Tunisia, Part 3 of 5

/ Tunisia / By

In our previous post we drove further South in Tunisia and deeper into  “Berber country”. We explored a few Ksars, especially Ksar Hadada where “The Phantom Menace”, a Starwars movie, was shot. In this post we will explore Toujane (A) and drive North, to Sousse (D) where we booked a room in Dar Badia for a few nights.

Today morning Mr. Moussa from our home stay Dar Fatma took us for a tour in  Toujane (A), the local village.
The old town of Toujane is still partly inhabited and restoration work on the original houses is ongoing. They recognise the economic importance of tourism and hope to turn the old village into an attraction.
One of the finished attractions was the olive oil mill. We believe it worked out very well. It is restored enough to give a good idea how it used to be, without transforming it into a glitzy place, that it never was. You can click on the photo's below for a larger image.
Some households in the old town have no running water and depend on a spring at the base of the mountain.
It is not allowed to make photo's of a woman's face, but there is a lady sitting behind this loom, working on this grey coloured rug. The rug(s) are made with traditional materials; wool, camel hair and vegetable dyes. The women are organised in cooperatives as part of the national strategy for the economic and social empowerment of women and girls in rural area's. There are cooperatives for pottery and mosaics as well.
The products made by the women cooperatives are put up for sale in Dar Fatma and other establishments in support of the women. The average income of the women has multiplied by five, directly impacting their financial autonomy. Moussa is very passionate about his village, the history of his people, and about the prospects that tourism can bring.
A cafe in a cave house. Here we said farewell to Moussa. A big shout out to all staff of Dar Fatma who made our stay unforgettable. We do highly recommend this home-stay; Dar Fatma in Toujane!
On route to our next destination we were overtaken by at least 200 bikers who where on an organised trip through Tunisia, complete with police escort, ambulances and recovery vehicles.
Not surprisingly, they were on route to the same location that we were headed to, so we bumped into them again when we arrived in Matmata where the bikers would stay for lunch. In the town centre, bikes were parked at every restaurant.
Matmata (B on the map) is a small Berber speaking town, where some of its residents still live in traditional  underground structures.
The dwellings themselves are built by first digging a circular, deep hole in the sandstone, which is soft enough to be shaped using simple hand tools. Then, caves are excavated around the outside of the pit to build underground chambers, leaving the main pit as a courtyard.

Hotel Sidi Driss is made up of a few of these underground structures that are linked and it was used in 1976 as a filming location for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (the original series), in which it was featured as the home of Luke Skywalker, his Aunt Beru Lars and Uncle Owen Lars on the planet Tatooine. It was featured again in 2002 for Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (subsequent series).

The decor elements within the pink circle can be seen is the above video.
Different photo of present day Hotel Sidi Driss.
Bikes everywhere and no seat to be had at a restaurant table nowhere, so we moved on.
The otherworldly landscape, perfectly suited as a filmset for otherworldly movies. When we stopped to take this shot, we saw a small boy disappear behind a low hill, and out of curiosity we decided to follow him.........the best decision we made that day.
A home was built inside the hill, invisible from the road, but this is what we saw when behind that hill. The lady of the house invited us in!......wow!
The courtyard of the home.
She offered us chai, home made bread and honey. We could communicate a bit in French and were later joined by her daughter who was studying and spoke good english. Their extended family was sharing this home and we spoke about and compared each other's families and lifestyles. The hallway in the photo leads to a second courtyard. She proudly showed us the different rooms of her home. Click on the photo's below for a larger image.
Humbled by the hospitality and generosity of this family we left. They did not want anything in return. Luckily these homes are still being built, as evidenced by this construction site a bit further down the road. Preserving heritage in stead of building concrete blocks keeps the area attractive.
This low hill gave a panoramic view of the surrounding desert landscape. For a few dinars you could feed this young camel.
It was late in the afternoon when we reached the walls of Sousse medina. Now we had to navigate the car through the narrow streets of the old city trying to find our homestay; Dar Badia. Trapped by one-way streets and driving in circles but we found it, and it did not disappoint! Click image below for larger photo.
Excellent early morning breakfast in the courtyard.
Up the stairs in the medina towards the Kasbah, the fortifications at the medina's high point to the South West.
The beautifully restored kasbah is home to the archeological museum that is famous for its collection of Byzantine mosaics.

