Another beautiful day in Istanbul starts out with an equally inspiring sunrise at 5:30 AM
Immediately after breakfast we set out by subway to the Grand Bazaar which is one of the oldest continuous markets on the planet . Over 4000 stalls!!!
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO BOO IN THE UPPER RIGHT OF THE BLOG FOR MORE SHOPPING INFO TOO!!
Turkish Eyes were everywhere made of fused cobalt colored glass. Hanging one above your doorway at home or at your business is said to keep evil away in Turkish customs. I have one of these to give away as part of the post adventure drawing!!1
Here is a shot of what the entrance to the Bazaar looks like. Most of these photos are not well executed because of the light and crowd conditions, but still give you an idea of how huge and varied this market is
Scarves and locally made textiles were everywhere
Here are some leather goods
The Turkish silver and gold jewelry booths was never ending!!!!
Some lovely silver above
Here are the scarves again!!
A Fez dispenser
Water pipes are a very popular glass item at the market. We love the huka bars where the men smoke tobacco around a table from these pipes. We finally saw a woman at a huka joint but only after we arrived in Turkey
I wanted EVERY one of these stunning beaded lamps!! What a display
A great little hat display…loved the head forms too
A quick snack of a cold kebab of some sort and a coke
We bumped into an entire street of button and buckle shops!! This was not the tourist area but a place where local business people bought their wares
A shop jam packed full of colorful jewelry
Cutie Steve had to have a photo of this sign….we sat in front of this store for a quick break and cup of Turkish tea and Steve said he’s renaming my business to what the sign says! His shin is now bruised…but only a tiny bit..hee hee hee
Tea and Baklava…I prefer the smaller tradtional cups for the Turkish tea which I showed you all before but these were very cool too
Treasures!!
Belly dance supply booth
This booth was all traditional instruments
Wood inlay chess, checker, and domino boxes…Very nicely done witth Mother of Pearl
Hand woven textiles made in Turkey
More Hukas
Typical of the archways throughout the market
Steve is back in the booth buying me a special necklace!!! I’ll take pix tomorrow when it gets light outside
Hand painted porcelain tiles are a popular art form here
And Pomagranate symbols are super popular too. Today I saw a yellow pommie wiht a coral blush!! Oh how gorgeous they were!!
These jewelry photos only represent a small fraction of what is out in this market
Me with the artist who made the pendant Steve got for me!! This guy was so nice!!
This is more of the silver I bought yesterday. This is their Bazaar location
The prices were 6x higher here than what I paid!! I will go back to the first guy tomorrow
Uh oh…caught in the act at one of the bead booths!!
Bling says she’s geting very hungry. See she has her own Turkish Eye amulet??
So once my crazed shopathan is over we sit down to eat at a street vendor.. OH YUM this was tasty!!
Here they are preparing the kebabs in the tgraditonal way
And back out into the market….we are heading for the spice market
Turkish evil eyes but the sinful quantities!!
Here are some hats from a felt artist who does her own felted jewelry too!!! We were very impressed with her work. I will do an entire post on her later
Here are a few of her pices
Here is the felter with a bunch of her necklaces to the left
Now comes some insanity. We were attempting to leave the market and head to catch a taxi and got side tracked for about an hour on a local group of narrow streets
This is the area I mention on the AudioBoo where it was the locals shopping market. All sorts of dry goods where here
Now this girl stood out like a sore thumb..great tattoos!
Talk about a contrast between tattoo girl and these ladies
Now we come to the spices
Here is Steve buying fresh dates…OMG we got 3 different varieties and they all taste like the finest caramel you can buy!! Sweet and slightly chewy. Not dry like the supermarket kind we see in the US
Mystery dried fruit
Spices went on for blocks!!
Dried and cured meats are very popular over here
Powered mint tea!! Thsi was tempting but we need to be careful what we take through customs in Europe
Here are the cheeses I mention in the Audio boo. Kasseri chees is soooooooooooooo yummy
Aren’t these little colorful pots charming??
The fish were extremely fresh at the spice market
This man was shredding Kasseri cheese
An iphone shot of a few of the beads I got today
My gigantic sterling and turquise pendant that Steve got for me today
For now I’ll sign off…the computer screen is going blurry so it’s probably time to quit. i’LL CATCH UP WITH YOU ALL TOMORROW!!!
