Day Three

---

Today we went to the Egyptian (Spice) Market and the Blue Mosque. Unlike the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Market was less overwhelming and generally more pleasant. We had fun wandering throughout it and I took lots of photos of mounds of savory spices (no surprise there) and Turkish Delight displays. Though I had packed scarves for visiting Mosques, I forgot to carry one with me this morning so I had an excuse to buy one for our afternoon trek through the Blue Mosque. The kiosk we chose prominently proclaimed itself Obama Recommended!

We have walked throughout the Sultanahmet region of Istanbul. It may surprise you to know that Istanbul is quite hilly. I know it did us. Often we would get a bit lost then we would try to find a familiar landmark and off we'd go again.

Upon leaving the Spice Market we came across several shoe shine men sitting behind beautiful elaborate brass shoeshine boxes. I remember Gail telling me about the one she had purchased and did a mental "Aha!".

At the Blue Mosque we were approached by a polite gentleman offering to a free guided tour through the Mosque. He was very informative. All was well until we were led out of the Mosque to a handicraft area. Well, the handicraft was carpets and he quickly left his pigeons (us) in the very capable hands of a storekeeper who proceeded to brainwash into thinking that we must buy a carpet while in Turkey, and that it should certainly be from him. We narrowly escaped (happily without one). We started our trek back to our room using a shortcut we recognized through Topkapi Palace when an unlikely pair (a female college-age American and a middle age Turkish man stop us and helpfully inform us that it is closing time and the entrance we were heading for was now closed. With typical Turkish friendliness we begin chatting with each other and one thing leads to another and we share our recent harrowing carpet tale with them. Turns out he is a wholesaler of carpets, does not sell to the public and yes, he has an assistant that would happily educate us in a short amount of time about the fine art of making/buying carpets. His young female companion was heading back to his room and would we care to follow her. Stupidly we follow. We arrive at a place with again hundreds (at least) carpets and kilims. The affable assistant proceeds to tell us the exact opposite of what the first salesman told us. Silk vs wool, natural vs chemical dyes. Bear in mind we had no intention of buying a carpet and made that clear to all but that was no deterrent. Finally, we had to feign illness to escape. Exhausted but still happily carpetless we made our way back to our room.

---

Photos

Obama Recommended
Shop where I purchased my scarf

Comments

[Bonnie Niessner]

carpet salesmen
The exact same thing happened to Dave and I last year at the Blue Mosque. We did not go into the carpet shop. I told him we had dinner reservations and didn't have time to look at carpets. Which was true and I'm glad we escaped Istanbul without a carpet. I did purchase a small one later on in the trip and I love it!

[Doglover]

Maybe we had the same guide! Not. Anyway it's been a great adventure.