This is the first in a series of four posts on Star Wars in Tunisia.
In 2006 we were living in London and looking for somewhere to spend our Christmas holiday.We chose Tunisia for several reasons. Firstly, it was cheaper than Sicily, our first choice. Secondly, Tunisia offered an intriguing mix of winter sun, Roman ruins, desert landscapes and north African culture. And thirdly, I won’t deny that the Star Wars connection had its appeal.
Star Wars? That’s right. Star Wars might be set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, but it was filmed in Tunisia in the 1970s and 1980s (and yes the 1990s too, *sigh*). The planet Tatooine is named for the Tunisian village of Tataouine, though no filming actually took place there.
We started our Tunisian travels in the capital, Tunis, and this was our first exposure to real-life Jedi cloaks. I knew that they were traditional Berber cloaks but I wasn’t sure if people still wore them or not. In Tunis, I saw them on sale in the souks (markets) but as I didn’t actually see anyone wearing them, I thought maybe they were just for tourists.
Not so. We were just an hour or so out of Tunis on a louage (public mini bus) bound for Sfax when we passed shepherds tending their flocks who were wearing the cloaks. They looked like Jedis.
From Sfax we were planning to head to Douz to explore the desert and see the Sahara Festival. We knew that the desert got cold at night so we decided to buy cloaks in Sfax. My boyfriend (now husband) bought a blue one with arms and a straight body that went to his mid calf and I bought a brown one that was a more hardcore cloak – super long, with no arm holes. Unlike in Tunis, there was no hardcore sell in the Sfax souk. We liked the people at our stall and we were fresh in the country so we didn’t haggle much. We ended up paying 55 Tunisian Dinar (about $US40 on 2009 rates) for both two cloaks. In hindsight I think we could have got it for less but we were fairly happy with that.
It turned out to be one of the best investments we’ve ever made. It was absolutely freezing in the desert and I can’t imagine how we would have made it through the camel camping trip without the cloaks. They keep the sand off you during the day and keep you relatively warm at night. Since Tunisia the cloaks have also served duty as Prospero’s cloak in a production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest and as snug Halloween outfits (though we really needed a light saber to complete the outfit).
The next post in the series will be published next Monday. Please subscribe so you don’t miss out.
Related posts: Star Wars series
Also: Other posts on time travel. (The events of Star Wars happened ‘a long time ago’, don’t you know?).
Being based in Europe, you can get to cool places for far cheaper than from the U.S. I wish I’d seen more of Africa while I was still living on that side of the world!
.-= Camels & Chocolate´s last blog ..Happy Anniversary, Germany =-.
Oh!! Can I say how much I love you?
My husband is not that adventurous and Africa for him seems to be out of question in our traveling plan. But you just give me a good, compelling way to convince him. I don’t think he will say no to this.
BTW, do they sell kid size cloak?
.-= Amy @ The Q Family´s last blog ..5 Tips for Family Hiking With Kids =-.
Thanks for your comment. I don’t specifically recall but there are Berber children so I’m sure there are kid size cloaks. Stay tuned for the rest of the series – ‘Star Wars’ is a specific tag so you’ll be able to see all the posts on this page as they are published: http://www.roamingtales.com/tag/star-wars/ – Caitlin.
Ok, reading this post might have just sealed the deal for a trip to Tunisia. We are going through a huge Star Wars phase right now with our kids. Didn’t realize the Tunisian connection. Our recent trip to Cappodocia had us wondering if any episodes were filmed there. My son would flip for one of those jedi cloaks and camping in the desert sounds very exciting. Can’t wait to read more in this series!
.-= Dim Sum, Bagels, and Crawfish´s last blog ..Turkish Delight: Istanbul =-.
I’m glad I found this post.
I got my own berber cloak back in 1998 in Morocco, I’ve worn it on quite a few occasions. I love it
They make good bread too.