This marvelous fortified adobe structure built by the Berbers, the Ksar Outed Soltane is situated about twenty kilometers south of what is now the city of Tataourine in southern Tunisia.
It's now a tourist destination but was used as recently as the 1960's for its original purpose.
On Friday afternoons the courtyard functioned as a meeting place for the local community most of whom spent much of the year in the pastures with their goats, sheep and camels.
Like other North African Berber communities, the granaries were often built on a hilltop to help protect it from raiding parties intent on stealing the villages food supply.
But imagine living there today...
So much to see!
ReplyDeleteLooks like my mental image of a caravansarai. I like the idea of nomads gathering for a quiet hookah-smoking party. Needs more shade and palm trees, though. And a fountain would be nice.
ReplyDeleteGranaries are the beginning of cities, civilization and war, I've read. Also, a grain-based diet is the principal cause of tooth decay. Amazonian indigines don't have our dental problems. Therefore we should give it all up and move back to the bush!
Bucket list place for me I have seen similar in Granada heights, Spain.On the way to Alicante.
ReplyDeleteI guess the water ran out in Ghorfa..
Must have been a bustling place with Camels and colour when it was a Trading place....Bee
A bit reminiscent of Petra; lovely in its own way.
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