Archive for February, 2010
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February26
The Timeless Desert
“And all around is the Desert; a corner of the mournful Kingdom of Sand.”
Pierre Loti, French Novelist and Naval Officer
The desert has a strong relationship with spiritual quests. The desert itself invokes images of a vast expanse, where man may be alone to commune with the higher power and forces of nature. For the Sufi poet Rumi, poetry about the desert was an allegory for a spiritual quest of the Soul journeying into the infinite.
The Libyan Desert (Arabic: الصحراء الليبية) is located in the northern and eastern part of the Sahara Desert. It occupies Egypt west of the Nile (the Egyptian portion is thus called the Western Desert), eastern Libya and northwestern Sudan alongside the Nubian Desert. Covering an area of approximately 1,100,000 square kilometers, it extends approximately 1100 km from east to west, and 1,000 km from north to south, in about the shape of a rectangle. Like most of the Sahara, this desert is primarily sand and hamada or stony plain.The desert features a striking diversity of landscapes including mountains like Jebel Uweinat (1980m, the Gilf Kebir plateau, and sand seas as detailed below. The Libyan Desert is barely populated apart from the modern settlements in eastern Libya.
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February13
Al-Athar Restaurant
Al-Athar Restaurant ( “The Ruins”) is one of Tripoli’s most famous restaurants, and popular with tourists. It is located right behind the Marcus Aurelius arch and has a unique vibe all it’s own. The restaurant has a summer embankment surrounding Marcus Aurelius arch from three sides, and often has musical bands playing on most nights.
Eat here at least once, depending on the days you intend to spend in Tripoli. A very ambient experience,best time is the evening when the Arch is illuminated.
Menu: A classical Libyan menu. Libyan soup, small salad dish, couscous with fish or chicken, or a traditional “Tajeen”
- Specialty: popular meals (fish & meat) made on the Libyan kitchen style.
- Seating Capacity: 150 seating capacity in winter, expanded to 350 al fresco in summer.
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February5
Libyan Cuisine
Libyan cuisine culture is a mixture of Arabic and Mediterranean, with a strong Italian influence. Italy’s legacy from the days when Libya was an Italian colony can be seen in the popularity of pasta on its menus, particularly macaroni.
A famous local dish is couscous (kuskisee in Arabic), which is a boiled cereal (traditionally millet, now fairly often wheat) used as a base for meat and potatoes. The meat is usually lamb, but chicken is served occasionally. Sharba is a highly-spiced Libyan soup. Bazin, a local speciality is a hard paste, made from barley, salt and water.
Fish is in abundance in Libya, and fresh fish is available every day and night. Therefore it is no surprise that fish dishes are also very popular with Libyans and foreigners alike.
An evening’s visit to one of the great number of restaurants at the so-called Il-Hofra, is an experience no visitor to Libya should miss.
Each and every restaurant at Il-Hof-ra displays a great variety of fish on large trays in front of the restaurant. The customer picks out the fish he fancies, checks the price and then sits at a table inside the restaurant to be served the mouth-watering savoury fish dishes grilled on charcoal normally at the entrance to the restaurant.
Libyans also seem to have a sweet tooth. Everybody seems to like desert, not just after meals. Libyans have all sorts of traditional desert dishes, one of the most popular being the Asida, usually eaten on Eid day. It consists of a dough eaten with melted butter and honey.
Fruit, mostly oranges, is also in abundance in Libya and foreigners are usually impressed by its large size, juiciness and deliciousness.
Libyans prefer to eat at home, except on Fridays, when they enjoy family beachside picnics, or go to restaurants. Many of the eating places have sections specially reserved for family parties.
For the most part, foreigners use restaurants and cafes during the other days of the week. Menus have become more sophisticated and foreigners eating out can find a great variety of mainly Libyan and Middle Eastern cuisine.
International cuisine is also available in the newly opened restaurants and large hotels.
I accordance with the laws of Islam all alcoholic drink is banned in Libya. Bottled mineral wat-er is however widely consumed, as are various soft drinks and international brands of non-alcoholic beer.
Fruit juices, particularly orange, can be bought in season from street stalls. Then there’s Libyan tea, which is a thick beverage served in a small glass, often accompanied by mint or peanuts.
Coffee is also very popular and high-quality brands from Europe and South America are easily accessible. A cup of tea or coffee is normally followed by a glass of water, again, influenced by years of Italian occupation of Libya in the last century.
This article originally appeared in The Tripoli Post.
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