How Bazaar!

IMG_7599
Originally uploaded by Andrian Lee.

One of the best things about Istanbul is the shopping in the two main bazaars - the Grand Bazaar, and the Egyptian (Spice) markets.

The colours, sounds, and smells emanating from these two sites is enough to tempt any traveller. The free stuff you get, just for being a female, is just a bonus I guess hehe.

On our first day in Istanbul, Andrea and I met two girls from Adelaide who shared our transfer bus from the airport. Nat and Suzie were on our Top Deck tour too, so we stuck together and agreed to explore the ancient city together on the day before our tour commenced.

Nat and I have no sense of direction, so we left it to the other girls to find the Bazaar and the Spice Markets for us. They triumphed, and we loved it.

It's worth mentioning up front that the all-male storeholders spoke some English, but you could tell it was gleaned from years spent serving English-speaking tourists who had wandered up and down the numeous aisles over the years. So the array of English expressions hurled at us, to get our attention, was baffling:

"Hey Angels, can I be your Charlie?"
"It's the Spice Girls!"
"Are you from Japan?"
"Come in and look at my rubbish"
"I won't rip you off as much as he will"

And the list goes on.

The name of the game in the Turkish markets is haggling, and you're either good at it or you're not. I got better as the time went on. But it became clear to me that there were girls in our tour group for whom haggling is an artform, and they are the true masters.

Michelle is a flight attendant for QANTAS (who introduced herself as a "trolley dolly") and she was a haggling hero. To get what the Turks call "best price", she invented a husband back home who wouldn't let her spend too much money; she walked away from stores if she felt she was being overcharged (9 times out of 10 they chased her); and she even laughed in their faces if they didn't lower the price to what she thought the item was worth.

When I bought a gift for a friend, Michelle leaned into me conspiratorially and quickly whispered, "start at 15 million lira, and don't pay more than 20". And I didn't. Leaving the stall with my gift safe in its bag, for the price I was prepared to pay, I felt I could leave Istanbul a happy camper.

And the spice markets presented a dazzling explosion of colour and smells, as if you'd uprooted the Adelaide Central Market and filled it with Middle Eastern produce.

There were trays of baklava; turkish delight; Turkish Viagra (figs stuffed with walnuts, pistachios, and honey); and more spices than I could even identify.

One man was selling honey by the bucket load, and it was presented so enticingly. He had a block of honeycomb swimming in the richest, most golden honey I had seen in a long time. On our first day in Istanbul, the girls and I found the stall and paused, open-mouthed, sighing hungrily. The man who owned the store sprang out of nowhere and offered us a taste ("Tasting is free, my pretty ladies"). And he fished out the honey with a little plastic spoon and offered it to Nat. When she raised her hand to take the spoon, and opened her mouth to say "thanks", he shoved the spoon straight into her mouth. And when we opened our mouths to laugh at her, he shoved spoonfuls of honey into our mouths too! It was perhaps an unusually forward way to taste-test, but we were not disappointed. The honey was delicious - and if I wasn't travelling on, I would have bought some for sure.

The Turkish bazaars present you with everything you could possibly want to buy, but perhaps nothing you really need. It really is just more "stuff" - cheap ripoff designer tshirts, handbags and shoes (go Courtney!), sheesha/water pipes, tea sets, ceramics, souvenirs etc. But the experience is had in the haggling and the fun of getting lost down the maze of identical aisles.

I loved the energy of the place, and particularly the post-Gallipoli "Hey Aussies" that were shouted at us from the dynamic store holders. Definitely a place to go back to.