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Douiret.
Hillside cave village
Not unlike
Chenini,
Douiret is a village that has been cut out of the hillside, and
follows the mountain for about a kilometer.
Except at the center, around the white, simple, and beautiful
mosque, it's only one street. Douiret is now very much abandoned,
and only a handful of the houses are inhabited. The effect is
striking, even if houses all have the same color as the mountain
behind, and it is really only the kasbah on top of the hill right
behind the mosque, as well as the white mosque itself, that is
visible from a distance.
The 20-30 people that still live here, are Berbers to the full
extent as they keep up their own language. But what is happening
now is that all young are not only leaving old Douiret in order to
live in the new, and dull, settlement a bit down the valley,- are
are also changing into Arabic language.
When you walk along the one long street, you'll see some few women
dressed in colorful, traditional garment, still staring surprised
at you even after all these years of tourism, you'll see small
goats and all the small doors that often are highly ornamented.
The main income of Douiret is olives, and the oil is pressed here,
by camel-powered constructions.
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