Month: September 2018

Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul – April 5, 2018 – Tunis, Tunisia

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By Tom Allin

The third time was the charm.  I had walked by the Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul twice before and it was locked up.  Persistence pays off – it was open on my third trip.

There are about 20,000 Catholics living in Tunisia.  The Catholic Church still owns the Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul but services are not held here on a weekly basis.  It appeared to me the Cathedral was more a tourist attraction than a religious site.

 
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The Medina – April 4, 2018 – Tunis, Tunisia

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By Tom Allin

The Tunis Medina is the old city portion of Tunis and was founded in 698 AD.  Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  I spent two half days exploring a small section of the Medina.  I say a small section because the Medina is roughly 650 acres with over a hundred thousand inhabitants.

On the second day Nancy and I explored together and had lunch at a restaurant I had found on the first day – food was very good but no wine or any other alcohol was available. Ahh, the advantage of traveling in Catholic Italy versus Muslim Tunisia is wine is available almost everywhere in Italy and not so much in Tunisia.  As interesting as the narrow pedestrian streets, shops, doors, and everything else were,  it was the people I found most interesting.

 
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Ferry to Tunis, Tunisia – April 2, 2018 – Palermo, Italy

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By Tom Allin

Sometime in the last couple of months I was looking at a map of Sicily.  Eventually it came to my mind that Tunisia was only an inch a way from Sicily and Sicily was only two inches long so the distance between Sicily and Tunisia couldn’t be all that much.

Next my brilliant brain comes up with the idea that if Tunisia is close to Sicily there probably is a ferry between the two places.  I googled “ferries Italy Tunisia” and damn if there isn’t just one but more than one ferry making this trip.

I asked Nancy if she would like to visit Tunisia and her answer is, “Why not?”

So this evening about 10:00 pm we finally get in the correct line to exit Italy and drive on to the ferry.  Departure time is 2:00 am – appears to be a lot of waiting time built into check in time and departure time

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Our Drive to Salerno – May 4, 2018 – Maratea to Salerno, Italy

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By Tom Allin

We are headed to the famous Amalfi Coast and our first overnight stop will be Salerno.  But first we have an all day drive due to various stops we want to make between Marateaand Salerno.

As you will note in the photograph the weather wasn’t bright and sunny rather it was cloudy and we did encounter some rain.  However, it was another very good drive.

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Certosa di Padula; Part III – May 2, 2018 – Padula, Italy

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By Tom Allin

In our time in Italy we have seen a lot of choir seating, doors, and various sculptures that are ornately crafted and carved.  For some reason the woodwork in the Certosa di Padula caught my eye more than other places we visited.

The church door was created in 1374 out of Cedar of Lebanon.  It is decorated with scenes from the Annunciation of Mary, Saint Lorenzo and more.  The set of doors got a lot of use: prayers were said twice a day and once during the night.

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