Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category
Visit to Tunisia (8): Sousse
October 10th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
The last day of our trip (Friday) was spent in Sousse. Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf of Hammamet, which is a part of the Mediterranean Sea. It has a population of 217,000. We started at the Archaeological Museum which houses one of the largest mosaic collections in the world. […]
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Visit to Tunisia (7): El Djem and Monastir
October 9th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
Thursday was a long but enjoyable day, starting at 9 am and finishing about 5 pm. Using Sousse as a base for local travel, we visited two historic towns. The first was El Djem, called Thysdrus in Roman times, which is a drive of just over an hour south of Sousse. This is the […]
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Visit to Tunisia (6): Kairouan
October 8th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
Wednesday was another early start as at 8 am we left Tunis to head due south on a modern motorway. It was the hottest day as the temperature rose to 31C. Our destination was Kairouan. Kairouan – the name means ‘military camp’ in Arabic – is Tunisia’s oldest city, founded in 670 AD by Oqba […]
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Visit to Tunisia (5): Carthage
October 8th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
What remained of Wednesday afternoon was devoted to Carthage. Located in the north-east suburbs of Tunis, this was the capital of the ancient Carthaginian civilisation that was a major trading empire from the 6th century BC. It was home to Hannibal and his elephants. However, it was destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC. About […]
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Visit to Tunisia (4): Tunis
October 8th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
Tuesday was spent in and around Tunis. It was a long day, because we left the hotel at 8 am and did not return till 5.40 pm, so we were out almost 10 hours. But there was very little travel and fine weather and wonderful attractions. The capital of Tunisia, which gives its name to […]
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Visit to Tunisia (3): Testour and Dougga
October 6th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
The second day of our tour (Monday) involved a long drive to Roman ruins and our guide was keen to avoid crowds and heat, so we made an early start of 8 am. In fact, once we were there, we had the place almost to ourselves and the weather veeered between overcast, spitting and then […]
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Visit to Tunisia (2): Uthina and Sidi Bou Said
October 5th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
On Saturday afternoon, we arrived at Gatwick Airport the recommended two hours before our flight, only to find that it was delayed and then delayed again by the impact of Storm Amy. So , after a wait of four and a half hours, we finally took off two and a half hours late. We flew […]
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Visit to Tunisia (1): introduction
October 4th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
I love to visit new countries but, north of the equator, the only places in Africa that I’ve been to are Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia and Kenya. Now though I’m off to Tunisia with my partner Tess on a trip provided by the company Jules Verne. It will be the 91st country that I’ve visited. Tunisia is […]
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A narrative account of a fascinating trip to Japan
September 4th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
It was April when I went to Japan for a two-week trip, but only now have I pulled together and edited all my blog postings of that time into a continuous narrative. Reading over my account now, I’m reminded of how much we visited, how much we saw, and how much we learned about this […]
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The sadness and the beauty of Ha Long Bay
July 19th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
I was saddened to hear the news of the loss of life in Ha Long Bay in northern Vietnam. The location is a spectacular one and I have fond memories of my time there in 2006.
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