December 18-21, 2023 – A Star Wars Road Trip in Tunisia

We decided to take a road trip. As I began investigating places, I learned that several Star Wars scenes were filmed here. In fact, Tunisia is distinguished as the country with the second most number of unique Star Wars film sites (12 in total).

Our road trip began with a bit of a challenge.

Day One:
We first drove to Tunis (2.5 hours in the “wrong” direction) because a portside window that was supposed to have been delivered to the marina was held up in Customs. Not knowing where exactly to go, we went to the airport. One person directed us to an office at the airport. After finding someone who spoke English there, we were told to go somewhere else. There, we located a FedEx agent who told us that we had to go to a different location to see the Customs Inspector. He mentioned that the inspector works from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. It was about 2:00 p.m. at this point. He told us we could go there anyway to see if they would release the package.

The building he showed us on the map turned out to be the wrong building. After asking a few people where to go, we found the FedEx building. Here we learned two things: 1) the package was there, and 2) they would not release the package until the inspector had done his thing. We were instructed to return to return at 9:00 a.m. the next day.

We didn’t want to drive 2.5 hours back to Monastir only to have to return the next morning, so we spent the night in Tunis. We stayed at a lovely hotel and had a nice dinner. But we completely missed the site we were supposed to have visited that day.

Day Two:
We arrived at the FedEx office the next morning at about 9:30. The inspector arrived at about 10:30 a.m. He informed us that we needed to pay a 100 TD fee, but that we needed to go elsewhere to pay it. Luckily, the “payment” location was where we’d been the day before, so we knew where to go. We made the payment and headed back to FedEx with the receipt. We paid another 18 TD (why, we don’t know) to FedEx, after which they assured us that they would mail the package to the marina.

We now needed to drive straight to our hotel, so we didn’t get to see what we’d planned to see on the second day. We drove the last hour in the rain and darkness on some iffy roads, with water, sand and rather large rocks deposited at unexpected intervals due to recent heavy rains. We enjoyed the view of the thousands of trees planted along the way, as well as how the terrain changed from orange to tan.

We were hungry by the time we arrived (6:45 p.m.), having only had an ice cream bar for lunch. We had paid “half board” for the hotel, so they provided dinner.

Before we get to that, we need to tell you about this awesome hotel! Hotel Sidi Driss, (aka Hotel Sidi Idriss) the main attraction of the town of Matmata. This hotel was used as the actual house of Uncle Owen and Aunt B in the films. This means it was in both the Original Star Wars and the more recent Attack of the Clones. We stayed in Princess Leia’s room. Yep. We did that.

Here are some pictures of the yummy dinner, the visiting cat, the hotel, and the next day’s breakfast. What fun it was!

If you look carefully, you will see “princess Leia” on the door.

One of my favorite things about Tunisia is its varied landscape. Orchards, deserts, salt flats, oases, hills, rock and sand formations. . . . it is eye candy! Here are a couple of pictures taken on the drive to Ksar Ouled Soltane.

Ksar Ouled Soltane is a fortified granary (or ksar) in the Tataouine district in southern Tunisia. (Tataouine became the inspiration for Tatooine when the town was chosen as a filming location for exterior scenes of the desert planet.) It is spread out over two courtyards, each of which has a perimeter of multi-story cellars, or ghorfas. Like other ksour (plural of ksar) built by Berber communities, it is located on a hilltop to help protect it from raiding parties. Ksar Ouled Soltane is now a tourist destination. It was featured in the film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace in some of the scenes used to represent the slave quarters of Mos Espa, where the character Anakin Skywalker lived as a boy.

I took a lot of pictures because I was having too much fun! I mean, Star Wars!!

Our next stop was supposed to have been a place in the desert where they did some filming, but we didn’t find it. Not to worry, Michael found something equally – if not more – fun to visit: Ksar Hedada. Here are a couple of pictures I took along the way.

Ksar Hedada: This sign explains why we Star Wars fans care about it.

Scenes from Mos Espa, the (fictional) town (built for the film) inspired by Ksar Hadada.

