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Tunisia

It was delicious with a traditional Tunisian mint tea poured from high up into a cup for each of us. A delightful afternoon meal. _1806

The village of Chenini was originally a granary.

Chenini, the village which was a Granary at one time served as the shooting location of Episode IV of Start Wars . Barrel-vaulted cells were built side-by-side, one over the other, in honeycomb-like blocks up to 4 to 5 stories high.

George Lucas largely used the sceneries of Southern Tunisia to film his two trilogies. Tatooine? A name directly inspired by the Tunisian town of Tataouine, which surroundings were used as a shooting location for the Episodes IV and I, especially some ksour of Ksar, fortified Berber village.

This village is unique due to its troglodyte houses, dug in the mountains which we had just visited. The arrangement of these caves must have caught the eye of George Lucas, given the complexity of some houses, linked between each other by a succession of corridors and courtyards.

Yours truly standing on the stairs. Originally this was an important staging point on the caravan routes into the interior of Africa, and these organic looking granaries were used as vital warehouses for semi-nomadic families to store their possessions while they were away.

The entrance into the Granary.

Driving to the Sahara Desert area we encountered a massive salt flat area. We stop at Chott el Djerid, the largest sal lake in the Sahara Desert.

Many agricultural areas have their own wells. This photo shows an item where by travelers can find water from a well and can take it to use while driving along the highway. You can pull the item out and retrieve some water.

In the rural areas of Tunisia gas stations as we know it do not exist. They consist of 5 gallon and drums of gas along the Libyan border areas. The following photos are some of the areas to purchase gas.

This location has tires and gas.

This was probably one of the best organized sites I saw along this highway in a small town.

Rural area below as we begin to climb up into the hilly areas. One gets an idea of how their homes are set up and the property with them.

We had just driven this area. Looking back at the road and landscape.

The vast area below we had just come through.

On our way to the desert area we stop at the Berber town of Matmata to experience their fascinating troglodyte houses, man made caves dug out of large pits in the ground. We are just sitting down to enjoy our lunch in one of the cave homes.

We are welcome into the home by the lady of the house who along with her daughter prepared a delightful lunch for us. Another great experience. This is her kitchen that she prepared everything.

This is the mother and her daughter.

Notice the bright colors for the area we would call the sitting room or living room of the cave home.

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