Have lunch on the Star Wars set! (Matmata)

Member Name: Little Miss

Product:	Matmata
Date:	25/06/01 (813 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Truly amazing, If you like Star Wars you'll love this

Disadvantages: It's very hot, keep your head and shoulders covered!

Where? That was my reaction to being told I would be visiting Matmata. I was then told it's a town of Troglodyte houses, I still wasn't convinved for some reason I was imagining small troll like people living in caves. But then I was told it's where Star Wars was filmed, "oh" I said now rather curious and trying to remember back, (I haven't seen the new version and it's a long time since I saw the old one.) I seemed to remember strange little people living in holes dug into the hills side, and decided it would actually be a rather cool place to visit. (In fact "The life of Brian was also filmed in Tunisia but in Monastir, and also the English Patient was filmed in the desert so if your into your films, give Universal studio's a miss and checkout Tunisia)

When we pulled over at the side of the road I didn't really realise we were there, the reason bing there are two types of troglodyte houses, ones dug into the side of a hill or mountain and ones dug into the ground. We'd gone to see the ones dug into the ground. At this point I will give you a warning, Matmata is further south and much more inland than the holiday resorts in Tunisia. Therefore the nice gentle breezes for the sea do not reach here and you will really feel a difference from the heat, it's a good idea to wear a thin long sleeved shirt as even with sun cream on the heat on my skin felt like it would burn. Also a hat not only to protect your head but to shade your eyes as even with sunglasses the sun is still bright.

First of all we walked to the edge of a large hole dug down into the ground. Around the edges at the bottom of the hole you could see more holes dug into the walls of the hole. The walls of the hole were all painted white, with a few basic pictures drawn on the walls, for example there was an outline of a fish which is a lucky symbol to the Troglodites. Apparently each time it rains they have to repair the walls
, although I guess rains not a common occurance there.

We then proceeded down a slight slope to find the entrance of the house, as we did this we were told the slight slope was the water suppliy, at the bottom there was a small mound which directed the water into a hole and through a very basic filter into a well. When I say basic it would have stopped a branch or rock but not really small twigs or leaves, although I guess there aren't many of those in the desert.

Just before the entrance to the house was a small ceramic oven, I'm not really sure as to why it was outside given that the centre of the house was open air I doubt it would have caused a problem.

So next we walked into the house through a short tunnel and found ourselves in the centre of the house which is open air. The house we visited was actually still inhabited by a troglodyte family who were very happy for a group of tourists to walk into there house and show themselves around. I was so suprised at how laid back they were to let us wonder in and out of the rooms unassisted. This felt a little strange as at first I thought maybe they didn't really live there and it was just a show for the tourists but looking around you could see the things at the side of the bed and in the store room that were obvious that someone lived there. For example there was a baby walker at the back of the store room, I'd never of expected them to have such a thing so it obviously wasn't there as a prop for the tourists. As you went into each of the rooms it was amazing how cool they were, almost as though they had air conditioning.

After the visit to this house we then went to a troglodyte restaurant for lunch. The restaurant was actually part of the set for Star Wars and you could still see all the alterations they had made. The lunch was traditional Tunisian Cous-cous a dish I've never been over keen on but this was far better than any cous cous I'
d tasted before and the restaurant were very generous in serving it up, they gave a big dish between four people and then came round with large containers with extra vegetables and sauce and kept topping everyones plates up.

Although my initial interest was due to the link with Star Wars I actually found it a very interesting visit and would reommend it even if you hate Star Wars, as just seeing how clever these houses are, especially at keeping the rooms inside so cool, was worth it.

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