Matmata is a village you have to look down into. The houses of this Berber settlement in southern Tunisia are dug into the earth, around deep circular pits with rooms cut into the walls around them, so that from the road you see only a scatter of craters in the stony ground and a few chimneys. The people built them like this to escape the extreme heat and cold, and the clay and limestone keep temperatures steady through the year. Walking into one, down a ramp or tunnel, you pass from glaring sunlight into a cool, whitewashed courtyard where goats and chickens wander.
Many of the families have moved up to modern houses nearby, and some of the old pit homes now serve visitors, with rooms or a café in the courtyard. One of them was used as the home of Luke Skywalker's family in the first Star Wars film, and it is still a popular visit. The film crews came back later to nearby places, and the area is dotted with sets and relics that give it an odd mix of ancient and modern.
The landscape is part of the Jebel Dahar, a range of hills and plateaux that rise out of the desert plain, and it is dry, rocky and stripped, with olives and palms in the oasis pockets. The ride from Gabès, about forty kilometres to the east, climbs through low barren hills on a road that is mostly good but narrow in places, with trucks, goats and occasional gravel on the bends. Wind can be strong on the exposed ridges and dust can blow across the road. Spring and autumn are the best times to ride; summer afternoons are scorching, and you should start early and carry plenty of water.
In the village you can find simple restaurants serving brik, a fried pastry parcel with egg, couscous with lamb and sweet mint tea. Bargaining is part of daily life, so stay friendly and good humoured. Fuel is best taken in Gabès before you climb, since only small supplies are available in the village, and mechanics are scarce out here.
Take time to wander through a courtyard and look up at the sky from the bottom of a pit. It is a rare way to see the desert.