he town gets busier at 5am when venders
from neighboring villages arrive with their
horses and fresh home-growth vegetables.
Cabbage leaves are wrapped together tightly,
Napa cabbages boast their chicken’s fat color.
Small flavorful basil branches are tied in
bundles. Among herbs, basil is the most favored
as Tunisians enjoy their morning hot tea with
some basil leaves.
Unlike other Muslim countries in North Africa,
Tunisia surprises me with its allowance for
women to sell goods at the market. Sometimes,
old men just forgot their traditional customs
either to take photos with me or to ask me to
take photos of them. The images of white haired
locals wearing traditional scarves, charmingly
giggling are among my best memories. The
Medina becomes more peaceful and quiet on
weekends.
The vibrant sounds of people advertising their
products and chatting tend to die down at
noon on Saturday and disappear completely on
Sunday. Only tranquility is left in this city, giving
people a peaceful time. I unconditionally love
wandering around Medina on these serene days
when the sun splashes its yellow rays through
every street.
There is no middle class in the Medina, only
the poor and the wealthy. The poor either don’t
have enough money to leave the city or can’t
afford to buy a piece of land in the suburbs;
therefore, they must live a hard life in run-down
houses that can collapse at anytime. The wealthy
don’t want to leave their hometown where they
have accumulated so many memories through
generations. They reconstruct their antique
buildings, turning them into gorgeous villas.
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TRAVELLIVE
I just follow the enticing windows but don’t
know exactly where I am going. Sometimes, I
see a girl riding her bike across the street to a
nearby bakery. Winds bear the scents of different
spices through the windows.