Travels in Turkey, Part 4 of 12
One of the things that I love to do when I am away from home is to visit the local street markets and bazaars. Generally, these foreign markets are so fascinating that the girls enjoy them every bit as much as I do. We get a great taste of what the locals do and buy and end up learning something new with every step.
Soon after our travel arrangements had been finalized, I realized that we would have to see the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul on our first or second day in Turkey, since it is closed on Sundays. After we made our way to our hotel via Istanbul’s public transportation system and had lunch at a little sidewalk cafe, Rob was crashing. We took him back to the hotel then I headed out alone with the girls to go to the Grand Bazaar via funicular and tram. As we approached the station, the skies opened up and it started to HAIL! We ran for cover along with everyone else!
We arrived at the bazaar via the tram and made our way by all of the vendors hawking umbrellas into the covered bazaar. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Would we get lost? Would we be able to find our way back out? In the end, I shouldn’t have worried. The hallways all were laid out very clearly. We enjoyed walking around the different areas of the market, taking in all of the wonderful wares. I found the salesmen to be very friendly and funny and definitely not pushy, which, as an American tends to drive me nuts and move on instead of looking longer. The girls, despite jetlag and lack of sleep enjoyed every minute of our random walk through the colors, sounds and smells of this famous, exotic place!
After we made our way out, I continued to follow my nose through very crowded market streets down to the spice market. We could smell it before we even got there. The hallways at this smaller market are not as many or as full of diverse wares, but they were full of spices, nuts, dried fruit and candy! Chloe was in heaven! We came back to the spice market the next day so Chloe could get some of her favorite things. The clerk in the store we patronized as friendly and helpful; we all enjoyed making the small purchase.
A week and a half later, we arrived in Selcuk on market day. Despite being tired from the intense travel of the previous couple of days, we managed to get down to the open street market. It very much reminded me of the street markets in France. There were streets and streets full of fresh fruit and veggies, meat, cheese, eggs, and then also lots of bric-a-brac for sale.
We highly recommend finding out when the local markets are in operation and heading out to explore!
