pitch black the lights came on as you walked towards them. I was the only person down there and i was expecting somebody to jump out at me. I was very disappointed as the was no bodies down there just a long corridor that went around in a circle. When I came back up I went to the toilet.

Once outside I made my way back to the ramparts and I went through the souk. I was surprised that the shop owner didn't bother me as much as they do in Marrakesh. I bought a kebab and ate it sat on a wall. I then made my way back to the Noddy train and back to Port El Kantaoui. I went for a cafe au lait at the Irish bar on the walk back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel I had a rest in my room before going down to dinner. Dinner was as usual delicious, I had beef with carrots, potatoes and fried cabbage, then two small cakes and and three dates (I am addicted to these dates). After a hot chocolate in the foyer I went to my room to write, read and watch Downton abbey on DVD before bed.

SATURDAY 7th JANUARY 2012

The alarm was set for 6am. I showered and went down to breakfast at 6.30. There was nobody there, only half the lights were on but the food was all out and ready. I helped myself to a bread roll but the coffee machine was empty until a chef came and filled it.

I sat outside and waited for the coach which was supposed to come at 7.10. It came at 7.25 but I didn't have the right ticket. Khalid the guide took my receipt which had two trips on it and told me he had booked me onto the next trip which is on Tuesday.

We arrived at El Jem at 9am.This is the third largest coliseum in the world and one of the best preserved. After telling us a bit about the history we had time to walk around it alone. I took a photo of Barney. On the way back to the coach I took an interest in a pashmina on a stall, bad idea, the guy came chasing after me shouting out amounts of money, I just kept saying no, I hate haggling. By 11am we were in Kairoun. We stopped first at the reservoir where I had a photo taken of Barney with a camel. The old man with the camel was really nice I gave him 2TD and he came to talk to me when I sat down, he was laughing at Barney.

In Kairoun we had a tour of the Grand Mosque and a look into the prayer room. We were then taken to a shop where local women make carpets. The carpets can take a year to hand make and the patterns are all done from their minds, they do not have a pattern to go by. This makes each carpet unique. We were then shown many carpets for sale. I thought the carpets were really good value considering the time, effort and quality that had gone into them. But I didn't want a carpet. We were also given mint tea to drink. At 2pm we were taken to a beautiful hotel for lunch. It was built onto the walls of a fortress. I had lasagne, beef, carrots, and potatoes, with cake and dates for dessert. The waiter brought me a cafe au lait which cost me 2.50 TD. The meal was included in the tour price. After lunch we went to Monastir, which was the birth place of Habib Bourguiba, who is the founder of modern Tunisia. His monument is a beautiful building which holds his tomb along with other members of his family. It also includes artefacts of his life. I did a bit of shopping before getting back on the coach and heading for my hotel. I quickly got ready for dinner. I had the usual which of course was delicious. After dinner sitting in the foyer having my usual hot chocolate, I saw the young Geordie guy and the two ladies from Edinburgh going into the cocktail bar. Yes I thought I want some of that. I went in and ordered a "RIVIERA" vodka, blue curacuo and lemon juice. It was delicious. I then had a "HOLIDAY" vodka, orange juice and grenadine. also delicious.

I thought I better not overdo it as I wanted to watch Downton abbey and get some writing done. I said my goodbyes and went to bed.

SUNDAY 8th JANUARY 2012

My plan for today was to have a lie in then do some writing and relax for the day. I had put a sign outside my door, "do not disturb" but I was up at 8.30 and down to breakfast by 9am.

I had my favourite waitress who brought me a glass of fresh orange juice; a young chef made me a fresh fried egg so breakfast was very good.

Afterwards I went for a walk along the beach picking up sea shells.

I then went to the foyer for a cappuccino and I had a chat with Jay who was telling me about life as a rep. I then spent the rest of the morning sitting in the games room catching up with this diary on violet. After lunch which I had salad and fruit, I spent more time on the computer and I got a lot of work done including finishing my Poland diary from 2009.

I went down to dinner at 6.30 and had beef with cauliflower cheese and potatoes followed by cake and dates.

I then went to the cocktail bar and met Danny (Sunderland), Morag and Kirsten (Edinburgh) I had a few cocktails and we had a good laugh with the barman Nadir. At 10.00 we went into the other bar where I had a gin and tonic and we were talking to a Belgium man called Derek. Who was telling us he had ordered a prostitute to come to the hotel at 1am, he had given security some money to let her in. It was such a laugh; I didn't go to bed till midnight.

