Tunisia - Matmata with its beautiful cave dwellings

On the way to Matmata we fill up our drinking water tank at a spring. Since the water pressure is so low that we cannot even fill up the hose, we decide to fill it by hand: we have a 4-litre and a 6-litre jar and a funnel on board just for this case. 

At the spring, we let the containers drip full and then fill it into our 100-litre tank. That makes 10 rounds with both canisters. That takes time. (Gerd uses the time to finally refill the AdBlue - that stupid warning beep is getting on our nerves) But the good thing is: we have time. Besides, we meet at the fountain, so we get to know a few young girls, but also Berber women. Unfortunately, we don't speak any of their languages. But we all understand the language of smiles. I let them go ahead, they seem to be busy, we can wait!

Matmata lies at 600 metres above sea level in the Daher Gebriges of the Central Atlas. And is famous for its earth houses and cave dwellings and - who would have thought it - a Star Wars filming location. 

We take a seat directly at the restaurant "Chez Abdoul", drink Moorish coffee, then real espresso and are spoiled with freshly squeezed orange juice. We make a phone call to the family and then make our way to the Hotel Siri Idriss, which is supposed to be the backdrop for the filming. 

As soon as we arrive, the coaches are queuing up, and in the hotel itself (where you can actually still book rooms) the visitors are jostling. We have time and wait until the buses take their precious cargo away again and then have a close look at everything. 

I, still not really a Star Wars connoisseur, am more impressed by the architecture, Gerd is already recreating the scenes in his mind.

We continue to the actual highlight: a Berber dwelling, which one is allowed to visit as a guest. Unfortunately, in recent years there have been encroaching tourists who went into flats without being asked, photographed everything and did not really realise that the people live here and are not museum pieces. This did not go down well and led to people's resentment. Because about 300 final homes are actually still inhabited.

When we enter the flat, which is open to the public, we are amazed, it looks really nice, all the rooms are sensible, cosy, practical and, of course, very exotically furnished to our eyes. In the courtyard, we are pampered by the resident with freshly baked bread, tea and delicious olive oil. The master of the house explains all the rooms to us and also a little of the history. 

We feel really comfortable here, the time flies by and the small entrance fee, which was simply a slightly adjusted tea price, has been absolutely worth it. 

We say goodbye and stroll through the town. We spend the evening on the farm of "Chez Abdoul" and in the early morning, when Abdoul loudly "squeaks" open the farm gate, we ride off the farm.

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Merci for "travelling with us

We are thinking about taking another break from travelling in the summer and visiting our families in Germany and Switzerland. One of the ideas is to organise a Lecture about our long journey to the Persian Gulf to prepare. If you would like to, what would interest you the most? We will also tell stories here that don't find a place here on the blog. We're thinking of the Bern and Berlin area - simply because we have family there. But other places are also conceivable. Feel free to write to us.

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