Turkish Desserts

Interestingly enough however, they also fulfill an important social and ritual function. Halvah (Helva), a confection made from semolina, is offered on the occasion of major changes in people’s lives: a birth, a death, induction into the army, return from pilgrimage, upon settling in a new home, enrolling and graduating school; and also on special occasions such as praying for rain, etc.

One of the most important holidays in the traditional Islamic calendar is the one that marks the end of the 30-day period of daytime fasting during the month of Ramadan. A popular Turkish name for the Ramadan festival is “Seker Bayrami” (literally “Sugar Holiday’), which is a sort of capstone to the lavish desserts prepared for the sundown meals during the holy month. These desserts are elaborate not only in their ingredients but also in their visual impact and presentation.

The desserts and confections of Turkey bear witness to the rich history of its people’s cuisine and geography. The dessert known as “Tavuk gögsü”, made with the milk-white meat of chicken breast was introduced into ancient Rome from the Mediterranean and reintroduced into Anatolia by the Romans. The blanc mange made in Turkey and known as “Kazan dibi” must certainly be one of the loveliest parts of the mosaic that Turks have inherited from the ancient civilizations of Anatolia.

Then there’s “Asure”, a festive pudding of cereal grains, sugar, and raisins. According to a legend, it was originally concocted in the galley of Noah’s ark from whatever was left in the pantry. The pudding is served traditionally on the tenth day of the month of Muharrem according to Islamic calendar, when preparing a batch of “Asure” and distributing it to neighbors and acquaintances is still a common custom in many areas. The Ottoman palace kitchens produced a refined version of “Asure” that was blended and strained; more common folk had to chew through the grains. They still do, to great enjoyment. Many different parts of the Ottoman Empire contributed their own local specialties to the palace kitchens where they were refined and transformed into a distinctively Ottoman- Turkish cuisine.

Turkish desserts usually fall into one of three categories:

Desserts made with fruits and vegetables
Many fresh and dried fruits are stewed into compotes in which the fluid is as important an element as is the fruit itself. Desserts made from apricots or figs are given a topping of fresh clotted cream and sometimes crushed walnuts. The same topping is used on “Kabak tatlisi”, an unusual dessert made by cooking pieces of pumpkin in syrup.

Fruit Desserts

Milk-based desserts
These include a wide variety of puddings, some of which are baked. “Keskul” is a milk pudding made with coconut. “Gullac” is a lovely confection of thin sheets of pastry in a milk sauce to which rosewater is added. Mention has already been made of “Tavuk gogsu” and “Kazan dibi” in the above.

Pastry-based desserts
These include world-famous “Baklava”, as well as “Kadayif” (made from shredded pastry baked in syrup, often filled with pistachio nuts, walnuts or clotted cream), “Revani” (a sweet made from semolina), “Hanim göbegi” and “Sekerpare” (two kinds of small sweet cake), “Yogurt tatlisi” (made with yogurt), “Badem tatlisi” (made with almonds), and “Lokma” (deep-fried lumps of butter served in syrup).

Altogether there are about 25-30 basic recipes for desserts known but with the addition of local variations the number becomes enormous (around 200). In 1539 Suleyman I gave a huge feast to celebrate the circumcision of his two sons Cihangir and Beyazid. Archival records tell us that fifty-three different desserts were offered to guests including different- flavored and colored puddings, a variety of helvahs, pastries and cakes, and a large assortment of jams and compotes.

