Istanbul is home to the largest covered market in the world, the Grand Bazaar. The Turkish bazaars compared to the Moroccan souks are like comparing Plaza Frontenac to South County Mall pre-renovation; they are cleaner, nicer and more like an establishment than alleyways. The entrances to the Grand Bazaar are all guarded by cops (not really sure why, but it gives you somewhat of a sense of security) it is made up of hundreds of different pedestrian-only streets lined with little stalls on either side. They sell lots of scarves, knick knacks, fake designer handbags, leather goods, Persian rugs, and tons of jewelry. I tried on numerous earrings and rings, but as most were real precious metals and stones, they were almost all above my budget (I think I’m a good bargainer, but getting someone down from 50 Euros to 5 Euros is nearly impossible.) We first went to the Grand Bazaar right before closing on Friday night, and it was pleasantly uncrowded and the vendors we willing to give us “good prices”. I tried my first taste of Turkish Delight (Chronicles of Narnia, anyone?). The candy comes in all different flavors (I had mint) and has the texture of a marshmallow (but a little more solid) and is covered in a powdered-sugar like coating. I think my first taste of Turkish delight will also be my last.
Saturday morning we experience the Spice Bazaar, which is a smaller version of the Grand Bazaar with lots of stalls selling….wait for it….spices. The spices are all in huge bins and open to the air. You can pick which ever you want and they’ll put in it a vacuum sealed bag for you to take home. I really wanted to buy some, but decided a) I don’t really cook and b) even if I did cook, I wouldn’t know what to use the spices for. I settled on buying a bag of pistachios to snack on during the day. The Spice Bazaar also had traditional beauty supplies and natural sponges hanging from the ceilings.
Saturday morning after the bazaar we went on a cruise along the Bosporus Straight. The Straight is the body of water that separates the European side of Istanbul from the Asian side, but to an outsider, you really can’t tell the difference between the two sides. It just looks like a big body of water or a really wide river cutting through the city. Part of the boat ride took us past the most expensive hotel in Istanbul, where a room costs $24,000 USD per night (who would pay that?!?) We also passed along a row of water front houses that are among the most expensive in Istanbul, ranging from $5 million to $25 million. The historic homes on the water were built in the 1800s for the wives of the sultan (he had many wives and each of the important ones got her own house, where she and her kids lived). Notably absent from the houses were any sort of balconies (you’d think on a waterfront home they’d be numerous), because they didn’t want to babies crawling around and accidentally falling off the balconies. Our boat ride was nice, but it was a little long and we all enjoyed a little nap during the second half.
After the boat tour we went to Topkapi Palace, the former residence of the Sultan (the country now has a modern government, not sure what kind. Maybe I missed that during my nap.) The palace grounds are comprised of many different buildings, outer and inner courtyards, and receiving rooms. It was quite different from a European palace in that European palaces tend to be massive buildings with hundreds of rooms, but the Istanbul palace was more spread out with green space in between all the buildings. The architecture was different as well, in that the shapes of rooves and doorways was more Middle Eastern and of course there was Arabic written everywhere. Part of the palace now serves as a museum, and it houses things like the fifth largest diamond in the world (HUGE), the rod Moses used to part the Red Sea (uh huh, riiiight) and the prophet Muhammad’s swords (very bedazzled I must say). It was the first Muslim palace I have been to so it was interesting to see the things on display there and how excited the Muslims touring were to see it. I was completely out of my element in that I really know nothing about Islam and just by reading the descriptions of the objects I learned a few things about the religion.
Pictures: Spices in the Spice Bazaar, me at the Topkapi Palace, jewlery in the Grand Bazaar
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