It was time to drive to our hotel. It was about a 2.5 hour drive.

At least that was the plan.

But before we get into that, here are some more pictures of the beautiful scenery:

But what is this? A river where there should be a road?

Fifty-five minutes away from our hotel, we couldn’t help but notice that the road was flooded. No one is crossing it. We didn’t know how deep it actually was, or what was under the water, but we decided not to chance it. We’d driven through/over enough sand, water, and rocks already and were concerned about what might lay beneath this deeper running water.

The alternate route added 2+ hours to our drive and meandered through hills for a good portion of it. . . which I drove in the dark. Yay! Not. Michael used Google maps to give me a heads-up before every hairpin turn as I drove through the hills in the dark. Very helpful!

There were reflectors on the road in places.

We arrived at the hotel at 7:00 p.m. It was very nice! We had pizza and drinks in the bar area.

We spent a leisurely morning at the hotel. Here are two pictures of the hotel’s fabulous pool. Oh to be here in the summer!

We passed through salt pans in Chott el Djerid on our two-hour drive to Tozeur. We also enjoyed other nice scenery. The bottom right picture below is an example of the grass/straw (some kind of plant material, in any event) fences we saw in many places.

We arrived in Tozeur at about 1:30 p.m., ready for lunch. Google led us to a restaurant which turned out to be absolutely perfect! The food and drinks were not only very tasty, they were beautiful! The setting was beautiful as well!

Next stop, the Lars Homestead, one in a series of Tunisian relics from a galaxy far, far away. It is also the original movie-set for the home of Luke Skywalker. The small dome represents the entrance to a below-ground-level home. It was constructed in 1976, when the film crew for Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope arrived in Tunisia. After serving its purpose, it was left to decay in the middle of the desert. Still there!

Aside: We saw several mirages on the way to Lars Homestead! We were always certain there was water ahead . . . . there never was.

Turns out the dome doesn’t really lead to a below-ground-level home, but that is okay! It also turns out that it is 1.5 miles from the road, so you have to walk or run there. There was no way I was going to get this close and not take the 3-mile round trip to see it. Despite just having eaten a large lunch, I jogged to the site, took pictures, and jogged back.

You know I am doing this on purpose. Hey, it takes time to see it get bigger. 😉

Okay, I won’t continue to make you watch it get bigger bit by bit. We have arrived!

Our next stop was Mos Espa. For those who need a refresher, Mos Espa is on Tatooine. A harsh desert world orbiting twin suns in the galaxy’s Outer Rim, Tatooine is a lawless place ruled by Hutt gangsters. (Scary!) Many settlers scratch out a living on moisture farms, while spaceport cities such as Mos Eisley and Mos Espa serve as home base for smugglers, criminals, and other rogues. (Ditto!) Anakin Skywalker was born in Mos Espa. Discovered as a slave on Tatooine by Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin had the potential to become one of the most powerful Jedi ever, and was believed by some to be the prophesied Chosen One who would bring balance to the Force. Sadly, this slave boy eventually became the Jedi’s worst enemy: Darth Vader. (Scariest yet!)

In terms of tourism, Mos Espa is a famous Star Wars filming location in Tunisia. This fictional city is located in the middle of the Sahara desert near Tozeur and Nefta. This abandoned film set was built in 1997 for the filming of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. It was used again in Episode II – Attack of the Clones.

Fun fact: On the night following the third day of shooting at Mos Espa, an unexpected sandstorm destroyed many of the sets and props. The production was quickly rescheduled to allow for repairs and was able to leave Tunisia on the date originally planned.

Next up: Ong Jmal. Up till now, we’d been on paved roads, but we went a bit off road to get to Ong Jmal. According to Google, it was just another road, but it was actually just tire tracks (although well defined) in the desert. 🙂 🙂 🙂

We had never heard of Ong Jmal in relation to Star Wars. We went there and took pictures, but I just now found this to share with you. It answers all of my questions about how this site pertains to Star Wars.