Nowadays
“Tunisia holds the title of the most liberal Arab country. The people are friendly and hospitable towards strangers, so long as they experience goodwill in return. Still, ladies can expect to be offered hundreds of camels for them in the bazaar, and men will confess their love to them after five minutes of acquaintance. Hell, it’s a bazaar! Bargaining is expected. In the hand-woven carpet shops, visitors are seated first. Then they are served sweet mint tea, while they are shown more and more beautiful carpets, for which the prices really are quite steep. Then you have to bargain. This is also part of the show. The younger Arab girls already wear heavy make-up, short skirts, and revealing tops on the streets, which is not a common sight in other Arab countries. Here, only the elders observe the strict dress codes of Islam. If someone is invited into an Arab house, often the head of the family himself offers alcohol, which is forbidden by the Muslim religion.”
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“In Tunisia - even though ninety-eight percent of the population is Muslim - they wear their Islam quite lightly. You see very few veiled women, while great wines, fig brandy, Celtia beer (and even combinations of these!) are almost considered a national drink, although it is true that booze is sold in shops rather in the way porn movies are sold at home: in the most secluded corners, only by special request, and the seller discreetly puts your purchase in a black plastic bag. There are supposedly corner pubs in the dirtier alleys, but these are really only frequented by down-and-outs. In Tabarka, like everywhere else, the real social life takes place in the cafes, where the all-male audience can discuss the most important matters over coffee or mint tea, sipping on hookahs (honey, strawberry or peach-flavored tobacco) and, when they run out of topics, the cards come out. Rummy is the most popular, and the loser buys the next round of drinks. Games for money are normally played in private homes.”
“There is perhaps no friendlier catering venue in the world than the Arab coffee house. No shouting, no craziness – at most they say something funny to the lost female tourists – or at least everyone usually laughs at it. If you want to see something exotic, it is better to stay at the hotel, where there is a Berber show, belly dancers, and Arabic music performed by employees dressed in national costumes, although the biggest attraction is when the director of the establishment, with the help of some bellhops, presents hilarious live images of the hotel industry from everyday life, including cleaning, changing the bed linen, and serving dinner. On the other hand, in the coffee house, if there is music, don't even expect authentic folk music; you’ll only hear recordings of local pop stars – who are generally somewhere halfway between the more commercial dance singers of the sixties and gypsy music, only singing in Arabic. These stars include Fadela, Cheba Jamica, Asri, Gana el Maghnaoui and Mohamed Zamine, but the biggest is Omar ‘Amoro’ Diab, whose song Habibi (My Love) drove half of Tunisia into a frenzy: when he performed in Carthage, female fans threw their panties onto the stage, for which one would at minimum be stoned in the surrounding countries.”
“There is no traditional folk dress in the attire of café guests: regardless of age, the light shirt, cloth pants, and Chinese slippers or slip-on shoes with buckles or ankle straps are almost the uniforms. One can’t get away with that sort of footwear in Europe, but here it is completely logical: it is still easier to get by with such shoes at the mosque during prayer than, say, in Doc Martens. Although there are a lot of hairdressers, it seems that they only teach one type of hairstyle: short. Those looking to push the envelope might at most grow a mustache, but beards or sideburns are a no-no.”
