From Djerba, we went south making our way to Tataouine where we would spend two nights. Tataouine is a good base for exploring the Berber ruins in nearby Chenini and Ksar Ouled Soltane. (The only item of note in the town of Tataouine was the “Celine Dion” café …that just made us giggle. 
)
The cycling to Chenini was awesome, really quite spectacular. The mountainous dry landscape, dotted with old Berber dwellings, is very interesting (parts of Star Wars were filmed here). The road was practically deserted. With the exception of the occasional 4X4 or sheep herder and his sheep, we pretty much had the road to ourselves. Chenini itself is very interesting and really should not be missed.
After spending the morning in Chenini, we returned to Tataouine and headed in the other direction toward Ksar Ouled Soltane. Ksar Ouled Soltane is another magnificent site, a real gem. I hate to report though that the ride there was rather unpleasant. Several kids and teenagers along the route threw rocks or otherwise tried to harass us. At one point, an entire football field of teenagers ran onto the road. The goal seems to be to annoy and intimidate rather them to harm, but it’s never a great feeling to have someone throw rocks at you, regardless of the intent.
The following day, we road on quiet, very scenic roads to Matmata. The big thing to do there is to sleep in one of the many troglodyte hotels, i.e. to sleep in a cave. Obviously, we couldn’t pass that up. Our room/cave was actually pretty cute and quite comfortable. It’s just like sleeping in a very, very, very dark room.
One thing we’ve noticed is that the further south we have gone, the more and more traditional things have become and the fewer and fewer woman we have seen on the streets. The coffee shops are packed but I seemed to be the only woman patron. This is a very big contrast to Tunis.
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