Blue and White City by the Sea
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I believe in beauty for beauty's sake,
That no matter where it hides,
It's never wasted.
The photos on this page were all taken in Tunisia; a few of them in the Sahara Desert,
many of them in the Mediterranean coastal town of Sidi Bou Said, known as the "blue
and white city" because of the prominence of those colors in most of its buildings.
When we hear the words 'Star Wars,' most of us think
of a galaxy far, far away.  But, transporting the cast
and crew of the epic films to such a galaxy proved
to be problematic, so sets on earth were required.
It needs neither praise nor adoration to justify its being.
It exists.  It need do no more to serve its purpose.
I believe in beauty as a noble end within itself.
Were beauty made for man alone,
It would not adorn the silent floors of oceans
Or be buried for eternity beneath the desert's sands.
If a man should wander from his charted way
And chance upon a thing of beauty, hidden,
Then it's he who will be rewarded,
He who will be changed.
The thing of beauty will remain the same
As it was before he came,
As it will be when he is gone.
-- Jim Metcalf, "In Some Quiet Place"
This explains the odd (some might say 'alien')
machines and huts that can be found in a remote
desert in southern Tunisia, where scenes set on the
planet Tatooine were filmed in most of the movies.
If you visit, you can sleep in Luke Skywalker's old home
(now a hotel) and wander among the Star Wars props,
still in place - waiting (and, undoubtedly, hoping) for
the return of Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, C-3PO, et al. :-)