A culinary and solidarity tour of northern Tunisia with Socio Chanty

Tourism without prism: get to know the people, their land and their cuisine!

What’s behind Tunisia’s beautiful landscapes? The millennia-old ruins and captivating medinas you’ll discover are home to men and women who are the holders of ancestral Mediterranean culinary knowledge with unsuspected virtues. You’ll cook their ancestral dishes with them, irrigate their oases with them… From north to south, we offer you 10-day tours to live among us. You’ll never forget that you were once Tunisian.

Period: All year round.

Duration: 8 days/7 nights

Participants: groups of 8 people maximum

Level: all levels.

Languages: Arabic, English, French. Other languages on request.

Starting point: Tunis

Arrival point: Tunis

Transport and accommodation: Allocated cars, guest houses, hotels.

Towns and villages visited: Sidi Bou Saïd, Tunis Medina, Zaghouan.

Your host : Skander Zribi

Skander Zribi, a 60-year-old from Zaghouan, says he’s proud to be the first in Tunisia to have founded a solidarity-based bed and breakfast. In 2007, he set up his gîte on a 3-hectare plot that includes a botanical garden and a SPA with hammam. But more importantly, he has thought about developing his environment by allocating space for the town’s craftswomen to produce and display their wares. He financed local youngsters to set up their kayak club. You won’t be living in a simple B&B, but in a place that generates hope.

Highlights of the experience

  • Visit to Sidi Bou Saïd and the Baron d’Erlanger palace.
  • Visit to the Medina of Tunis and the Bardo Museum.
  • Sharing experiences and acquiring know-how, in the Zaghouan region, around pottery and other crafts.
  • Discover an ancient Berber village and the water temple. Built in the 2nd century, this Roman archaeological edifice is still considered an architectural feat.
  • Thrills and contact with nature: zip-lining, kayaking.

Ideal if you’re…

If you’re curious and like to discover new places and meet new people, listen to beautiful stories, savour good Mediterranean cuisine, learn about medicinal herbs and their uses, learn new skills and discover the solutions that local people have found to overcome life’s difficulties by making the best use of their environment, with Mother Nature as your ally.

We won’t be gathering fixed knowledge from local people, who often have a great deal of character, but rather an art of living and working that always serves people and nature in the best possible way. You’ll enjoy new and instructive experiences, while supporting your hosts and guaranteeing the continuity of their know-how.

The spirit

All the hosts on this tour have been selected by the Tunisian association, Balades solidaires. Our main aim is to support women entrepreneurs in their villages. It is only by selling their products that these women can claim a degree of financial autonomy and improve their socio-economic situation.
Behind this solidarity project is a woman from Tunisian civil society, convinced that there is a great injustice behind the fact that such admirable women, holders of precious know-how, live in precarious conditions. She brought together a group of equally admirable women from the capital – doctors, architects, teachers, entrepreneurs – to help her. A virtuous circle has thus been created, and today you have the opportunity to be part of it.

There’s nothing more beautiful than experiencing a moment of peace and harmony with a soothing landscape. Discovering a country’s history through its architecture, ruins and museums is also fascinating. And that’s what we’ll be trying to help you discover too. But there’s even more for those who love nature and meeting new people. To help you discover the secrets of our Mediterranean cuisine, which is as appetizing as it is admired the world over, we’ve put together a series of “solidarity tours” in different regions of Tunisia. Their ambition is to enable you to experience unforgettable moments of harmony with places and landscapes that will recharge your batteries, while sharing in the daily lives of the people who live there. Here, we invite you to discover a part of the capital Tunis and the Zaghouan region, with its women, holders of an age-old know-how.

We’ve got you covered…

Zaghouan Chanty

Culinary and solidarity tour of Zaghouan in northern Tunisia: Tunis – Sidi Bou Saïd – Zaghouan

8 days/7 nights

Day 1: Tunis – Sidi Bou Saïd

Arrival at Tunis Carthage airport. Taken care of. Transfer to Sidi Bou Said. At ease. The hotel is a restored village villa. A short tour of the village of Sidi Bou Saïd, the world’s first classified and preserved site (1915), even before the creation of UNESCO.

Day 2: Sidi Bou Saïd – Tunis – Sidi Bou Saïd

Guided tour of Baron d’Erlanger’s palace. Guided tour of the Bardo Museum. Lunch in an authentic restaurant serving Tunisian cuisine. Guided tour of the Medina of Tunis. Back to Sidi Bou Saïd. At ease. Free walks.

Day 3: Sidi Bou Saïd – Zaghouan

Breakfast and departure for the town of Zaghouan, north of Tunis. After an hour’s drive, we discover the ruins of an ancient Berber village before taking part in a bread-making workshop. In the company of a woman from Zaghouan, you’ll discover the secrets of local preparation according to village tradition. Enjoy a Berber lunch before heading back to the gîte. Check-in at the gîte. The afternoon will be reserved for a chebka embroidery workshop, an ancestral local handmade lace. Dinner and overnight at the gîte. Our B&B buys from local farmers and craftswomen.

Day 4: Zaghouan

Berber breakfast at the gîte before visiting a potter with whom we’ll be doing a workshop. With our host, you’ll learn how to make the Kanoun, a traditional clay oven. Lunch before heading off in search of thrills in the Zaghouan mountains. With a Tyrolean traverse, you’ll be able to charge your adrenalin and admire the beautiful mountain and surrounding scenery from high above. Dinner and overnight at the gîte.

Day 5: Zaghouan

Breakfast at the gîte, then off to visit an old restored mill. Afterwards, we offer a spice and wheat flour-making workshop. After lunch, we set off on a beautiful nature hike or kayak river trip (depending on the weather). Dinner and overnight at the gîte.

Day 6: Zaghouan

Breakfast before exploring the old medina of Zaghouan. Visit an old Andalusian house and enjoy an Andalusian lunch, followed by a tasting of Kâak Elouarka, a famous local pastry. We then head off to discover the Water Temple, a Roman archaeological edifice built in the 2nd century. It is one of the components of the Roman hydraulic complex used to carry water from Zaghouan to Carthage via a 132km long aqueduct. A building considered, until now, to be an architectural feat. Dinner and overnight at the gîte.

Day 7: Zaghouan – Tunis

Breakfast before setting off for Tunis. Check-in at a typical Medina guesthouse. Free day. Overnight at home.

Day 8: Departure

Breakfast and transfer to the airport for your return flight.

Price

  • On request.
  • Our prices include: organization of the experience, transportation, accommodation, culinary experiences and meals.
  • Our prices do not include: insurance, options
  • Terms of payment: please consult the host.
  • Reservation and cancellation policy: consult host.

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