Who is it, how they live and why their houses are underground

Troglodytes - this is how the inhabitants of the Tunisian town of Matmata are called, in translation - "living in a cave".

The peculiarity of this settlement is that the houses of residents of the old part of the city are dug in the ground. The ground under Matmata is soft sandstone and the caves are carved in depth, below ground level, in the walls of a large pit.

There are several versions of why the indigenous population of this region, the Berbers, ended up here underground. They also talk about the Egyptian conquerors, and about the Arab tribes who drove the Berbers from their places and exterminated them.

The house is a large pit over 3 meters deep and about 10 meters wide.

Cave rooms were dug in the pit walls.

The caves are warm in winter and cool in summer.

Everything is as expected in ordinary apartments. There is a bedroom and a kitchen.

There is also a well.

Now some owners even have indoor pools with imported water.

At the end of the 60s of the last century, heavy rains fell in the desert and many troglodyte dwellings were destroyed. The government built houses for them in the new part of Matmata. People did not want to leave their homes, but in the end they still began to live in new buildings, and the cave dwellings are used as summer cottages or show them to tourists, earning money on this. In addition to Matmata, there are several other cave villages in Tunisia.

But this is the most touted settlement since George Lucas' Star Wars movie. Lucas was so inspired by the lunar landscapes of these places that he filmed different scenes of the famous film in several places in the Sahara Desert.

There is even a cave hotel, bar, cafe in Matmata.
One of the episodes of the legendary film was filmed at the Sidi Driss Hotel. Everything here is like in a regular hotel - rooms, showers and toilets, a bar, a cafe where tourist groups constantly dine. Only rooms and halls are caves without windows. And it is very difficult to understand that this is a hotel from afar. Nothing indicates the presence of shelter in the desert, unless someone is drying the washed laundry.

A very unusual place, incredible houses. And what do you think? Would you be able to live in such houses permanently? Or spend at least a day in a cave hotel?
I-definitely not. I would not like to live like on a submarine. Or maybe I'm just claustrophobic ...

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