The Grand Bazaar
Jun. 2nd, 2005 12:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeanvieveThe quote of the day: "Please, pretty ladies! We cheat you less than everybody else, come on in!" Still, we did pretty well, I think. A dagger for Ian, cloth for mom, earrings for me. Rows and rows of booths selling gold and silver jewelry. Here, at last, is beautiful jewelry that I like. At home it seems that modern art has crept into modern jewelry, and things are blocky, clunky, and asymmetrical. In short, not very attractive most of the time. I could have bought many sparklies here happily had I a larger bank account with unassigned liquid cash. What can we afford? A pepper grinder, a purse, saffron.. oh, did I mention the Spice Bazaar?
You walk in, and are suddenly bombarded with the smells you always hoped to smell in an exotic new city. Piles of spices out, exotic tea mixes, every color of pepper under the rainbow. Even here the prices are negotiable, so haggle down the men to make them happy. I didn't do as well with the Turkish saffron as I would have liked, but I made up some on the Iranian. We saw 'Turkish Viagra', which consisted of a dried fig sliced open, stuffed with walnuts coated in honey and then made to dry together. I've tasted turkish delight that I enjoyed, many varieties from a little shop. (I thought of Edmund and the White Queen - I'd never liked turkish delight before and thought it foolish to sell one's soul for it. Metaphorically or no.)
I found Stacia's sufi whirling shoes in a place that also sold nikes. They seemed a bit taken aback that an American woman was hunting for them, but pleased nonetheless. Mom admired a decoration hanging there, and it was taken off the wall and given to her as a gift. The prettiest one of its kind we saw there, a strip of carpet-like fabric bounded on either side in silver with a glass god's eye bead hanging from it. It is good luck, the shopkeeper said.
Visit Little St. Sophia Style House for ceramics, throws, shawls for decent prices. Do NOT let the men shine your shoes or give you cherry juice in a cup to take their picture. The score: Sharks 4, Dauntless Travelers 23. And I was sore about the shoe shine guy for the next couple hours. Grr.
Now, when you go to the Blue Mosque, as you must, avoid the following: Ladies selling shawls - if you don't have one, they'll loan you one when you take your shoes off. Men selling books of post cards, and books of the mosque. You can find them cheaper elsewhere, same stuff. And be wary of those that offer to guide you for free, as really in return all they ask is that you visit their uncle/cousin/brother's rug and kilim shop afterwards, so they get commission. But do go all the same. It is simply the most beautiful building I have ever been in, inside and out. It smells of holiness and dirty socks, but don't let that stop you. There is peace inside, and the joy of looking at that which was made by thousands of devotedly skilled laborers.
Turks say the Hagia Sophia (which they pronounce Aya Sofya) is the most beautiful building in the world. I'd say the mosque is instead. Take some small denomination for a donation when you leave, for good luck and to be polite.
You walk in, and are suddenly bombarded with the smells you always hoped to smell in an exotic new city. Piles of spices out, exotic tea mixes, every color of pepper under the rainbow. Even here the prices are negotiable, so haggle down the men to make them happy. I didn't do as well with the Turkish saffron as I would have liked, but I made up some on the Iranian. We saw 'Turkish Viagra', which consisted of a dried fig sliced open, stuffed with walnuts coated in honey and then made to dry together. I've tasted turkish delight that I enjoyed, many varieties from a little shop. (I thought of Edmund and the White Queen - I'd never liked turkish delight before and thought it foolish to sell one's soul for it. Metaphorically or no.)
I found Stacia's sufi whirling shoes in a place that also sold nikes. They seemed a bit taken aback that an American woman was hunting for them, but pleased nonetheless. Mom admired a decoration hanging there, and it was taken off the wall and given to her as a gift. The prettiest one of its kind we saw there, a strip of carpet-like fabric bounded on either side in silver with a glass god's eye bead hanging from it. It is good luck, the shopkeeper said.
Visit Little St. Sophia Style House for ceramics, throws, shawls for decent prices. Do NOT let the men shine your shoes or give you cherry juice in a cup to take their picture. The score: Sharks 4, Dauntless Travelers 23. And I was sore about the shoe shine guy for the next couple hours. Grr.
Now, when you go to the Blue Mosque, as you must, avoid the following: Ladies selling shawls - if you don't have one, they'll loan you one when you take your shoes off. Men selling books of post cards, and books of the mosque. You can find them cheaper elsewhere, same stuff. And be wary of those that offer to guide you for free, as really in return all they ask is that you visit their uncle/cousin/brother's rug and kilim shop afterwards, so they get commission. But do go all the same. It is simply the most beautiful building I have ever been in, inside and out. It smells of holiness and dirty socks, but don't let that stop you. There is peace inside, and the joy of looking at that which was made by thousands of devotedly skilled laborers.
Turks say the Hagia Sophia (which they pronounce Aya Sofya) is the most beautiful building in the world. I'd say the mosque is instead. Take some small denomination for a donation when you leave, for good luck and to be polite.
