Les Mimosas Tabarka

There were just a handful of guests when I arrived for my 3-night stay at Les Mimosas in March 2020, as the Coronavirus crisis was starting to bite; and by the time my stay ended, I was the only guest. One drives uphill on an anonymous street from the start of the town's main avenue (named, inevitably, after Habib Bourguiba) to reach Les Mimosas, which is behind a wall and gate. Inside, there are wonderful grounds with lush plantings, and a large pool that shimmered unused (as I say, it was March) and adjacent clubhouse. The P.M. reception clerk was a warm and welcoming gentleman, Ahmed Bouchnak, and when my Arabic failed me he was able to fill the gap with either French or English. He gave me a room at the upper level, from whose window and balcony I had a dazzling view across to the Genoese fort and the Mediterranean. It was good that he did, because he informed me a short while after check-in that Tunisian health authorities had called to say that, as someone who had arrived early that morning in Tunisia after two days near Rome, I had to be kept under quarantine in my room for the duration of my stay. Both Ahmed in the evenings and Kareem, desk clerk in the mornings, were very welcoming, and both quickly relaxed the stricture requiring me to stay in my room. This was vital, because the hotel's Wi-Fi is only available in the lobby, not in the rooms, and I was ended up spending a lot of time frantically searching for flights that would take me out of Tunisia at the end of my planned week there, flights that kept getting canceled hours after I would book them. I was the only guest to use a side room off the lobby with a view of the pool and across the town to the sea, and that is the room in which I was served every meal, which the hotel duly provided to its restricted guest. My room at the upper level had two twin beds placed side by side, and a balcony with great views. The furnishings inside were limited and tired, and the lighting inadequate at night: the only light bright enough to read by was in the vestibule just inside the door, where there was no place to sit. The bathroom had the essentials, but the bathtub looked battered and uninviting. I did not use it for either a bath or a shower. I was delighted, on my third morning, when the staff informed me that the hotel management wanted me to leave. (I was afraid I might be held under lockdown for two weeks, and perhaps the hotel feared this foreigner might get sick on them.) So a place where I had come to feel very comfortable, even if confined, would now be a memory -- and a pleasant one at that. The bill, including all meals, came to $98 for three days. Reasonable.