Pastry desserts

There is an interesting anecdote that brings together the elements of Turkish desserts and the Ottoman court. During a Ramadan in the early 19th century, Sultan Mahmud II decided to pay a surprise visit to the mansion of Durrizade Esseyid Abdullah Efendi in Istanbul just before the cannon-shot signaling the end of the fasting went off. By custom, he would have to be entertained there and Abdullah, a cultured intellectual as well as an accommodating and experienced host managed to take care of his unexpected imperial guest brilliantly, marshalling the kitchen of the women’s half (harem) of the mansion to the support of the men’s side. The individual courses were done to perfection and the service came off flawlessly all until it was time for dessert, fruit compote that arrived in a clumsy, ill-formed bowl. Appalled by the sight, the sultan asked those near him “So far everything has been served in crystal and porcelain and eaten with gold cutlery; what is that ugly-looking bowl doing here?”. The host overheard this of course and immediately explained “Your majesty, my butler goes up to Camlica mountain every day to fetch drinking water from a particular spring. Rather than throw ice into the compote and risk spoiling its flavor, he fashioned a bowl of ice out of Camlica spring water.”

View our amazing Turkey Tours to experience some of these mouth watering desserts

A journey to Wadi Rum is a journey to another world, a vast, silent place, timeless and starkly beautiful. Wadi Rum is one of Jordan’s main tourist attractions being the most stunning deserts cape in the World, lying 320 km southwest of Amman, 120 km south of Petra, and only 68 km north of Aqaba.
Uniquely shaped massive mountains rise vertically out of the pink desert sand, which separate one dark mass from another in a magnificent desert scenery of strange breathtaking beauty, with towering cliffs of weathered stone. The faces of the sheer rock cliffs have been eroded by the wind into faces of men, animals and monsters.
Wadi Rum is probably best known because of its connection with the enigmatic British officer T.E. Lawrence, who was based here during the Great Arab Revolt of 1917-18, and as the setting for the film that carried his name “Lawrence of Arabia”.

Everywhere in this moonscape place are indications of man’s presence since the earliest known times. Scattered around are flint hand axes, while on the rocks at the feet of the mountains the names of ancient travelers are scratched. All around, there is emptiness and silence. In this immense space, man is dwarfed to insignificance.

Wadi Rum Landscape

The valley floors are some 900-1000 meters above sea level, and the great sandstone crags rise sheer, a further 500-550 meters. Jabal Rum is the highest peak in the area and the 2nd highest in Jordan. Others are some 27 km north of the Rum village like Jabal Kharaz and Jabal Burdah with its Rock Bridge which is one of Wadi Rum’s most popular attractions.

There are many ways to explore this fragile, unspoiled desert retreat. Serious trekkers will be drawn to Wadi Rum, with challenging climbs some 1750 m high, while casual hikers can enjoy an easy course through the colorful hills and canyons. Naturalists will be drawn to the desert in springtime, when rains bring the greening of the hills and an explosion of 2000 species of wildflowers. Red anemones, poppies and the striking black iris, Jordan’s national flower, all grow at will by the roadside and in more quiet reaches.

Stunning in its natural beauty, Wadi Rum epitomizes the romance of the desert. Now the home of several Bedouin tribes, Wadi Rum has been inhabited for generations. These hospitable and friendly desert people are settled in Wadi Rum in scattered nomadic camps throughout the area. Visitors who are invited to share mint tea or cardamom coffee in their black tents, perhaps sitting by the fire under a starry desert sky, will have an experience not to be forgotten.

The desert tribes, Huweitat and Mzanah, inhabiting Wadi Rum maintain the warm hospitality which characterizes genuine Arab culture. It would be difficult to resist their friendly invitation to share mint tea or cardamom-flavored coffee in their black tents. Enjoy the hospitality whilst sitting by the fire under a starry desert sky – an unforgettable experience.

Before reaching Wadi Rum, visitors will encounter the fort of the Wadi Rum Desert Patrol. The patrolmen are friendly, hospitable and will answer questions willingly over a cup of coffee.

Wadi Rum Desert Camp

Perfect ambassadors for their country, the men of the famous Desert Patrol wear perhaps the most beautiful uniforms in the Middle East: a long khaki dish-dash held by a bright red bandoleer, a holster with a dagger around the waist, and rifle slung over the back. The headdress is the traditional red-and-white checkered Kouffieh worn by the Bedouins of Jordan, but wrapped under the chin. The Desert Patrol operates out of an old beau guest-style police fort built in the 1930s.

