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Published: December 14th 2010
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Market Street
A street near the Grand Bazaar Turkish people say if you make it to the Grand Bazaar, you’ve made it. Money flows like water, along with the tourists, and competition is fierce - largely because the hundreds of shops sell exactly the same things, a lot of which I imagine is made in China. The antique rabbit hole shopping centre looks nice enough though and sparkles with thousands of coloured lanterns, patterned scarfs, intricately decorated plates and various other exotic nick-nacks you can take home for your Aunty. The Turkish men here are sharks and I, once again, got lured into a shop, only this time the salesman wouldn’t let me leave and actively blocked the entrance. I escaped with my purse, and self, intact and I later met other tourists who had had a similar bad experience with overzealous salesmen. The Spice Bazaar, a much smaller market, was a more pleasant and pretty affair. The breeze carries you in and then carries the spices straight up your nose. You’re surrounded by stacked up in piles of multi-coloured dunes and a vast array of things you would likely never have heard of but have possibly smelt your neighbours cooking – in my area at least. I bought
Spice Market
Some spices on offer some teas for mother, some goat’s cheese for myself and then headed to another favourite place - Eminönü. The centre of Istanbul is split into three sides – the old town, where I’ve been staying, the new town, most prominent of which is the Beyoğlu area, and the Asian/Eastern side. Eminönü is a bit of hive of activity as it’s where the ferries, trams and cars all meet and where the main bridge to the other side is. A lot of people sit around this area and have the famous fish sandwich, some corn on the cob or bread, which is sold in little stands pretty much everywhere. Speaking of bread, I wonder is there any meal in Turkey that doesn’t come with some sort of bread? I think I had enough bread in my trip to last at least one year. It’s the equivalent of rice in Vietnam – you can’t get away from it! At Eminönü, there’s also an underpass full of cheap shops, fast moving people and tacky goods, which for some reason I loved. I even bought a pair of trainers for next to nothing there, although my housemate did later say she thought they were
Mosque
A large mosque near Eminonu the most hideous things she ever saw.
Beyoğlu was a nice place, a much more practical and youthful side to the city. It’s where the modern shops are, the cafe bars, the occasional rainbow-flagged bar, and at the end of my trip, the scene of a mass protest against Israel after their attack on a Gaza flotilla, part organised by a Turkish human rights organisation. I had heard a lot about the famous Turkish coffee and it was here that I tried my first one. I would describe the taste as an Espresso shot mixed with tar, but despite that I found it strangely addictive, probably due to it being so strong. I also went to the Asian side at one point, though only accidently as I got on the wrong ferry. It was surprisingly different – it feels quieter and more, well, Asian. Perhaps it was the increase in headscarves or the desertion at prayer time, I’m not sure but I didn’t stay overly long as there wasn’t much to do. I did manage to find my first proper supermarket here though.
I was persuaded to stay an extra day by the owner of the Mavi Guesthouse
Eminonu
People gathering at the river hostel where I was staying in order to take a trip up the Bosphorus, the straight that forms the boundary of Europe and Asia and leads up to the Black Sea. We went together, as he’d not been in years, and it was the first time I’d had company in Istanbul, which was a nice change. He taught me some Turkish, we shared stories, and he explained some of the weird stuff I’d been seeing since I got here, such as why every second building had a massive Turkish flag hanging down it. I know the Turkish are quite a proud nation but I was starting to think the sheer number of flags everywhere was a bit excessive. Turned out, today was Atatürk (the father of Turkey) Commemoration Day and a national holiday. He’s a popular guy, liberating the country, sweeping in socio-political reforms and swapping an Arabic script for a Latinised one, handily for me. If you have time, I would recommend looking him up as it is quite an interesting read. We reached the Black Sea and had to climb a very large mountain in incredible heat to get a proper view – that is, a proper view
Markets
Some more streets packed with shops of the Black Sea’s empty horizon. We were almost in the countryside here and it was nice to see some green and get some fresh air.
That night I took a minibus to the coach station. There were perhaps 12 or 13 of us and I sat up front with a Canadian woman in her 30s. This woman is a barrel of laughs, about as funny as having tea with your in-laws after they’ve caught you doing terrible things to their daughter, and for some reason I kept bumping into her throughout Turkey. Mind you, she did spend that minibus ride stuck between me and the Turkish driver dancing and singing loudly to really bad Europop, so I guess I can forgive her slightly.
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