Le Phénicien

We're on a day trip to Bizerte. Rihanna Gaga travels easily: she hardly ever complains if we take her with us on a trip around the country, even if the travelling isn't very comfortable because most of it is done in small buses that take up to eight passengers and leave when full. And that's how we travelled to Bizerte today as well. It's actually quite a pleasant ride, along the hilly coast of Northern Tunisia.

It's not just the three of us - my father is over for a visit this week. It's one of the paradoxes of living abroad: you think it will be bad for the contact with your family while in fact, in my experience it isn't at all. Granted: you don't see your parents as often as you would if you lived closer to them, but then on the other hand, when you visit them or they visit you, you spend much more time together with them. I can't remember the last time I spend seven days in a row with my dad, and I really, really enjoy it - just as I did with my mum when she visited us for three weeks in December. I really cherish these moments, especially seeing my parents playing with Rihanna Gaga, spoiling her, reading her bedtime stories and all those other things grandparents do. For my dad it is extra special because he has not been outside of Europe in his adult life. But he seems mostly very interested in what goes on around him, navigating the chaos of Tunis and travelling through the countryside in a very relaxed manner.

It's the second time I visit Bizerte and I quite like the place. It's got an old harbour, flanked by a medieval kasbah. Just inside the city, there are little squares where one can sit and enjoy a coffee in the shade - spring has arrived and the sun is shining brightly today. Horse-drawn carts move slowly through the city centre and the place has a pleasant, tranquil feel to it, with little eateries where you can eat freshly grilled fish surrounding the harbour

After we've walked around for a bit, we decide to have lunch at Le Phénicien. I had promised Rihanna Gaga earlier that we would go to eat at a boat and she was quite excited at the prospect. She pointed at every boat in the harbour, asking if that was the boat that we were going to go on, but I told her that no, it would be a much bigger one. However, when we get to Le Phénicien - which is designed to look like an old phoenician ship and floats on the water at the end of the harbour - she somehow seems to feel tricked because, according to her, that is not a boat. I'm not sure what exactly is the problem, but maybe it just is too big to be a real boat according to how she defines what a boat is.

However, she calms down as we enter the dining hall. As we sit down at the table, Rihanna Gaga picks up fork and knife, ready to dig into a meal that will take some time before it arrives. We decide to order grilled calamari and mussels and ignore the cart full of fresh fish that is put next to our table. We enjoy our meal. The boat is a nice place to eat, with great views over the harbour and the eateries on the other side. The real downside is that people smoke in the dining hall. A continuous problem in Tunisia that quite spoils the fun of eating out. So once we're finished, we leave quickly. The three of us - Rihanna Gaga, my girlfriend and me - go upstairs to check out the view from upstairs. As we climb the stairs, I see an Indonesian woodcarving covering one of the walls - which is quite a surprise, really. After strolling around on the boat's deck, we go down and walk around the harbour again. Rihanna Gaga demands that we go to a real boat now, but when I ask a group of fisherman sitting around if we can take a picture on one of their boats that is dragged ashore for repairs, she refuses to sit down on it.

The grilled calamari at le Phénicien was an excellent choice, but the mussels turn out to be a very bad mistake. That night, I lie awake with terrible stomach cramps, as does my girlfriend. My dad didn't eat the mussels, nor did Rihanna Gaga, so they don't have any problem at all.