When visiting the famed pottery village of Tunis in Fayoum, one will find a number of wonderful accommodation options, from hotel-like lodges Barefoot in Tunis however, is not a mere Airbnb listing, but an experience in and of itself.
Book now Barefoot in Tunis village Fayoum
“When I first came [to Tunis Village] ten years ago, I fell in love with the serenity of this small village. I loved the fact that expats and local fellaheen live door to door. Over the years, I came back several times and always enjoyed its calm and nature,” explains Sahra Gemeinder, owner of Barefoot in Tunis, as to why she decided to build Barefoot in Tunis in the first place.
Barefoot in Tunis is a small area of land which hosts a selection of three tiny houses that guests may rent for short or long periods of time, each of which was built using sustainable methods and recycled materials. The tiny house culture or movement has actually been steadily on the rise in recent years.
Book now Barefoot in Tunis village Fayoum
More and more people all over the world have opted to ‘live with less’ by living in tiny homes that are built sustainably and have just the right amount of things needed in attempts to promote general sustainable living. This ‘tiny house culture’ is all about getting rid of excess materials we may not necessarily need and limiting the use of various resources such as electricity and water.
“I was working in the field of sustainable tourism promotion for a few years and found the topic super interesting,” Gemeinder tells Egyptian Streets, “Egypt has great potential to become a major player in the sustainable tourism fields as it is endowed with a range of natural resources; but they are not utilized properly.”
With that in mind, Gemeinder set out to buy a piece of land through which she would be able to promote sustainable tourism in Egypt. Tunis Village seemed like a perfect option to do just that for several reasons, she explains, among which include the fact that it is a mere two hour drive away from Cairo – making it both an easy weekend getaway, as well as facilitating the running of errands for her personally. Gemeinder goes on to say that, “People are very friendly and its nature is impeccable; you have fresh air, no traffic, can go to the desert, sit at the lake, walk through green fields, be creative and do pottery, or lie at the pool. All this in one location – what else does one need?”
When it comes to how she settled on creating a range of tiny homes available to rent in one place, Gemeinder explains that she researched a lot into sustainable construction methods and tiny homes kept popping up.
“Those utterly efficient houses looked gorgeous and were placed in nature so your garden becomes your living room,” she says “Being a child of nowadays consumerist culture myself, I found the idea to minimize and learn to live with less quite intriguing; more so, the idea of building a house myself was quite exciting.”
Gemeinder also goes on to say that one of her goals out of these tiny homes was to be able to show people that environmental conscious construction and focusing on the essentials of living can still be luxurious. “Many fly to other countries to stay in nature retreats and enjoy that its beauty lies in its simplicity. Why shouldn’t we be able to do so in our own country? You don’t need much space to create a little refugee,” she says.
The actual construction of these houses, however, was quite the learning process. “The first [house] (Barefoot – which accommodates three people) was the hardest to build; I had no experience whatsoever and made a lot of mistakes. It took a while until I understood what I want and until I found a team of good people that understood what I want and how I want it done,” Gemeinder says, »
Book now Barefoot in Tunis village Fayoum