I don’t know what’s more colorful – the jewelry, the scarves, or the spices! I love the handpainted porcelain bird tile.
..What a trip that was! I go crazy just looking at it. The pendant Steve got you is gorgeous .
MMMMmmmmmmmmm…. Kesseri cheese is my absolute favorite!!!!!!!!! What an exciting adventure that must have been!!! How are the prices there compared to US?
oooh the cheese looks sooo good! Thanks for taking the time to show us all these wonderful pictures! I am really enjoying reading about your trip!
I think the “mystery dried fruits” in the picture are figs – yummy pale figs
Looks like a beautifully colorful day! Everything is gorgeous, the beads, the lamps, the spices…
I could spend days looking around there! And how cool is that felt artist? I never seen so much done with felt. Did you try the mystery friut?
I also say FIGS to the dried fruit mystery. I would have the biggest problem shopping in a market so enormous…where do you ever start??? Great pics, though!!!
It gave me “sensory overload” just looking at your photos so I can’t imagine what it must have been like in person – wow. Loved the felt hats by that lady artist – wonder if people actually would wear them? Did Steve pick out that pendant himself? Soooo you. It will be hard to top that day in a way won’t it? Jan
Your necklace is wonderful. It looks like some of the old Middle eastern jewelry I have seen. I am afraid I would be sadly in debt with all of those pretty’s in front of me
What a beautiful necklace!! Yea for Steve!! Simply a shoppers dream, with amazing colors and so much to choose from. Such fun to see!! NM
WOW! Colors colors everywhere. Amazing. I would have gone totally nuts with the spices and the dried fruit. LOVE dates.
The necklace Steve bought you is stunning. But I think my fav part of this blog is the ‘crazy lady place’ LOL Oh and of course the pic of Bling with his amulet
WOW Sandra, yet another day filled with amazing sights…and you capture the essence of the day so beautifully! Steve purchased such a fabulous piece of art to put around your neck!!! Enjoy 🙂
Lots of Love, Lois 🙂
Thank Steve for forwarding me the blog! I have to go back and read them all (ran out of time), but that red picture on the bank of the Nile was STUNNING. I also love love love the photo of the beaded lamps. Your photography just amazes me. This armchair tourist thing is pretty cool! Your now on my daily coffee schedule :-).
Happy belated to Steve!
My eyes are bugging outa my head right now! I agree with the sensory overload comment…..YIKES!!! everything is so intense in color!!! i love it all…..i would have been whining that i couldnt have one of everything i saw. those lamps, the pipes, the felting, all the beads in colors and the spices like i have never seen in my life!!! the textiles and hats…..those cobalt EYES!!!!!!! Steve looks very happy to be sitting down to his meal……..and im sure that smile on his face is due to the fact that he made you very happy with that exquisite “work of art” necklace. OMG…..i must go to bed. i will be dreaming in Technicolor tonite and thats fine with me. oh…in the market….those blue trimmed windows so high up!!! wow…..interesting. ok…..Im off!!!!
WOW! That Bazaar was something else…again those scarves and textiles are soo pretty. The lamps, who wouldn’t want one or more on their home. I would’ve gotten several of those because everyone of them was beautiful.
The Hukas…we have a local Huka bar and it is quite the hit and yes ot even has belly dancers. My son and his freinds go there quite a bit. He actually wanted a Huka but the quality verus the price of them here, I’ll just wait till I can get him the real deal. Speaking of beely dancers, the Belly dance supply store would have been interesting ( to me anyway)
The artwork on the walls and again the veiws from the streets are always a hit with me. It like seeing in real time how they live and work. And that one tattooed lady had some real nice “ink” on her! Also a big big tattoo fan, I have some nice pieces myself.
Jewelry Galore! The piece Steve got you is very cool! ANd I am sure will look great on you! He has good taste.
Beads! Like everything you got in the pic, those 3 in the middle, odd but I like them alot!
Happy Trails Sandra & Steve, hope you are having as much fun as we are veiwing all the great posts and pics! Can’t wait till tommorrow to see what is next!
Oooooooooh…. Loved the bazaar!!! Covet covet!! How big a suitcase did you bring with? And I agree with you about the lamp shop… what tempting stuff!!
Mary-Susan
I was at that felt store but I can’t remember the name! Can you help?
Denise