September 13, 2013
Friday, I woke up exhausted with a massive hangover! All I wanted to do was sleep, but we had promised Marja, Rebekka, and Nicolette that we would meet them at Grand Bazaar to go shopping. Nazo insisted that I wake up, so I threw some clothes on and we were out the door. We devoted our entire day to shopping!
We met at Grand Bazaar at 9:00 and started walking through the small streets. The Grand Bazaar is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 3,000 shops. The shops sell all sorts of goods, including eşarp (scarves), bowls painted using an artwork called iznik çini, boncuk (beads), and souvenirs and small trinkets galore. Beautiful lamps also lined the small streets, and the smell of spices and candy filled the air.
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| Evil Eyes. |
Everywhere you looked there were hundreds of Evil Eyes looking at you. The Turkish culture uses Evil Eye pendants to guard themselves from such not-so-well-meaning people with their necessarily evil eyes. The pendants are made of molten glass, iron, copper, water and salt. This particular combination of minerals and metals is believed to provide a shield from the forces of evil. Of course I bought myself a few Evil Eye pendants to bring back to the States!
As we moved from store to store, I was amazed at how happy and welcoming the shopkeepers were. They gave me lots of small trinkets and beads once they learned I was from the U.S., and were impressed with the little Turkish I knew. I experienced “Turkish hospitality” at its finest! One of my favorite shops was Limon Bujiteri, which sold beads and pendants. Nazo frequents this shop to buy beads and thread for her hand crafted jewelry she makes. The man who owned the shop, Murat, knew a little English, and I had fun talking to him. He gave me a beautiful ring and a natural stone pendant that Nazo later turned into a necklace.
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| Turkish Delight. |
Another of my favorite stops was in a shop that sold Turkish Delight. Its walls were lined with the sweet Turkish candy! I purchased a box of it to bring back to the States and share with my colleagues.
After we finished the Grand Bazaar, we parted ways with Marja, Nicolette, and Rebekka. They all had flights to catch and sessions to attend back at the conference. Nazo, Pinar, and I continued to walk through the Spice Bazaar, a smaller bazaar nearby. We stopped for simit, or Turkish bagels, and to drink some water. Then we hopped on the trolley and traveled to Pinar’s favorite place to buy baklava, Karaköy Güllüoğlu. Then, we headed back to Pinar’s home to take a long nap!
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| Baklava selection. |
That evening, Nazo cooked fajitas, by far one of my favorite dishes! They were delicious! Then, we settled in and drank some wine as I wrote my blog posts. It was a much needed low energy evening.