7/28/2023 0 Comments Ghardaia flacon![]() I was the only guest during my stay besides the live-in staff from Mali. ![]() To find out more details about cost, hotels, and contact info, click here to read my guide of Algeria. We drove to my guesthouse in the oasis which was quite isolated from the five villages and built in a traditional style.īrilliant local carpets covered the floors and furniture mixed with the white stucco. I arrived in the afternoon, and my guide, Ibrahim, picked me up at the airport. Surrounding the village were walls, forming a citadel of each village. The village is designed to coexist with the harsh desert environments, with scorching hot days, chilly nights, and occasional sand storms. Within the village walls, there are no automobiles, just winding and hilly stone paths and alleys. A market place serves as the center of each village. ![]() This design is also used to create a coherent, orderly, and equitable environment for all inhabitants with each house being approximately similar in size. Houses then were constructed in concentric circles, extending out from the mosque. The minaret at the mosque also served as a watch tower. All five settlements were anchored with a mosque at the top of the hill serving as the highest point. Each village was planned in a similar fashion to create a fortified town, protecting them from nomadic groups. They created five separate villages on rocky hills. This area was settled in the 11 th century by the Mozabites, a Muslim Ibadi (different than Sunni and Shiite) sect of non-Arabic Muslims. The M’Zab Valley is 600 km south of Algiers, and the valley is located in the Sahara Desert. M’Zab Valley is a pentapolis (how about that for a cool word), comprised of five towns, including Ghardaia, the defacto capital. Nearly 400,000 people make their home in the M’Zab Valley. As I watch, I recall the varied mix of peoples in Mos Epsa, one of the port cities of Tatooine. ![]() I attempted to blend into the background at the lively local market in Ghardaia, observing the different cultures in local dress go about their business. I feel this is an apt description of the exotic M’Zab Valley in Algeria, but this text is describing the fictional planet of Tatooine, Luke Skywalker’s home in Star Wars. The landscape was covered with sand dunes, mountains, and canyons which made traversing very difficult.” Source. “(It) was oppressed by a scorching climate…was covered in harsh deserts, and only a small part could sustain life. ![]()
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