In 900 BC, Hadrumetum or modern day Sousse, was a Phoenician colony, established as a trading post and waypoint along their trade routes to Italy and the Strait of Gibraltar. Like other western Phoenician colonies, it became part of the Carthaginian Empire in 570s BC. During the Third Punic War, Hadrumetum supported the Romans against Carthage and, after Carthage’s destruction in 146 BC, it received additional territory and the status of a free city in thanks. Hadrumetum became one of the most important and wealthy communities in Roman North Africa because of the fertility of its hinterland (modern Tunisia’s Sahel), which made it an important source of Rome’s grain supply. A breathtaking legacy of mosaics survived from this Roman era.

As "salty dawgs" we have to first honour Neptune, god of the sea, standing in his chariot drawn by two hippocamps and trident in his hand. Floor mosaic Roman village mid third century AD.

How could the Roman territories around the Mediterranean become so wealthy?

A) The Romans implemented and policed the rule of law in their Empire. There was no piracy at sea and also on land it was relatively safe. This resulted in an explosion of trade and economic growth.

B) The different territories were relatively autonomous (sovereign) and were allowed to keep their own language, customs and religions. This dramatically reduced the chance of uprisings.

This is not to say that the empire was trouble free. There were still internal and external wars. However when the Roman empire collapsed, the rule of law collapsed and Europe and the Mediterranean entered the so-called dark ages. Piracy returned to the Med with people abandoning the coastal area’s retreating to the mountains for safety. The number of sea and land wars increased dramatically with all kind of smaller kingdoms vying for power. No more monuments were built or masterpieces of art made. Trade came to a halt, agricultural production collapsed. It would take almost 1000 years before stability returned.

One of the most spectacular finds is the Bekalta Baptismal font, dating from the Byzantine era or 6th century.

The many ports along the coast were the first to profit from the wealth for which they served as an outlet. The rich landowners and ship owners, enjoying the exceptional prosperity of the region, build themselves sumptuous dwellings while at the same time gratifying the cities with lavish monuments, ensuring that the splendour of the decoration was equal to if not greater in magnificence than that of Rome.

Medusa, the only mortal of the three Gorgon sisters, is a woman with living snakes as hair and having two wings on her brows. Her appearance was so hideous that anyone who looked into her penetrating eyes, turned to stone. On the Greek and Roman soldiers’ breast plates, Medusa’s head image would protect them.

The mosaic, top left, comes from the private baths of Dar Mela, a “villa” near Sousse where it adorned the warm bathroom.

Ganymede, beautiful Trojan prince, being carried off by Zeus in the form of an eagle. Mid second century A.D. bedroom of a Roman house in Sousse.
The kasbah's courtyard with the museum below it. The 70 meter high tower was build by the Roman's as a lighthouse and was centuries later integrated in the Kasbah by the Muslim Aghlabids when the harbour served as a naval base for the conquest of Sicily. The tower still serves as a lighthouse today.
The next attraction was on the NE side of the medina, but first a strong coffee in one of the colourful coffee houses before we cross the maze of alleyways.

The mills are always interesting with smells of freshly ground cereals and spices. After a leisurely stroll we arrive at the Ribat of Sousse. 

A "ribat" is a small fortification built along the frontier during the first years of the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb to house the military.
From the ribat's main tower we have a good view over the Great Mosque of Sousse, that has a surprisingly "fort-like" appearance. The monument was build some 30 years after the ribat and the two towers facing the sea account for the intention to reinforce the coastal defence.
The courtyard of the mosque with the prayer hall to the right. The sobriety of the monument, and the absence of decoration, are again indications of its military role. The absence of a minaret could be explained by the proximity of the Ribat, which had a tower from which prayer was called.
The prayer hall, looking towards the mihrab facing Mekka. Note the chandeliers with oil-lamps, similar to those of the Great Mosque of Kairouan, (see post; Leaving Sicily for Tunisia).

This concludes our sightseeing in Sousse. Tomorrow we will visit a few coastal towns South of Sousse, but that is subject for a next post.

Thank you for reading our travel stories, Liza and Frits.