Accommodation in the Wadi Rum are based on desert camps. All our Jordan Tours visiting the Wadi Rum make use of deluxe camps. These have excellent toilet and shower facilities as well as deluxe tents with comfortable beds. Meals are prepared by the Bedouins and the menu consists of traditional Jordanian food.

The life of the Bedouins

The Bedouins do not limit themselves with any geographical borders as they travel where water and food are available. Sometimes, the Bedouins walk for very long distances to search for natural resources and they usually have a very strict traveling schedule as they start their journey in the early morning and they spend the night in primitive camps in the desert. In winter, Bedouins travel to regions that are rich with trees to protect them and their animals from the wind and the cold weather.

Bedouin Man

Bedouins Music

The life of the Bedouins is like a non-stop journey in search of a better life. In spite of the limited resources they have, the Bedouins know exactly how to entertain themselves. Having no or limited use of electricity, no television sets, radios, or mobile phones, does not prevent the Bedouins from having fun. They even in many occasions have more fun than the people who live in the city.

In the afternoon, when every member of the community has finished his or her work, they gather to participate in group activities, dances, reading and improvising poetry, singing, and playing their own style of music.

The origins of Bedouin music

The origin of Bedouin music goes back to the tribes who lived in the Arabian Peninsula in the Pre-Islamic era.  During this period, music flourished in three main locations in the Arab world; in Syria, Iraq, and the Western part of the Arab Peninsula which is the type of music that had the greater impact on the music of the Bedouins of Sinai and the Eastern Desert in Egypt due to the fact that there were many trading caravans going from Egypt to Palestine and Syria.

The music during this period consisted mainly of simple intones that the singer or the music performer plays out of his own emotions and feelings.

A singer used to stand in the middle of a circle that was full of men with only one music performer who plays one single instrument.

The Bedouins at that time didn’t know about music composition. The music performer used to produce monotone notes using one instrument which was usually the drums and the tambourine.

Afterwards some more instruments were added to the music performance like cymbals and simple forms of oboes consisting only of a piece of wood with holes in different parts of it.

The chants that the Bedouins sang at that time depended mainly on various poems created by the most talented poets of the whole Arabic Language history. Pre-Islamic poems are still part of many education modules in Egypt and the Arab world until today.

Music of the Bedouins nowadays

The Bedouins, who travel for long distances every now and then, spend their free time improvising poems and singing during their long journeys. The music of Bedouins have special rules to suit their harsh life conditions because they live in the desert.

Bedouins and their camels

The Bedouin’s music is sometimes very slow to suit the movement of the camels in caravans’ journeys and sometimes the music rhythm is very fast during happy occasions like marriage ceremonies and tribal festivals.

The music usually rise from the feelings and emotions they have and it expresses their problems and hardships.

Music is mainly divided into two types; a type for men and a type for women. The type of music involving men is often accompanied by the tunes produced by the Rababa, one of the most famous Bedouin string musical instruments and it is performed in many occasions like marriage ceremonies and harvest festivals.

The type of Bedouin music involving women is mainly performed during marriage ceremonies with all the women chanting together wishing the newly married couple an everlasting happy life.

The Types of the music the Bedouins perform

After the rise of Islam, each country or region started having its own style of music and singing. The Bedouins of Egypt specialized in Al Samer, Al Hadaa’, Al Hageeny, Al Farda, and Al Tarweeda.

All these different types of music were composed of a small number of tones and rhythms which were repeated many times in the performance of one song.  One singer used to function as a solo performer of these types of music with chanters repeating the same words and tunes after him.

The Samer

The word “Samer”, is derived from the Arabic word “Samar” which means the entertainment during the day. This is because this sort of music is usually played by Bedouins to entertain themselves during the afternoon period after they finish work or during happy celebrations.

