WorldWideKittyGlassesProject : Takrouna (Berber village) and Hegla, Tunisia

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Takrouna (Berber village) and Hegla, Tunisia

Another place a couch surfer recommended that I go was Takrouna. It was a Berber village a long time ago. The Berber's were a peaceful people and they didn't want to get attacked by others, that is why they had their village so high up. Nowadays only 2 families live in Takrouna. There is a road that people can use with a car or a tour bus. Since we went by public transportation we had to walk up the stairs to get to the village. A tour guide was telling my friend that tourism has really declined in the country and there aren't that many people coming to the village anymore. The man said that there used to be buses lined up the hill to get to the village, maybe 50 buses. Today, it was just my friend and I plus one tour van that had about 6 people in it. The views from the village were awesome. You could see everything in view and its no wonder the Berber's chose that spot to settle on. In the village there was a call to prayer tower, a cafe and a museum. I stuck my head in an open door and found a very nice and welcoming lady. She invited us to come into the courtyard. Then I realized that it was her actual house. She tried to sell me some stuff, but I had done too much shopping and didn't have space for anything in my bag. I had brought some of my grandma's old scarves with me, so I decided to just give her one instead of buying anything. Since I gave her something she gave me a hand carved from stone that was collected in the hills. It was very sweet. She said that after we walked around that we should come back to her's so that we could have some homemade bread. We went to the museum, then checked out the cafe. Everything in the cafe was overpriced and the decor wasn't that pleasant. We went back to the lady's, Hamida, place and relaxed on her courtyard. She showed me how to heat up the stone stove and then how she stuck the bread onto the walls of the stove. It was really interesting to see and it reminded me of when I used to live in a village in Georgia and my host grandmother would sometimes made bread the traditional way. However, the taste of the bread was much different. The Tunisian bread was so much tastier. It had three kinds of seeds in the bread: anise, sesame and black. The flavor was amazing and to dip it in the olive oil she gave us was delicious. When I was a child I really hated olives. The olives that she gave us were tiny and delicious. Then she also gave us cups of tea. She was really a nice lady and I TRULY recommend everyone to go visit her. Try to buy something or give her something when you visit. In the village, when you exit the building with the green dome you will see her door straight in front of you. Most likely it will be open, but if its closed, knock on the door and say Salem Hamida (Hello Hamida) most likely she will invite you in.
After we were done with the village we went to Hegla. It's a beautiful coastal town, but unfortunately it was VERY windy that day, so it looked like a ghost town. The waves were strong and so many things had been knocked over by the wind. Then we went back to Sousse and met up with some people I had met the previous day. It was an awesome day!