MONDAY 9th JANUARY 2012

I woke at 7.45 and had a shower and washed my hair.

Before breakfast I went to reception and logged onto the internet with Wi-Fi. I left some messages for the girls on Facebook then went into breakfast.

After breakfast at 9.15 a coach came to take me to a camel caravan.

It was as funny as I had to climb onto the camel and it took 3 men to push me. Once on we went along a track for about half an hour.

We came to a cafe where I bought a cafe au lait (1.50) then we had a walk around and saw some ostriches and a camel that drank coke. We also saw a guy making pots to sell; I bought a plate with a camel painted on it.

A woman made some bread and baked it in a clay pot. I had a go at putting it into the pot. When the bread was cooked we had it with some olive oil, it was delicious.

We then got back on the camels and went back. We had our photos taken as we were going around then at the end he was selling them 3TD each so I bought 3. Back at the start we had to get down from the camel whilst it was stood up, the poor guys that helped me.

Back at the hotel I washed out my trousers as the camel next to me kept slavering and I was sweating so much going round, I wasn't the only one.

I went for a walk to the shops and bought some more souvenirs and some crisps and juice. I then went back to my room to do some more work.

After dinner I went to the cocktail bar to sit with Morag, Kirsten and Danny. We had a good laugh whilst drinking our cocktails. We then moved to the main bar where the animation team put on show. It was ok but a bit daft and there wasn't anybody to watch it but us and a family of Tunisians. I went to bed at 11pm.

TUESDAY 10th JANUARY

The alarm woke me at 6.30; I had a shower and went down for breakfast. Again there was nobody about so I had a bread roll and a coffee before going to wait for the coach at the front door.

The guy on the coach knew I didn't have a ticket so that was ok. Our first stop was at a Shell garage where I had a coffee and a croissant, which was very nice. We arrived at the Bardo museum at 11am. The museum was in the president's palace grounds. The mosaics in the museum were really beautiful and the museum itself was very new and modern. The guide took around and explained everything and I really enjoyed it. The shop didn't have any English books on the museum left which disappointed me. We got back on the coach and went to Tophet, which was a Phoenician sacrifice site. The guide told us that this was not true as when they dug up some of the stones there were no bones underneath. From here we went to Antoine roman baths. These were not very well preserved as stones and columns were taken from this site to build mosques and walls in other cities in Tunisia. After a good walk around and lots of photos we went to lunch. It was a nice hotel next to the Roman aqueduct. I sat next to a Scottish lady from York. For lunch we had vegetable soup followed by chicken with vegetables and rice, then a delicious cake. I bought a strawberry juice and a bottle of water (5 dinar).

After lunch we went to Sidi Bou Said, which is a town on the outskirts of Tunis with all the houses painted white with blue shutters. There was a market and a nice walk up to a view point of the harbour. I spent my time with the Scottish lady and I bought her a mint tea in the cafe. Before I got on the coach I haggled with a stall holder for a print of the town. He wanted 20 dinars but I got it for 5. We got back on the coach and went to our hotels.

I had a shower then went down for dinner. It was my last dinner and as usual it was delicious. I went into the cocktail lounge to wait for the others; there was only me in there and the waiter. It was a quiet night the waiters seemed a bit down even the funny one with the weird accent. We went to the main bar for a while before going to the disco at 11pm. Ursula (a new woman who had just arrived) said that the weird waiter was upset because he asked her out and she said no, she later said she would meet him at 12.10. I don't think I believed her as he never cheered up. I had a crepe from the snack bar at 12.30, and then we all went to bed at 1pm when the disco finished.

WEDNESDAY 11th JANUARY

My last day. I got up at 8am, had a shower and went to breakfast. I then changed £20 into dinar and went back to my room and caught up with my writing on violet.

After lunch I finished my packing before going for a walk along the beach where I met Danny. He walked with me to Port El Kantoui as he hadn't been there yet. We had a little look around before going to the Irish bar for one last shot, this time tequila.

I got back to the hotel in time to get my suitcase and wait for the coach to take me to the airport.

I had a fantastic holiday, I met some nice people and the hotel and staff were terrific.