[WillowTheWhisp]

This is a golden statue in Monastir of Habib Bourguiba, who became Tunisia's first President after the country gained its independance from France on March 20th 1956. He was born in Monastir and educated in Tunis and Paris where he studied law. He would have been president for life but for suffering ill health. A local in Monastir told us that he suffered from Alzheimers. He brought a great many changes to the country and although some of his rules and regulations were considered severe and restrictive by some there's no doubt that the country benefitted a great deal under his leadership. He died in 2000 and his mausoleum is also in Monastir.

On November 7th 1987 (I think that was the year) the current president Zine el-Abidine ben Ali took over and he continues to bring Tunisia into the 21st century. He sort of put his position on the line by encouraging democracy but he always gets voted for anyway as far as we can tell. Most hotels, shops etc have a picture of him in a prominent place, looking all sort of serious and military with a very flash uniform and it's usually quite an old picture with him looking incredibly young. The first impression I had of him was that he was probably some grumpy old geezer who rules with an iron fist and still wants people to think of him as a dynamic young thing, then one night in the hotel there was a program on TV where he was doleing out awards (a bit like the Queen awarding MBEs) and it surprised me at firt that I recognised him from the old portraits, but also that he seemed a much kinder looking person, someone who did genuinely seem to have the country and its people's best interests at heart.

When people tell you of all that he has done for them regarding education, employment, road building, and building up the image of Tunisia as a desirable holiday destination which brings in much needed foreign revenue, not to mention the government assisted oases where irrigation is organised and planned with water pumped up from below ground for the crops you begin to realise why he is so well liked and appreciated. He's a man with vision who sees it through. At present it is very difficult for Tunisians to leave the country even for holidays. He doesn't want people to be leaving the country with the risk of them not coming back. The majority of Tunisians are in their 20s and younger and he wants them there to build a better future for themselves and future generations.

Everywhere you go the whole country seems to be under construction but we learned that this is because they don't do mortgages. If you want a house first of all you save up and buy a plot of land. Then you save up and build a one room dwelling, after which most people get a TV and a satelite dish before they save up to build the next room and so on - they always seem to be in the process of extending and so most of the newer houses are constantly under construction. There are also a lot of purpose built tourist resorts consisting of hotels and little else along some of the lovely coastal areas and the hotels are incredibly beautiful, but even so we preferred our location in Sousse which gave us the best of both worlds. An old established town/city with the newer facilities tagged on.