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Published: October 7th 2015
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Slept in this morning and had a slow start before we headed out and started making our way to the Grand Bazaar that is over 500 years old and has appx. 4400 shops inside. This market was immediately different from others we have experienced in the world. First, it's indoors. Second, there are actual store fronts and "shop areas" not booths/stalls. And third, far less aggressive shop keepers than in other countries. There was definitely the haggling for price, but not as extreme as with previous trips. About 2 minutes after walking in, we saw a carpet store with a nice rug in the window Matt commented on. The shop owner was an older gentleman and asked if we knew anything about Turkish carpets and we told him very little. He told us he was 4th generation for his shop with multiple store locations and to come on in for a lesson. No pressure to buy and that "we would leave with friendship, and if we do business we do business and that is good." These guys are too cute. Once inside they gave us a mini lesson on the areas of the country and styles, and then started showing us
a few. This is when the great conversation began with the shopkeeper. He asked where we were from and once he found out NJ, he lit up and talked about how he was visiting his friend in Secaucus during the Superbowl and watched it on TV in a sports bar. He told us he didn't understand the game of American Football and why the men were always running in different directions and that he had the hottest spice of his life that night....buffalo wings. Hearing him describe it was adorable. He wanted to know what Americans thought of the Turkish...did they think because they are predominately Muslim they are Arabs? Were people scared for us to visit the country, etc? He asked a lot of questions and shared that on his trip to America he was nervous of how he would be treated as a Muslim. The most adorable part of his story was that he told us how nice everyone was, even the police. They drove from NJ to Florida (again his face was so lit up as he described how wonderful it was, and how we can drive so freely and straight using "cruise control) BUT the police
were so nice because they were going 95mph when pulled over on I-95....they though 95 was the speed limit!!! Anyway we spent quite a while in the shop talking while they literally pull out hundreds of rugs. They brought us fresh made lemonade and we really had a fun time. We ended up deciding to get one we loved as it's something we will always have and remember this experience by. Luckily they can roll these up pretty darn small so we will be able to bring it home with us and not have to ship it (a lofty expense). Next began the hunt for a shop that I had seen a short piece on called Nick's Calligraphy more than a year ago before we even knew we were going on this trip. He does the most intricate artwork on dried leaves that represent the 3 religions/history of Istanbul: Greek Orthodox, Christianity, and Muslim. Matt downloaded a Bazaar app thank goodness because even with it, we must have walked in circles hunting for it for over 30 minutes when we knew we were close. Finally we found it and walking in you see all of the pictures of Nick with
world leaders, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, etc. all with their pieces. His work is truly remarkable and we ended up purchasing a piece that reminds us of the mosques here as it looks very similar to what is on the outside of each. It's the beautiful Islamic Calligraphy I am completely in love with and it means "Do not be anxious, do not give up, if you believe you will be successful." Nick's Nephew was working and shared their shop had been in the market for 40 years. He had tea brought to us and gave us a recommendation for lunch. We wandered around and picked up a few gifts before seeking out the restaurant in the bazaar that Nick's Nephew recommended called Havuzlu. Upon entering you're greeted before being escorted to an area where you can see what food they have available at that time. I'll admit, none of it looked amazing, but we ordered braised lamb with vegetables, stuffed peppers, and beef with eggplant baked in parchment. We also got a side of veg, cauliflower and watercress. We were stunned at how good this food was. I mean like Turkish Grandma's home cooking good.....best cauliflower of our lives
The New Mosque
"New" means 1500s I think! After finishing lunch and shopping a bit more we decided to head back and realized that it was pouring rain outside. Matt put on his hat, and I grabbed my umbrella but after a bit of walking it was coming down pretty hard. It's an odd thing but I can't tell you how many times we've been in cities around the world and in the US caught in big rain storms to look up and see a Starbucks to take cover in. So guess what, that's what we did! We also found out the PSL craze isn't limited to the US! We hung out for a bit and the rain did let up but we decided carrying our rug for a 3+ mile walk on wet pavement didn't sound great so grabbed a taxi. For dinner we ate at a place called Dai Pera, literally a 5 min walk from the hotel. Matt had a caramelized steak with potato gratin and spinach. It was wonderful and the sauce they on it was very agrodolce and yummy! I had lamb chops with an almond sauce and beet risotto. Lamb/Sauce was fantastic, beet risotto just tasted like rice with a
hint of flavor. Nothing too special. Rest of the evening was spent reviewing photos and starting to blog....it's a labor of love!
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