The Bedouins of Egypt started performing the Samer type of music which is close to the Egyptian “Mawal”, the slow Arabic music that depends on the voice of the singer. However, the Samer used to have much quicker rhythms.

The Hageeny

The Hageeny, or the camels’ songs, is one of the old common types of music and singing.  Travelers since the Pre-Islamic times used to sing while they are sitting on the back of their camels and horses travelling for very long distances.

These songs and chanting used to relief the fatigue of the travellers and encourage the camels to walk faster according to the rhythms of the songs.

The word “Hageeny” is derived from the word “Hagen” which means the slim fast camel that walks for long distances with travelers on its back.

One or two singers can participate in the Hageeny song. One man starts singing and the other repeats after him.

The Hageeny is one of the most spread styles of singing between the Bedouins of Egypt and it can be found in many desert regions around the land of the Nile.

Musical Instruments

The Tarweeda

The Tarweeda is an old style of Bedouin music and singing that is mainly performed during happy occasions and events.

This style of singing is spread within the Bedouins living Sinai more than the Bedouins who live in the Western and Eastern Deserts.

People gather in a group and start repeating two or three lines of poetry for a long time while other members of the group sing and dance around them.

The musical instruments of the Bedouins

There are several musical instruments that the Bedouins use to produce their music and most of these instruments are simple and primitive. However, the Bedouins have created some instruments that express their feelings and make their music unique having a special taste, different than any other type of music.

 The Shababa

The Shababa is one of the wind instruments and it consists of a hollow tube made out of iron or wood.

The length of the Shababa is usually fifty centimeters and it contains six holes. The performer blows air inside one end of the Shababa and the tunes come out of the other end and he moves his fingers covering the holes of the Shababa to change the tunes.

The Shababa is a simple primitive instrument and maybe it was the first musical instrument known to mankind. The Shababa is the best friend of grazer as he holds it in his hand or put it under his belt and he gets it out when he feels bored to play with it for hours and hours while taking care of his sheep.

The Shababa is not used by grazers only. It is usually used as well to produce music in celebrations like marriage ceremonies. The Shababa player stands out and a group of his friends stand around him in half a circle and they start singing all together.

This means the Shababa can produce different types of tunes that are sometimes happy and sometime sad according to the mood of the player and the event at which it is played.

Musical Instrument

The Shababa was usually made out of wood and then they started manufacturing using aluminum, iron, and copper. Afterwards, the Shababa was produced using strong hollow plastic

The Maqroun

The Maqroun looks like a flute with two hollow tubes which are parallel and attached to each other using strong strings.

The Maqroun is a wind instrument that has six holes, the same as the Shababa. Playing the Maqroun needs a person who enjoys very good health because it requires the player to breath while playing with it.

The Maqroun is not commonly used as the Shababa, maybe because it is usually associated with sad tunes and songs. The Maqroun therefore is never used in marriage ceremonies or any other celebrations. It is used mainly by Bedouin men when they travel alone for a long period or when they spend a long time on their own. They use the Maqroun to express their feelings of loneliness and how they miss their families.

The Rababa

The Rababa is an old string musical instrument that has only one string.  The Bedouins have known the Rababa since ancient times and it was spread very largely that in recent days there isn’t a single Bedouin house that has no Rababa which became the most famous Bedouin musical instruments and travelers can find Rababa being sold in all touristic markets all over Egypt.

The Rababa consists of a tube made of wood and one string attached to it. The player uses a wooden arc to move it on the strings to produce the music.

The Bedouins used to play with the Rababa to express their feelings of sadness and loneliness. Living in the desert most of the time means being lonely. This is why usually the Bedouin man is usually closer to himself than anything or anybody else in the world.

The Bedouins have used the Rababa to produce different tunes and music including the Hageeny and the Samer.

The Semsemya

The Semsemya is a string musical instrument with five thin metal strings attached to it. The player uses a small piece of plastic to move the strings and produce music. The Semsemya, in contradiction to the Rababa, is always associated with happy and cheerful celebrations.

