Almost everywhere you visit in Tunisia will leave you with the strange feeling that you’ve been there before: That is because you have – in your local movie theater.
Matmata, in the country’s southeast, may be the “Star Wars” capital of the world. In this village, where the local Berber inhabitants built their houses underground – offering refuge as much from a fierce climate as from invaders – tunnels lead deep to an underground warren of cavelike rooms that open onto plant-filled courtyards.
One such place is the Hotel Sidi Driss, one of the world’s most unusual hotels and still awash with easily recognizable pieces from the original “Star Wars” set. It was in one of the hotel’s five courtyards that Luke tucked into a blue milkshake and went head to head over the harvest with his Uncle Owen. The hotel also was used in “The Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones.”
Not far to the southwest, Tataouine gave its name to Luke Skywalker’s home planet and served as the location for numerous scenes filmed in its fairy-tale, multistory ghorfas (grain stores), uneven mud-brick pyramids of barrel-vaulted rooms that occupy the high ground amid a mountainous landscape. Not even a Hollywood set could have been more perfect for the slave quarters of Mos Espa in “The Phantom Menace.”
Tozeur a red-brick oasis
Farther inland, where Tunisia yields to the Sahara Desert, is Tozeur, a delightful red-brick oasis town surrounded by 200,000 palm trees, and the gateway to more delightfully fortified Berber villages surveying the countryside from their mountaintop perches.
Just beyond the oasis limits in this remote and silent place is Ong Jemal (Neck of the Camel). Here, slowly disappearing beneath windswept sands, is the custom-built village of Mos Espa – weird and wonderful like a sci-fi vision of the future amid the dunes.
The Sahara landscape lends itself as much to the past as to the future. Adjacent to Ong Jemal, the evocative ridge-lines of the sand dunes provided the perfect backdrop for the desert and sandstorm scenes of “The English Patient.”
The depths of the Sahara and the shores of the Mediterranean may be worlds apart, but they easily are traversed in less than a day. Kristin Scott Thomas, Ralph Fiennes and crew made just such a journey to the perfectly preserved, medieval walled city of Sfax. Sfax beautifully evoked the bazaars of Cairo in “The English Patient.”
Also nearby, just up the coast in Monastir, Tunisia’s most formidable castle will appear like an echo from your past. If Sfax became Cairo, then Monastir was Jerusalem, starring in Franco Zeffirelli’s “Jesus of Nazareth,” and alongside hundreds of Tunisian extras unable to contain their laughter at Biggus Dickus in “Life of Brian.”
Anthony Ham has contributed to numerous Lonely Planet guides, including “Tunisia,” “Libya” and “Saudi Arabia.”
Stay
Matmata: Hotel Sidi Driss (011-216-75-240-005; singles/doubles $8/$12).
Tataouine: Hotel Sangho Tataouine, off Route de Chenini, is a stylish place with bungalow-style rooms decorated in traditional style, with lots of antique oddities and old photos (011-216-75-860-124, fax 011-216-75-862-177; $55/$77).
Tozeur: At the five-star Dar Cherait, much of the interior decoration is faithful to an old-style opulence (011-216-76-454-888, melia.dar.cherait(at sign)solmelia.com; $110/$165).
Monastir: The three-star Hotel Club Esplanade on Route de la Corniche is a terrific value – the location is ideal, the rooms are nicely kept and there’s a swimming pool. Ask for a room at the front with a balcony and seaview; they cost no more. (011-216-73-460-146,fax 011-216-73-460-050; $35/$45, full board $42/$60).
Eat
Matmata: For a troglodyte eating experience with a menu heavy on the couscous, try Restaurant Dalia, signposted off the road to Tamezret about a mile west of town (meals $5-$7.50).
Tataouine: Tataouine is renowned for its patisseries, which sell the local specialty: corne de gazelle, a pastry case shaped like a gazelle’s horn, filled with chopped nuts and soaked in honey. A good place to try it is Patisserie Khlefa (Avenue Hedi Chaker; 25 cents).
Tozeur: The pleasant restaurant-bar Le Petit Prince, off Avenue Abdulkacem Chebbi, offers both European and Tunisian specialties; the dining area under the palm trees is lovely in the evening (011-216-76-452-518; entrees $4-$10).
Monastir: The best restaurants are clustered together at the marina. They are all good, and it is a matter of which ambiance suits your mood. Choices include Le Grill (011-216-73-462-136) and the Restaurant Marina (011-216-73-461-449). Plan on $20 per person, plus wine.
Get there
The best deals for getting to Tunisia are the charter flights offered by European charter and tour companies – Tunisia makes a terrific excursion as part of a European vacation. Many of these flights fly directly into Monastir or Tozeur. Round-trip tickets from most European capitals cost as little as $300 and rarely more than $475. To access these deals, the following companies are recommended: Nouvelles Frontières (France; nouvelles-frontieres.fr), CTS Viaggi (Italy; cts.it), Barcelo Viajes (Spain; barceloviajes.com) and Flight Centre (UK; flightcentre.co.uk).
Within Tunisia, train service connects many major towns, and buses and taxis connect the rest. Air services connect Tozeur with Tunis, the capital.
