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- Painted house facades: Walls are decorated with white, red and ochre geometric motifs and framed doorways. The women of the town do the painting, and each house has its own variation.
- Interior courtyards and niches: Inside, mud-plastered rooms have carved and painted wall niches meant for displaying household items. Your guide will arrange a visit to a home.
- Manuscript libraries: Family and museum collections preserve old Arabic manuscripts. You see fragile pages in leather bindings and learn how scholars once copied them.
- The old stone lanes: Narrow alleys wind between low walls of dry stone and clay. Walking them at slow pace shows how the town stayed cool and shaded.
- Mosque of Oualata: A modest, earthen religious building in the traditional style, it stands in the heart of the old quarter and
- Painted house facades: Walls are decorated with white, red and ochre geometric motifs and framed doorways. The women of the town do the painting, and each house has its own variation.
- Interior courtyards and niches: Inside, mud-plastered rooms have carved and painted wall niches meant for displaying household items. Your guide will arrange a visit to a home.
- Manuscript libraries: Family and museum collections preserve old Arabic manuscripts. You see fragile pages in leather bindings and learn how scholars once copied them.
- The old stone lanes: Narrow alleys wind between low walls of dry stone and clay. Walking them at slow pace shows how the town stayed cool and shaded.
- Mosque of Oualata: A modest, earthen religious building in the traditional style, it stands in the heart of the old quarter and shows the local Islamic scholarly tradition.
- Sandy edges of the town: The surrounding dunes and rocky ridge give wide views over the flat roofs, and the colors shift as the day moves on.
- Craft and tea stops: Small shops and family homes offer leatherwork, silver and the slow, sweet three-round Mauritanian tea, a good way to meet people.
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Hi, I’m Johan (Netherlands 🇳🇱), the creator of TakeYourBackpack. Over the past 3 decades, I’ve backpacked through 90+ countries across six continents, gaining extensive experience with independent travel, long-term trips, and overland routes.