Tunisia
Odyssey: Eden to Oasis
Bicycle Africa / Ibike Tours
Dispatch 6 - Matmata
The most interesting
element
of the day was traditional local housing which is subterranean. Our hotel was as well.
This architectural style creates a some what surrealistic atmosphere as you bicycle
through the area. There are miles and miles or eroded, knobby hills, with no apparent
housing, but people wondering around, clearly not far from home.
On
some of the knobby hills you’ll see a car parked, or a television antenna,
or solar panel, alone sticking out of the hard sandstone earth. Look a
little harder and you see cave opening into the hills and not far away,
above them large "sink-holes" in the earth. The caves are actually entrances
into the housing complexes and the "sink holes" are the central court
yards. Into
the side of the court yard a number of rooms are dug out for bedrooms, storage and small
animals. Large animals (i.e. camels and donkeys) spend the night in the court yards. The most
elaborate "villa-versions" of these domiciles can have several
interconnected courtyards and a multiple number of
additional rooms. Our hotel was one of these such warrens. It was in one
of the large houses, now converted to a hotel, that part of Star Wars was filmed. The Hotel Sidi Driss,
around the corner, was used for extensively for the interior shot of
Lars
family homestead. After the filming the architecture was returned to
normal, but in 2002, the owners redecorated part of the hotel to look like
the Star Wars set --
presumably to attract Trekkies and other tourists.
The goal has at least been partially achieved because now a days a stream big busses
and SUV stop in front and spill out their loads. A large numbers of tourist
are passing
through the hotel, but sightseeing seem to average less than five minutes and few stay
overnight so it
is difficult to identify a large economic benefit. The volume probably
increase the sales a few soft drinks and curious, which are readily
available.
Coming
from Medenine it isn’t half bad either – or was only half bad. This
approach starts with an awful rocky road. [Ed. note: the road has since
been paved.] After twenty or so kilometers the road was paved but
there was a monstrous hill to climb. Actually, the effort was more than
sufficiently rewarded. The views were great winding in and out of the
hills and along the ridge tops, and looking out over the flat lands from
where we had come. The pavement probably lasted for less than ten
kilometer before we were back on gravel. [Ed. note: this road too has
since been paved.] But this was a much better surface than the
early road had been and it was much flatter than the hills of the
previous section. The last ten kilometers were again paved. It is
mountainous and beautiful country. [Ed. note: So it has now all been
paved, since this was originally written.]
Despite
the fact that I haven't figured out how to photograph it, we stop for snacks in
the somewhat picturesque and crumbling mountain
mountainside town of
Toujane. From
the number of houses in disrepair it doesn’t seem like the economy has
been healthy for a while. We learned that things are particularly bad
this year. Winter is the normal rainy season, but it has only rained
twice so far this year. [Ed. note:
Other years
have had better rains and with the
paving of the road, at least the economy of the main street, based on
the number of curio shops, is much improved. There are still many
castle-like houses that are abandoned and need of major repair.]
While the majority of the kids were sweet, we got our first taste of "tourism culture" from a few kids, today. Children start to ask for money, sweets, pens and other things, and a few were bold enough to be verbally harassing, chase the bikes and even sent a couple of rocks skidding our direction. Ignoring the proverb of "one bad apple can spoil the barrel" we have to remind our self about all the kids who greet us and encourage us on. [Ed. note: These issues have disappeared or been greatly diminished in recent years.]
While, in the name of progress, they keep paving
my favorite dirt tracks around the country, there are still a
few left.
The one from Zammour to Matmata is a lot of people favorite ride of the
tour. Comments include: "the cacophony of birds," "flash backs to New
Mexico," "riot of wildflowers; many varieties of yellow, purple and a
red-orange," "wonderful," "gorgeous," and "overall it is the most
consistently spectacular ride we've had so far."
In this region it is advisable to start early
because there is not a lot of shade. Even
the almost omnipresent olive
tree is rare on this route. Don't pass up the opportunity to
rest when it presents itself.
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