Thursday March 28th, 2024
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It's Time to Eat Sweet Dates While Exploring the Beautiful Siwa Oasis

Ramadan isn’t the only time for you to binge eat dates - that's what the Egyptian Date Palm Festival in Siwa is for.

Staff Writer

It's Time to Eat Sweet Dates While Exploring the Beautiful Siwa Oasis

Trying to learn more about your roots? Taking a break from the materialistic Cairo life – the life of takeout pizza sauce drooling down your face while binge-gaming Call of Duty? How about a few dates on a gorgeous oasis? No, not those kinds of dates... We can't quite help you with those.

Starting on October 27th, thousands of people will be venturing throughout Siwa to discover the art of date farming and dive headfirst into the culture and lifestyle of the people of Siwa during the second three-day Egyptian Date Palm Festival. Life in Siwa is so far removed from hustle and bustle of Cairene city life; it'd be great to get our sweet tooth satisfied while exploring breathtaking views at the same time.

Why dates, though? Apparently dates have been a big deal for Egyptian culture since way back in the times of the ancient Egyptians. According to a report issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt produces a huge chunk of the world’s date production – 16.6 percent, to be exact.

With the amount of food festivals around the city, junk food we eat at work, and then even more junk food we eat after work, we're essentially living in an endless food coma. We – the people of Cairo as a whole, really – need a detox. We need to hop into the famed Cleopatra’s Bath or in the Salt Lake and actually detox the bodily damage away.

Why is this starting to sound like a scene from the Cleopatra movie where there's an oasis with a beautiful view and the lovely Queen of Egypt is being fed dates while bathing and being tended to by her loyal subjects? No guarantee you'll find the lush Cleopatra treatment when you head to Siwa, but it's definitely an incredibly sweet cultural experience. 

 

Check out more on this awesome experience on the festival’s Facebook page and website.