Complex sentence: Wrapping around the Byrsa from the south to the north east, the earlier residential districts were nestled, the houses being whitewashed and blank to the street but within were courtyards open to the sky.
Split into simpler sentences: Wrapping around the Byrsa from the south to the north east, the early residential districts were nestled. Houses usually were whitewashed and blank to the street but within were courtyards open to the sky.