This epic but comfortable and surprisingly quick journey sets you up perfectly to explore Tunisia’s ancient sites, cuisine and medinas

‘Go on, try one,” says the man behind a mountain of Arabic sweets. He hands me a piece of makroudh, a honey-dipped semolina and date delicacy. It is still warm from deep frying and deliciously soft and sticky. I’m standing on an intersection between two cobbled medina streets in Tunis, capital of Tunisia, and Biles Elwadi, the sweet seller, is showing me how this national favourite is made. He rolls a sausage of the date and nut mixture into the semolina and cuts it into bite-size chunks to fry.

It’s my final day in Tunisia and, as Biles packages 10 dinars’ (£2.55) worth for me to take home, I realise I don’t want to leave just yet.