Last weekend I strolled into the alleys of the old town and investigated the Medina of Nabeul. I took the opportunity this weekend to head to the beach of Nabeul. After completing my couchsurfing adventure in Tunis I felt the urge to hang around and drift along on a sunny sunday afternoon. I have to walk down the street in front of my quarter some hundred meters to arrive at the waterfront.

The almost empty beach wasn’t particularly exciting. Few people were hanging around at the water but my impression was more biased towards dislocation then leisure. You’d see some kids sailing as well as wind surfers which sparked my hope to find a local shop that would offer some water sport activities. I for now haven’t found one yet. Young men were throwing out the lines of their fishing rods from a pier close by. Lazy attitude and a relaxed afternoon. Exactly what I was looking for.

The beach of Nabeul seems to represent the current mindset

The beachfront is lined with abandoned hotels and moderately shabby houses that tell stories from better days. There is a lot of trash on the beach itself, though some locals I’d ask would claim the season will start again in May. This is supposed to be the time when the municipality starts cleaning the beach of Nabeul on a daily basis. I can’t see this happening. Instead a thought of a local initiative taking the lead came to my mind. How do you empower the people of a community to take care about their environment? From what I’ve seen so far it’s downright questionable if the officials of my new hometown know the theory of broken windows.

My impression is people here are sitting on a bunch of resources. On the other hand it seems clear that this country did not reward individual effort in the past. I have read articles that explained the situation under the reign of Ben Ali. During this time you could be questioned if you’d put effort into something above the validated line of governmental activities. So people tended to keep their heads down instead of getting themselves into trouble. It seems many people have made this state of mind a habit.

As far as I’ve learned the situation was supposed to change during and after the revolution. It seems this dream didn’t withstand the reality. This small strip of sand and rubbish called the Beach of Nabeul documents the controversy more than well. I honestly can’t complain about a lack of images and see the beauty nonetheless. How about you?