The homes are grouped around a central courtyard
and connected to other courtyards with more rooms forming an
underground labyrinth.
The picture far left is a room in the hotel Marhala, in Matmâta.
Holes are cut into the wall and a chain hangs down so
you can climb the wall to the room. It's easier than building a
stairway, needs no timber, but it is probably only for the agile and sober.
The hotel's bar is just next door to the room.
The picture near left is a Berber woman milling
grains with a stone, called an azerg or raha, in a cool alcove
just off the central courtyard. Traditionally wheat is ground into a fine flour to make tabouna.
Tabouna is a bread made throughout Tunisia in terracotta ovens
(below) of
the same name.
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