How Bazaar?

Today was the first day of my meetings, so unfortunately I had to go and work -- but I wound up at 16.00, and missed out the social events of the evening so that I could rejoin the family.

They had a good day, visiting the Topokani Palace, one of the great Sultan Palaces in Istanbul.

After meeting up, we paid a visit to the Grand Bazaar - a 1500 year old covered market, divided (albeit roughly) into streets of trade (jewelery, leather, clothing, and believe it or not, belly-dancing costumes! I tried to get Tami interested in the latter, but so far no luck.

The Bazaar was an experience. It actually wasn't as crowded as I would have expected, but the vendors are certainly persistent, and the haggling adds a touch of the exotic to the experience. I was disappointed having hoped to find a nice leather bag, and being quite unsuccessful. I did look at one which was (reportedly) camel leather -- who knows if it really was. But for YTL 570 (~$500), it wasn't on. I did quickly get down to YTL 420, but wasn't getting anything better than that. Oh well...I'll keep looking.

This photo is a view of one of the laneways in the Bazaar - I think you can get a sense of the activity.


After the visit to the Bazaar, we wandered slowly back to our hotel. En route, we visited an Islamic cemetery (I enjoy a nice cemetery as much as the next man). I think I mentioned that there are stray cats all over the place, and the cemetery seems to be one of the main cat haunts (no pun intended). We spoke with the caretaker who has adopted these cats. He feeds them daily, and currently has 21 cats in his care (up by 1 after having found a stray kitten, which he is now raising on milk). Something very touching about this episode. Here is a photo of one of the cats lounging on one of the grave markers.


I continue to observe and comment upon the people of Istanbul. Although they are quite pushy with their shops, they are a warm and friendly people. They really do seem to love the kids -- one very funny episode occurred after having eaten dinner at the Bazaar, when Iain's ubiquitous baseball cap was 'stolen' by a 20-something year old street-side food vendor. This was followed by a quick game of keep away, which Iain handily won by reaching up and tickling the armpit of the fellow (the same way he does with me). This resulted in peals of laughter from both Iain and the man, as well as more than a few people around us.

Today is Ataturk Day -- the Turkish Independence day, named in honour of Mr. Ataturk, the founder of the republic of Turkey. The plan is to enjoy a boat trip on the Bosphorous tonight (weather permitting).