The Semsemya is spread in Sinai mostly and also in cities located on the Suez Canal like Ismailia that is famous for its Semsemya bands.

Formal Bedouin Musical procession

Furthermore, some Egyptian singers started using the Semsemya in composing their songs like Tamer Hosny as it became very popular in Egypt recently to the extent that you can find vendors in the streets of Cairo and on the shores of the River Nile selling Semsemya. Many Egyptians started buying this fabulous instrument and try to learn playing with it on their own.

Egypt is a country that hosts a lot of attractions and wonders. Because of its long diverse history, significant geographical location, and moderate climate, the Land of the Nile offers travelers many activities to do, a lot of places to view and explore, and numerous regions to visit.

The Western Desert of Egypt

The Western Desert of Egypt, located between the Nile Valley and the edge of the Great African desert, is among the areas in Egypt that are still less visited and explored in comparison with other regions like Cairo, Sinai, the North Coast, and Upper Egypt.

Fifteen years ago, in the beginning of the 3^rd millennium in particular, the Western Desert of Egypt started attracting the attention of Egyptian and international travelers, especially after the Egyptian government developed the road going from Cairo to the oasis located in the Western Desert.

White Desert

The section that attracts tourists the most in the Western Desert is that particular area located between the Bahariya Oasis in the South and the Farafra Oasis in the North. This is because this area hosts three major wonders: The White Desert, the Crystal Mountains, and the Black Desert.

The White Desert

When you leave the Nile Valley moving into the Western Desert the yellow color of the sand and the baby blue color of the sky are the dominant colors, or maybe the only two colors in this fantastic bilateral colored portrait.

Suddenly the ice white color starts entering this natural painting in the form of strange looking white rocks. Now you know you have entered the protected area of the white desert. Located 500 kilometers to the South West of Cairo and 30 kilometers to the North of the Farafra Oasis, the White Desert became one of the most popular touristic spots in Egypt welcoming more than 10% of the total number of travelers visiting Egypt every year.

Occupying a surface area of around 3000 kilometers, the White Desert is the most popular attraction in the Western Desert and maybe in Egypt as a whole.  The White Desert even started attracting advertisings directors and it appeared in many television ads for international brands like Chevrolet.

How was the White Desert formed?

One of the theories asserts that in ancient times the White Desert and all this area around it was covered by an ocean or a huge sea. This was why all these white rocks were formed in that spot due to the white chalk of the sea.

Clear evidence that this theory might be true is that travelers can still see some seashells inside the rocks of the mountains in the White Desert.

Another theory claimed that the rocks of the white desert are some sort of upper cretaceous rocks which belong to the Pliocene age millions of years ago. Because of erosion of these limestone rocks over the years, all these rocks gained their startling formations.

White Desert Sand Formations

The White Desert is famous for its bizarre white rock formations with some rocks looking like stars, mushrooms, animals, objects and human beings.

Inside the White Desert, there are some specific spots in particular that attract visitors. One of these spots is the “Mushroom Area” as people prefer to call it.  This area is famous for a huge limestone rock that looks exactly like a mushroom.

Another point of attraction is the “finger of god” “, which is a 20 meters high rock formation in the shape of a chisel. This rock can be seen from far away and the Egyptian call it the finger of god because it looks exactly like a finger rising from the sand pointing to the sky.

The White Desert has become the most popular safari tours destination in Egypt in the last few years. This is because it presents a different experience other than the safaris organized in the Red Sea or in Sinai. The atmosphere overall is totally different with the marvelous white rocks and some old tools and ruins belonging to ancient times.

There are three natural water springs in the protected area of the White desert. They are Ain Hadara, Ain Al Sero, and Ain Al Makfy. These wells are surrounded by palm trees and they provide the animals living in the White Desert with the water they need to survive. Moreover, the spots where these springs are located are the major rest and transit points for travelers visiting the white desert.

