Page 63 - 101+ Tips for Solo Women Travelers

What our travelers say:
8 Bring plastic bags.

For nights in the tented camp, store everything inside plastic bags.
Otherwise, it will be covered in fine sand, even if there is no sandstorm. You can
put small items inside a backpack and a large garbage bag around the pack.
—Stephanie Sweda, 4-time traveler, New York, NY

9 Browse with your eyes, buy with your hands.

In the souks, if you touch an object, the merchant will interpret this as an
invitation to barter. They can be very persistent, and may even walk alongside you
to beyond their shop to continue extolling the object’s features and benefits.

What to Eat

Moroccan cuisine blends North African, Arabic, and southern European culinary
traditions to create complex as well as delicate treats. Its iconic tagines are meat,
poultry, seafood, and vegetable stews that take their name from the clay pots in which
they are cooked. Try chicken and lemon tagine simmered with herbs, dried fruit, and
olive oil. Another must is bstilla, a Fez specialty based on phyllo pastry layered with

pigeon or chicken, almonds, sa ron, cinnamon and confectioners’ sugar.

Turkish cuisine is o en ranked as one of the world’s top three (alongside French and
Chinese). Get a good sampling when you order mezes, a platter of appetizers that
may include yaprak sarma (grape leaves filled with rice, onion, mint, currants,
peppers and cinnamon), sardalya (grilled sardines), deep-fried olives, and borek
(phyllo pastry filled with cheese, minced meat, potato, or spinach). For sweets you
must try dondurma, a frozen dessert—like ice cream that you eat with a knife and fork.
Falafel (a fried chickpea fritter) is popular all over the Middle East, but Israel makes
a reasonable claim to having the best. Israelis love to eat shakshuka, a tangy
mélange of tomatoes, peppers, onions garlic and spices, topped with poached
eggs. Known as the Palestinian national dish, maqlouba is a mouthwatering
casserole of lamb, eggplant and rice.
Try Egyptian ful, which is similar to hummus but made with fava beans. Koshari is
a platter layered with long grain brown rice, lentils and macaroni topped with fried
onions and a spicy tomato sauce. For a typical Egyptian dessert, try mahalabiya,
a rosewater-flavored ground rice dish topped with toasted nuts and cinnamon.

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