4-Xtremes – Part 23: a journey into a completely different real world

Series: 4-Xtremes – The World Tour

Need a holiday?

Djerba is better known as a beach holiday destination. Andrea and Mike drove across North Africa’s largest island and think it’s much more than just that!

Synagogue, street art, street life: if you look carefully there is a lot to discover on Djerba.
Synagogue, street art, street life: if you look carefully there is a lot to discover on Djerba.
Synagogue, street art, street life: if you look carefully there is a lot to discover on Djerba.
Synagogue, street art, street life: if you look carefully there is a lot to discover on Djerba.
Synagogue, street art, street life: if you look carefully there is a lot to discover on Djerba.
Synagogue, street art, street life: if you look carefully there is a lot to discover on Djerba.
Synagogue, street art, street life: if you look carefully there is a lot to discover on Djerba.
Synagogue, street art, street life: if you look carefully there is a lot to discover on Djerba.
Synagogue, street art, street life: if you look carefully there is a lot to discover on Djerba.
Synagogue, street art, street life: if you look carefully there is a lot to discover on Djerba.
Synagogue, street art, street life: if you look carefully there is a lot to discover on Djerba.
Synagogue, street art, street life: if you look carefully there is a lot to discover on Djerba.
Synagogue, street art, street life: if you look carefully there is a lot to discover on Djerba.
Synagogue, street art, street life: if you look carefully there is a lot to discover on Djerba.

Most visitors to Djerba arrive by air. We take the Axor across the causeway which leads from mainland Tunisia. Very quickly we feel as if we haven’t just landed on an island, but in a completely different world.

On Djerba there are numerous magnificent villas – and also a fairly large Jewish community which meets in the beautifully decorated El-Ghriba synagogue. We know that in 2002 more than 20 people were killed here in a terrorist attack. It is lovely to see that today it once again exudes a sublime peace.


Street art and Ramadan bread.

Djerbahood, the artist’s quarter with walls that were painted by around 150 street artists in 2014, is also fascinating. What is just as amazing are the many cafés that line the main roads through the villages. We stop at a bakery to buy bread made specially for Ramadan fresh from the oven.

Djerba is very similar to the mainland in one way: the tourist police want to see our passports several times. However when there is a knock at our door one morning, it’s not officials standing outside in the sun, but a fisherman who needs our help. His van is stuck in the sand and he needs someone to pull it out.



Rescue manoeuvres and a Caribbean feeling.

To get to the vehicle in the Axor we have to cross a watery salt plain – and take care not to get stuck ourselves. Every few metres Mike stops and checks our route by pushing a shovel into the ground. The surface is firm. And all it takes is one tug and the van is free. 

We meet our German friends again on the north coast. After a rather bumpy journey we reach a beach that could just as easily be in the Caribbean. At low tide we wade through the shallow water across a sand bank.

Djerba has a lot to offer. But the island is also what it is known for: a bathing paradise. 


4-Xtremes – The World Tour.

An unparalleled journey.

Andrea and Mike Kammermann have been on tour in their Axor for three years. "4-Xtremes – The World Tour" is the motto of the journey that the two Swiss nationals embarked on in mid-2020 and which they share with the RoadStars community. Keep up to date and don't miss out on any of the stunning destinations visited by the adventurous pair.

You can find the current parts from the “4-Xtremes – The World Tour” series here.

You can find the route of the trip before the crossing to South America here.

 


Photos: 4-Xtremes

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