Gabés and Matmâta

Last weekend, Dylan and I traveled to the south of Tunisia for some sightseeing in Gabés and Matmâta. Gabés is known, in Tunisia, for its industrial economy and Matmâta is known, internationally, for Star Wars.

We drove to Gabés on Friday night. Gabés is in an oasis and felt a little more like the Africa one would naïvely expect before visiting. (Tunis has been like an Arabic/French-speaking Portland….rain included for no extra charge!) The oasis, basically a dried up river bed where palm trees grow with extreme density, leads right into a delta of the Mediterranean. Lunch was had at an interesting spot. We went to a fairly large restaurant with lots of outdoor seating and were quite possibly the only patrons. The decor consisted of mostly taxiderm-ified rodents (very strange) but we had the best french fries, so far, in Tunisia. That is quite the compliment, too, if for no other reason than the fact that french fries are served with everything and on everything. (Note: they in no way compare to the french fries made by Megan and DJ, which are works of delicious art.) It was here that Jenna tried her first date. The verdict? Chewy, sweet, tasty, and chewy. Courtship event or fruit? You decide.

Sunday we drove southwest out of Gabés to Matmâta and the drive was incredibly beautiful. We traveled over arid hills with intermittent olive tree patches. Each green space is tended by a local peasant and is likely their only source of income. Matmâta is still home to the Berber people, north African natives, where they live in underground dwellings. Here, we felt more like tourists than we have while in Tunis. The site was used as a film set for Star Wars (Tatooine–which happens to be another place in Tunisia, spelled Tataouine).  The underground dwellings were all hand-dug and very inspiring as we are already interested in various types of earthen architecture.

We returned to Tunis by train. The scenery along the ride was beautiful, at least for the first few hours while there was still daylight. After that, it just felt like the flight from D.C. to Paris only without the in-flight entertainment, beverage cart, and pressure changes.

More stories of day trips and photos are coming up as well as a Tunisia video clip, insha’Allah (Arabic for “God willing”). Stay tuned.