Tunis bar

I filmed in the Tunisian capital Tunis a few weeks back. It was for an arabic football show, the end of the 'federation cup'. We didn't go out often because the hotel was good, an unadventurous conclusion, I know. So after two days we decided (only me and one other colleague were working there) to go round the back streets looking for typical bars that tourists wouldn't go to. This one was funny. It reminded me of the Spanish bars in a way, dirty but lively, everyone happy. Although the odd thing was that there were no women there. In fact we barely saw women in any bar at night. In the corner of this one bar, two guys had amassed a shocking amount of beer bottles, a proud display of their acheivements that evening. My colleague Alex informed me (it wasn't his first time there) the beer was quite low in alcohol, but still. What was funnier was that they often just sat there not talking, staring into their bottles.



The evening didn't get any better. We got approached several times for being white Europeans, and they'd say they just wanted to be friends. I've never heard the same expression so many times in one evening; "a friend in need is a friend indeed". When did we look like we were in need?! Sat in one nice wine bar (I spotted two women out of fifty men) Alex and I were fenjoying a full flowing conversation and this guy just started talking to us. He never got the hint so Alex started getting mildly irritated, the guy sensed this and got agressive. We left soon after.

Another guy at a doorway chatting to a bouncer spotted us entering and said "hey! Let's go out together, I've just finished my shift!" He was dressed casually and as pissed as a fart.
"No thanks, we're going back to our hotel" we replied laughing.
"..but a friend in need is a friend indeed, my friend!"