I had previously reviewed the Dar Fatma after my stay in March 2020, when I was trapped in Tunisia for a spell by cascading Covid closures. (It turns out I was the inn's last guest for an entire year.) Three years later, I have returned, now with my wife, under far less stressful circumstances. And it proved even more charming the second time around. There was, however, one snafu: We arrived in the evening, and the overnight staffer had no knowledge we were coming. I whipped out my cell phone to show him my exchange of email messages with the owner five months before, which set off a flurry of phone calls. Bottom line: The room I had reserved, with a (narrow) view to the sea, was occupied, but they did still have available a room with no windows to the outside at all, and that is where we spent our first night. The next morning we were shuffled upstairs to a less claustrophobic room, and my wife could begin to enjoy her stay. Moral of this particular story: before setting out on your trip, it never hurts to take a minute to reconfirm all your hotel reservations, especially if you made them by email. So, to cite the old American saw: ”Aside from THAT, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” Indeed, aside from the initial confusion about our staying, this play was wonderful. This being off season, we were able to find places just a 2-minute walk away where we could leave our rented car. (Advice: it's best to leave one's car on Rue Taieb Mhiri close to the lighthouse and the panoramic overlook, where you have space to turn around and head out without having to creep, zig-zagging down through the town, to make your way out.) The morning breakfast spread, served by the cheerful Salwa, is varied and tasty. Salwa was also a source of practical advice -- most importantly, in scuttling our plan to take a day to go into Tunis to visit the Bardo Museum. (She warned us it was closed -- apparently a casualty of the president's coup against parliament.) That left us with an unanticipated day at leisure, which we could partially fill by stretching out on Dar Fatma's roof in the early spring sun, reading and watching the pigeons come sip water at the wading pool. Even in the claustrophobic first-night room (named ”Adel”) and certainly in our ”mezzanine” room, ”Lea,” up the narrow winding staircase to the next corridor of rooms and then the rooftop, there was good WiFi and a very good shower. Each room also had a writing desk equipped with convenient electrical connections for a laptop computer. Thanks to Aziza, the rooms are kept clean and well-ordered each day. From the moment one enters through the small carved from the larger one, the Dar Fatma (:house of Fatima”) reeks of North African character and charm. For all this, the price is reasonable, at least off-season: US$90 a night for a double room and breakfast. The owners, Hatem and Hana Ben Rhouma, came by to visit us on our last night, perhaps in part to apologize for the rooming snafu on our arrival, but a
Molto buono
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