There are also many animals to be observed in the protected area of the White Desert including deer, foxes, and some rare breeds of birds.

The governmental project of developing the White Desert

Recognizing the importance of the White Desert, the Egyptian Government has announced the project of “developing the White Desert protected area”. The Italian government, participating in the project, has granted Egypt with six million pounds to enhance and develop the infrastructure, provide transportation means and equipment to manage the affairs of the protected area, and provides capacity building programs for the employees working in the administration of the protected area of the White Desert.

This governmental project will also assist the local community by establishing a special hall for the locals to present their products to the visitors. They are planning to construct a museum as well to exhibit the items found in the White Desert.

The White Desert is very near to the destination where scientists discovered the remnant of the most ancient dinosaur in the world 30 kilometers to the south of Al Farafra Oasis.

The crystal mountain

After viewing the wonders of the White Desert the traveler will have a chance to explore the Crystal Mountain.

The Crystal Mountain is this shinning hill with the sunlight directed towards it resulting in making the mountain sparkle like crystals.

There are two theories concerning the formation of the Crystal Mountain. The first theory stated that this bizarre mountain was a cave in the very beginning made out of limestone, stalactites, and stalagmites. Afterwards, during one or maybe many of the earth quakes the top of this cave was destroyed and the erosions resulted in the figure we view today.

Another theory, the volcanic theory stating that all the formations in the Western Desert resulted from the fact that this destination was full of volcanoes in ancient times, confirmed that the rocks of the crystal mountain are volcanic dating from the Oligocene age.

The crystal mountain is the most favorites spot for travelers to take photographs because of its fabulous natural formation.

The Black Desert

Located at the end of the road leading from the Farafra Oasis to the Bahariya Oasis to the North of the White Desert, the Black Desert is another fascinating point of attraction for tourists in the Western Desert of Egypt.

The black volcanic hill which exploded in ancient times producing a substance called Jasper which formulated the rocks of the Black Desert.

Black Desert

The black rock formations of volcanic rocks dating to different ancient eras resulted in transforming the yellow whitish sands and mountains in this area into a black painting with numerous black rocks spread all over the area.

The mountains of the Black Desert vary in color from one to the other. Some of them are dark gloomy black because of the iron “Doloret” formations, others tend to be reddish due to the iron sandstones formations, while others look similar to the mountains of the White Desert with the white limestone rock formations. This gives the Black Desert an overall dramatic sense making travelers feel they are visiting an area that is located outside the planet Earth.

The Black Desert is a favorite spot for photographers because of the contrast of the black rocks, with the baby blue colored sky, and the yellow and orange colors of the surface of the Black Desert.

Another interesting sight is Gebel El Engliz, or the mountain of the British people. This mountain was used by the British army during World War II as a major monitoring point because this mountain is among the highest in the Western Desert where can view the entire oasis from there.

A traveler can view the Black Desert while going from the Bahariya Oasis in the north to the Farafra Oasis in the south. However, if  tourists wants to enter the Black Desert for an exotic adventure, it is highly recommended to have a guide escorting them. The travelers can discover the Black Desert in their own style and then climb the English Mountain for matchless views of the Egyptian Western Desert.

Black Desert

The Black Desert becoming a protected area 

In 2010, Ahmed Nazif, the Egyptian prime minster, has issued a decree transforming the area hosting the Black Desert, the English Mountain, and the Dest, where the oldest dinosaur was discovered, into a protected area.

The first reason behind this decision is the geographical location of this area being between two other protected areas; the White Desert to the south and the Siwa protected areas to the north.

The other reason is that this area proved to have a significant scientific value after many ancient fossils being discovered there including Dinosaur fossils. Therefore, the Egyptian Government, intending to protect the natural resources of the country, has declared many locations in Egypt as protected areas.

Elite Tour Club offers tailor made holidays to experience the contrast of the white and black deserts.