Tunesia: We had an all-day tour, starting at the Bardo Museum to view its many historic Carthage and Roman mosaics. Many of the mosaics were removed from the floors of archeological sites and mounted on the museum walls.We learned about the mythological and life symbolism depicted in the mosaics.
From the museum, we had a short bus ride to the souks (market) area. Before giving us time to tour the area, we were warned to refrain from getting confused and lost in the wandering side paths from the main walkways. Heeding this warning, we limited our wandering to a rug store and 'window' shopping close to our meeting point.
Leaving the souks, we were driven to a restaurant in La Goulette for lunch. Actually, lunch spots were somewhat limited as our visit was during the final week of Ramadan - where most residents and shop owners either close their shops or limit service to tourists.
After lunch, we reboarded our bus and were taken to the remaining structures of Carthage. It was challenging to understand the height and expanse of this area and only small pieces remain to be seen. Our final stop was a Roman Zaghuon Aqueduct, an 83 mile canal and storage structures running from the mountains to the city of Carthage.
Algiers: We had an afternoon walking tour in Algiers. Frankly, tourism in the city (vs Sahara Desert) is still immature. It is very difficult (almost impossible) to arrange private guides and the independent tourist visas are very expensive for only a day.
We had two stops on our tour, first the Botanical Garden Hamma, with its French and English sections. There weren't any meandering beautiful garden paths but large walkways along mature trees and bushes. Vehicle traffic through the central city was very heavy and our second stop was the Basilique de Nortre Dame le d'Afrique. Luckily, this was a Viking excursion as our bus returned to the ship past the 'all aboard' time.
Casablanca, Morocco: We left the ship at 8:20 with a private driver and guide for a day tour of Casablanca. We met our guide at the UN Plaza, a short shuttle bus ride from the port. Our tour ran until 3:30pm, with stops and/or views at:
- Great Hassan II Mosque - This structure and grounds were amazing and beautiful. It is one of the largest mosques in the world. A maximum of 105,000 worshippers can gather at the mosque, with 25,000 in the mosque and 80,000 on the mosque's 22 acre grounds. 6,000 Moroccan artisans worked on the structure for five years The mosque was formally inaugurated in 1993.
- Corniche Seaside
- Working Class Housing, Bathhouse and Market - The high-rise residences were decorated with tall murals of cultural images.
- Wealthy Residential Area
- Moroccan Restaurant for Lunch
- French-built Central City Area
- Medina Market
- Squala Fortifications
- Habous Market
